Ask Lemmy

Why are so many young people confusing 'utopian' and 'dystopian' suddenly?

because literacy rates plummeted after no child left behind. because children are educated enough to be productive but never enough to form critical thought. because art, music, and philosophy were removed from the curriculum to keep them quiet and productive little workers.

should I continue?

How are they confusing it?

I ask because the cubicle movies of 1999 generally showed office jobs as soulless life sucking experiences, but they may be seen in a much better light compared to today's corporate hellscape.

I mean "Utopian" literally means "no-place" right? But we've come to associate the "no-place" as where values can be imagined. The inherent contradiction though usually means that when further analyzed under realistic presures and concerns the "ideal-place" is actually seen as fraudulent, and thus dystopian, just through another lense.

Usually I don’t care about “correct” language at all

and

I never would “correct” a person IRL about this

Those are your answers.

I've not seen the confusion myself, but there are a lot of visions of utopia that are dystopian. When you have a fascist (techno- or plain old Nazi) describe utopia, it often sounds very dystopian. I can see getting confused based on how they see it used.

My guess would be an ironic intentional misuse of the phrase that got out of hand.

Either "let us contemplate the utopian setting of fallout where everyone has the liberty to shoot anyone else at any time and there are robots and monsters and other cool things" or "can you believe this dystopian socialist vision where NOBODY is rich, we have to just feed everyone, and you can spend a night in jail for throwing pigs blood on a trans man who had an abortion?"

... Come to think of it, maybe the originating usage wasnt so much ironic as just ignorant.

~and yes I'm perfectly aware that what I described is probably satirical or sardonic rather than classical irony. Blame Alaniss Morissete~

Utopia is an idealistic concept that often proves to be dystopian in media that portrays it. It was always one meme-leap away from the phenomenon you describe.

I'd be annoyed too because they're using words to mean the exact opposite of their meaning

because they are idiots. most people are idiots.

here on fedi it's just that there are a lot of unhappy people who daydream about the world collapsing because it makes them feel important. and some of them also dream of it being re-born into some ideal society.

that's what unhappy people do.

That is the first time i heard of that, and i am old gen Z

Usually I don’t care about “correct” language at all, I’d even argue languages that change are alive and changes are often invisible to those with rigid or discriminatory thinking.

But then, without any... 'discriminatory thinking' (odd choice of words, to non-native English speaker-me at least), how would we realize there is a change happening in any language if no one cared about some kind of rule-based system in said language?

That being said, I do agree with you a living language is one that changes (but it's also one whose users remember its roots and its evolution, making them able to pick the ball, be it to play with it or to transform it as deeply as they fancy as one needs to understand a problem before trying to fix it). But being alive does not have to mean 'anarchy' or there quickly won't be much ability left to communicate (aka the agreement of the both of us on the meaning of the words we use) ... Like there would not be much people alive around us if there was not this things called 'the law': no law is immutable but all existing laws better be respected, and if it is a bad law it needs to be changed... by people who studied it first ;)

To answer your rather surprising question (it's a very... specific chose of words while there are many other and much... wider notions out there the younger generation seems to have lost track of), it probably has to do with the lower level of their education (not their fault, but they are the one paying dear price for it... I almost cried the first time I read this). There can be no 'nuances' where there is no education to it. And without much reading going on, well, there is even less of it. As a matter of fact, there is less of everything... even the ability to realize one may be lacking in something specific.

If it really is evolving usage, I'll pay attention once it seeps into more permanent media like music lyrics. Or when Fox News starts reporting on it as evidence of the downfall of our education system, (also kids are making toilet wine again and ingesting it through all the wrong body orifices, more at 11).

I'm too old and not cool to worry about rapid lifecycle language trends. If I pay too much attention, I might become one of those adults repeating "6-7" to show they're hip with it.

I mean... Have you seen their culture?