The future doesn't have enough rebels and whistleblowers

Having spent time recently reading some books about dystopian totalitarian states, I'm left with one burning question.  Where are the rebels and whistleblowers?

The books I read have created what I'd describe as a perfect evil state.  It's faceless.  Nobody even knows who wields all this power.  It's all powerful.  Nobody can challenge it,  citizen democracy has disappeared completely.  It never has its actions exposed, and it has no cracks in its armour.

And I have real difficulty in believing in that kind of world.  We're writing about humans, and humans are a troublesome lot.  We don't ever all see the world the same way.  And I can't see that trait changing in the future.  Yes, charismatic leaders do arise who sweep people along with them for a while. Perhaps initially they have a grand vision for the future, one many people buy into. But when the oppression of others begins those supporters start to get uneasy, and start to question things.

I want to know where the resistance to these totalitarian states is.  Those people will likely be hidden, and in great danger, but that didn't stop the French Resistance.  And it won't stop similar organisations operating in the future.

My objection to some of these dystopian tales is that the evil is seamless.  There don't seem to be any cracks in the edifice.  Those with power all seem to think the same way.  But short of being brainwashed or programmed in some way, there will always be dissenters, people who question the 'experimental' programmes and want them stopped.  And in the age of the internet I can't see them being kept quiet.  People will leak things onto the 'nets.  

For a dystopian story to work for me, I need to see more of these fracture lines appearing.  Not only must the 'evil' leaders be working hard to keep people oppressed, but they must also be working hard to quell dissent and leaks.

I need more rebels and whistleblowers in these worlds.  More people to question and challenge what's  going on, and to challenge the morals of such leaders.  Without that, the stories are ultimately shallow, cardboard cut-out set pieces that leave me feeling dissatisfied.  And wondering why I invested so much time in reading them.  Bring back the rebels and whistleblowers.

An end to hopeless dystopia?

It's said that literature reflects the age it's written in, and even SF isn't immune to that kind of influence.  But recently I've read a couple of 'end of days' dystopias that have left me with no hope at all.  And found them deeply dissatisfying,

Personally, I'm a 'the glass can be refilled' kind of person.  Despite all the horror and danger that is in the world, there is always much that is good and hopeful taking place every day.  And I'd rather read about inspiring people, even if they are fighting for their lives in the direst of circumstances.  But one of the stories I read was nothing more than an aimless wandering through a ruined land.  None of the characters seemed to have any dreams or hopes, no plans or desires to make the future better.

If I was stuck in a ruined world I'd set to work improving it.  One of my favourite books which does this is Anne McCaffrey's Catteni series, beginning with Freedom's Landing.  There the dystopia is back on Earth, which has been invaded and destroyed by the Cattini.  But that's not what the book is about.  The book follows the struggles of humans transported to a brand new world to survive and rebuild their civilisation.  This is my kind of dystopia, one that shows people struggling to better things, one that allows the characters to dream of a better life, and work to make it happen.

Stephanie Saulter's Evolution series does just that.  Gemsigns has terrifying god gangs murdering gems, genetically modified humans being used as slaves.  The book has a lot of the sense of disorder and violence that many dystopias do.  But there is also hope in the midst of the violence.  One of the gems, the winged Aryel Morningstar, is a charismatic and wise leader.  You sense she can lead the gems to greatness.  There is much darkness in the book, but it's tempered by seeing events through the eyes of characters who are actively working towards their dream of equality and freedom from indentured servitude.

That's my kind of dystopia.  And in the third book, the now freed gillungs are busy building their own society, one where their ability to breathe underwater as well as in air allows them to develop revolutionary new technologies.  Of course, the old order still opposes and threatens them, but in the end this story is hopeful.  And a dystopia without any hope is not one I want to read, thank you.

Utopian dystopia

I've been reading a lot of near-future dystopian stories recently.  They drew me in and made me believe the world the writer had created.  They tackled important issues, and are totally believable, but there's always a part of my heart that rebels against these extreme portraits of the future.

Usually the regimes who keep these dismal worlds in order are brutal and totalitarian.  They have grabbed authority to control not only the characters' lives but also they way they believe and the thoughts they think. They're a beaten, cowed, people.and I have to confess that this total destruction of the human spirit depresses me.  I want to rail against the injustices of those worlds.

That's part of the writer's purpose in showing us such a place.  We're meant to object to it, but sometimes I feel that their characters don't do so enough.  I want l know where the Resistance is.  If we want to see the things the human spirit is capable of, look at the stories of the wartime Resistance, or the fortitude of Viktor Frankl and other Jews who survived the concentration camps. Frankl is the very embodiment of the best of the human heart.

I would have to have someone like him in a dystopian novel if I wrote one.  Someone who still believed that there was a better way to be in the world, and who quietly worked towards making it happen.  But I think I'd also have to have revolutionaries, people who took direct action to bring down the totalitarian rulers.   

I'd have to write utopian dystopia.  I can't spend time in a place that is totally devoid of all hope.  It depresses me too much.  I question and challenge every statement on a news programme, asking who said that, and what their agenda is.  And I believe this is the essential nature of humans.  We agree to disagree, and somehow manage to get along.  

And I think in the future we will continue agreeing to disagree.  So I think our dystopian futures are move likely to have idealists in them fighting to change things, people who aren't taken in by the majority view, a Resistance against the evil.  

It's a sort of utopian dystopia that draws me, the imperfect societies with a kernel of pure good morality at their heart that I can identify with best.  Utopian dystopia lives.