Human Farming: The Dystopian Novel Plots are Turning Real One by One!
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”: “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” Philip K. Dick
“There’s the story, then there’s the real story, then there’s the story of how the story came to be told. Then there’s what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.” Margaret Atwood
Horrified at the new article I came across about enslaved and trafficked Thai women being injected with hormones and their eggs being harvested by Chinese gangsters in Georgia. A truly mafia-like cabal of global proportion! A globalised dystopian reality which cannot be unread/undone as it unfolds right before us.
While reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, I was plagued by nightmarish scenarios of it all coming true. With declining birth rates in countries across the globe, the situation is already at panic level. I somehow fail to understand this need to go to such inhuman lengths to ironically secure human survival.
The ideal approach would be to fix our family system itself which becomes a shackling strain for many women. Unless, both partners begin to actively contribute and support the relationship, the ‘family’ as we know it is set to dissolve. Without a support structure in place, it is difficult to raise a child. The proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” is absolutely true.
We need to make the entire ecosystem around a child better; from providing safe places at work to helping parents in need to providing equal pay for equal work to making parental leave for both parents mandatory to making our public spaces child friendly. Everything adds up and helps. The entire stigma around childbirth at workplace needs to go. Men still cannot give birth and men don’t menstruate, but they can empathize and be understanding towards those who do.
We are not at a stage and time where we can blame parenting for not being sensitive and humane enough. There is enough media available on these issues which one must come across on a daily basis. So, there is no hiding behind bad parenting if you still cannot get rid of toxic masculinity and shackles of patriarchal impositions.
What also helps is promoting farm fresh and organic food devoid of all chemicals and hormones. We need to immediately reduce the time and distance between the source and consumption of food items. Processed food items should not find an aisle in our lifestyle. That, in turn can also curb the rapid rise in cancer and lifestyle diseases which further lead to infertility in both men and women( there is nothing wrong with not wanting to reproduce, but I suppose if one wants and cannot, it becomes an issue which can topple governments and systems).
Every little change for the better contributes towards a better future. We need to seriously evaluate the very purpose of life. If the ultimate goal is happiness, the path might be closer and easier to achieve.
“Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.” — C.S. Lewis
War, apartheid, misogyny, exploitation, consumerism, violence and the evils that plague our planet today are not part of some dystopian future, but very much present right here, right now. No avatar is standing on the horizon to rescue us anytime soon. Even the Avatars the internet is talking about are fictional ones. For now, we are the avatars and this is it. Let us live a better life.
“I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace. Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up.”
-Jake Sully.
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