These 50 Pics Show How Dystopic Our Society Already Is, And Maybe They’ll Inspire You To Change Something
What comes to mind when you think of a dystopian universe? is it Dali-esque surrealist landscapes or is it a more realistic world like 'The Handmaidens Tale' or '1984.' Well, according to the late Brtish academic and cultural theorist Mark Fisher, we are already living in a present-day dystopian society and folks - it is very boring.
The term 'boring dystopia' was coined by Fisher in 2015 and refers to the subliminal coercion that abounds in a capitalist society. So subtle that unless you're looking, you might not realize these problems with society are actually already happening. Charlie Booker's Black Mirror is the closest fantasy depiction of this theory, with his episodes questioning how far is too far when it comes to our evolving technology and how close we are to the dystopian future.
However, for real-life examples of this theory, and social issues coming together with, it look no further than the sub-Reddit titled 'A Boring Dystopia,' which is dedicated to sharing images that are disturbingly unassuming. From the poster that reads "Sleep deprivation is your drug of choice. You might be a doer," or a bus passing by with bold black letters stating, "You don't need therapy you just need a new car," the following photos may make you question every society problem in a different light.
Scroll down below to see the Orwellian thread of signs on problems with the world!
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Peak Bureaucracy (Happened In Toronto)
Boring Dystopia
I Guess We Just Have To Get Used To This
Well, this is sad. But it's a description of "Better safe than sorry"
Drink Soda To Help Fight Diabetes
You Must Be Noteworthy To Take A Selfie At This Spot
Look At All That Freedom
Reminds me Henry Ford "A customer can have a car painted any color he wants as long as it’s black”
The Only Way To Live
Healthcare Described In One Picture
Based on the ATM symbol ("bankomat" on yellow background with Raiffeisen logo) and the uniform of the paramedics it is from Croatia. The photo dates back to September 2016, and the Photographer's name is Sandra Krunic. The original title of this photo said something about American healthcare, which doesn't fit.
You Get 3 Minutes
Boring Dystopia
"How Can We Decorate Our Lobby To Look Refined While Still Being Utterly Devoid Of Character?"
And people who decided this didn't think that this would make a perfect joke?
"Anti-Homeless" Bench
Quick Reminder That We've Been At War For 17 Years. Sure, People Are Sent To Fight And Die Every Day, But It's Just Old News, Right?
Kurt Cobain Was Not Diagnosed With A Mental Illness And Leave A Suicide Note For It To Be Turned Into A Fashion Trend
American Airlines Announces Pay Raises For Pilots And Flight Attendants, And Investors Balk
Investors want to get all the money, while putting in none of the work. It's the workers' labor that creates value, which brings in the money. It makes sense they should be paid appropriately.
Mass Shootings Are Now So Frequent That President Trump Just Copies-And-Pastes His Condolences
Education For Your Kids? Not Important. Buy Our Expensive Car Instead
Trump's Official Survey Doesn't Include Any Negative Response Options
Teaching Kids To Read Via Logos
Boring Dystopia
Totally Normal And Fine
S**t Like This Just Happens Constantly Now
Liquidation Sale
not as bad as 'things to do before you die' why not 'things to do while you're still alive' much more positive.
Plastic, As God Made It
Didn't George Carlin say that the only reason Earth hasn't killed us is that it can't make plastic and needs us to do it?
Gun Show This Weekend
It's been documented that after a mass/school shooting, gun sales actually go up. How sick is that?
Teachers Gifted Supplies For Their Classrooms ...on A Talk Show
Late Stage Capitalism
Shouldn't the simple fact that you're out of blood, solve ALL your problems ? Including housing ? Just a tought
Be Happy
Yeah, if you don't smile, an exec will immediately bolt from his office and grin at the door for you :D
Life Is Beautiful
Jaywalkers Under Surveillance In Shenzhen Soon To Be Punished Via Text Messages
how is this surprising? did you really think they were developing this kind of technology just for your social photo tagging to be easier? come on.
Google Helps Its Sponsors Before Its Users
Simple mistake. Adds are coded into the system. No one has thought to remove them when people search for sensitive topics.
Load More Replies...I've been in the habit for years, where I do a search then immediately scroll down to approximately where I think the true results begin. I never find what I'm looking for when I click one of those promising looking ads. I'm one of the countless millennials who have been unconsciously trained to tune out ads. So They ain't making a dime off me (love ghostery and ad block and I do periodically turn them off if I think a site is actually needs and deserves it eg. WuxiaWorld).
You know, I don't think what we see here is so bad. Hear me out. Google is meant to search for you things that you want. If someone wants to commit a suicide, that's not some softwares' problem nor its duty to convince them otherwise. Yet someone programmed it as even if noone around you offered you help, some automatic, lifeless and emotionless system made of zeros and ones - will show you there's another way. I find it rather soothing than terrifying, this image. Someone cared, even if a search engine wasn't build for anything but giving you specifically what you asked.
just tried it. The emergency hotline was right the first thing displayed. Either they changed it or it's different here in Germany
People were involved in the programming, they could've avoided this type of response.
Load More Replies...Google, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and similar services are private companies, not social care institutions. They exist to generate revenues and thus there is absolutely no reason for them to help their users more than they help their sponsors. The main problem is that users are OK with that and do not demand bigger diversity on the market turning to the competition for better services. It's not new either, this is how the telephone services market looked like in the late 70's.
When I've searched for suicide methods I've had adverts for drugs and websites talking about different methods pop up before websites giving advice and numbers to call. It's all automated and popular sites are shown first. My care co was shocked when I showed her.
Load More Replies...but thats just the way the algorithm on google works, it has nothing to do with a dystopian society. the algorithm picks up "otc sleeping pills" and "suicide", but can't link them; it just shows results for both queries
Umm Google has had paid advertising on their searches for over a decade. Sure it's a little insensitive but the results needed are still there and it's better than not having that power at your finger tips. Stop using Google if you don't like it. Is 411 still a thing?
When I look at the comments here defending this, I think people forget what a common theme of dystopias are: the degradation of our own humanity. We all know that this is just an algorithm, that both is and isn't the point. Yes it just an algorithm. But it's the fact that in our time of need, when we are at our most human, the algorithm creates this kind of existential horror where we are reminded that we are just cogs in a machine, part of the corporate capitalistic buy/sell strategy. The algorithm is just the string of numbers we are forced to interface with that reminds us of that fact. It is a mindless intelligence that feels nothing. It wants to help with our death with a smile, because it understands nothing but to sell and to follow its directives. It mocks our pain with its blank faced ignorance. "Would you like to pay by visa or mastercard for your own suicide? Thank you for shopping vicks.com!" THAT is dystopia. That is what this post means.
oh I have no f*****g doubt we're currently living in one, but this is the least of its ominous signs
Load More Replies..."Confidential help is available for FREE" indicates that soon they are going to start charging people even for this service
anyone actually tried this? Never does it for me but maybe that's just me.
They Love It!
I Withdrew Some Cash And The Receipt Has The Most Dystopian Bloody Thing On It
I'm Sure The Sermen Drew Some Comparison With Following "False Prophets"
I don't think this challenge honor the Christ... Poor Him, it must be tiredsome to be loved by idiots.
Watch Live
Boring Dystopia
It’s Really Hard Watching Other People Live Out Your Dreams
You Don't Need Therapy
The Fortune In These Fortune Cookies
Bleeding You Dry
Giving your blood is a good thing, having no choice but selling your blood sucks
Aligned With The Holiday Spirit
And? This can be a police parking lot, military base, impound lot, a mint etc.
You've Heard Of Elf On The Shelf, Now Get Ready For
How America Ends
The Important News
It's an update. Bus probably fell from the cliff, crashed on a cemetery, and they are keeping the viewers up to date on how many victims they keep finding under the wreck. Chips look tasty though :D
Golden Fistbump
This Escorting Website Features A Live-Updated Student Debt Clock
Happiness Within Reach
Back To School Shopping
Facebook Served Me An Ad Inside Of A Private Chat
Their Main Concern Isn't Population Changes, It's Diaper Sales
Note: this post originally had 73 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
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Load More Replies...Ok, I've seen a lot of comments on this post about how "America is the worst country". You think we LIKE having mass shootings every two minutes? You think we like having a president who puts immigrant kids in concentration camps? You think we like leading the charts in obesity? No. We don't especially like any of that. So please stop acting like the entirety of America is shooting each other in the head. Because we aren't. Only a few are.
If you don't like the state of things in the USA, get off your a*s and make sure that you are registered to vote. If not, go register! Do your homework on candidates, and cast an informed ballot in November. If you don't vote, you don't count.
Load More Replies...What I've learned in life, is that, the Earth is doomed. Whether humanity nukes itself or global warming kills us by 2100 with excess carbon dioxide, I've learned to just accept the time I have. Yes, I recycle and don't use plastic bags, I'm not a savage. But I've learned to appreciate and love life, before the world dies. And fight it anyway... you never know. Sorry for being negative.
This is the first post where I HAD to read through all the comments just to get the rest of the story.
These are just awful. I guess an up vote means they are awful-er than the others. But I wanted to down vote them. So sad.
I bookmarked this under Republicans. If you don't agree, please reconsider what Republican values, and their political platform really supports. Forgive me for stating the obvious, (to most readers I hope), but virtually everything they do is in support of big business, nothing more nothing less.
Bored Panda's showing their political bias a lot with this one......alienating half of your clientele should never be on the agenda, if you want to keep in business.
900 % of this post is nothing but political b******t- as i said repeatedly - eat s**t and die
I hear and read americans complains about their country, but I've been there once 10 years ago. It's a wonderful country. It have some problems but if i look at the big picture, USA is a huge amazing place where everything is possible. Americans that complain about this country, please come to live in my country for a while and then tell me what do you think about USA.
People complained when Obama was president, was that a fashion?
Load More Replies...This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Load More Replies...Ok, I've seen a lot of comments on this post about how "America is the worst country". You think we LIKE having mass shootings every two minutes? You think we like having a president who puts immigrant kids in concentration camps? You think we like leading the charts in obesity? No. We don't especially like any of that. So please stop acting like the entirety of America is shooting each other in the head. Because we aren't. Only a few are.
If you don't like the state of things in the USA, get off your a*s and make sure that you are registered to vote. If not, go register! Do your homework on candidates, and cast an informed ballot in November. If you don't vote, you don't count.
Load More Replies...What I've learned in life, is that, the Earth is doomed. Whether humanity nukes itself or global warming kills us by 2100 with excess carbon dioxide, I've learned to just accept the time I have. Yes, I recycle and don't use plastic bags, I'm not a savage. But I've learned to appreciate and love life, before the world dies. And fight it anyway... you never know. Sorry for being negative.
This is the first post where I HAD to read through all the comments just to get the rest of the story.
These are just awful. I guess an up vote means they are awful-er than the others. But I wanted to down vote them. So sad.
I bookmarked this under Republicans. If you don't agree, please reconsider what Republican values, and their political platform really supports. Forgive me for stating the obvious, (to most readers I hope), but virtually everything they do is in support of big business, nothing more nothing less.
Bored Panda's showing their political bias a lot with this one......alienating half of your clientele should never be on the agenda, if you want to keep in business.
900 % of this post is nothing but political b******t- as i said repeatedly - eat s**t and die
I hear and read americans complains about their country, but I've been there once 10 years ago. It's a wonderful country. It have some problems but if i look at the big picture, USA is a huge amazing place where everything is possible. Americans that complain about this country, please come to live in my country for a while and then tell me what do you think about USA.
People complained when Obama was president, was that a fashion?
Load More Replies...