Tyrannical governments, natural disasters, crime, violence, poverty—mix these ingredients and you get a hopeless society where people don’t live, they just exist.
Sounds like a nightmare, right? Something we would never wish to see on Earth. However, at the same time, such a predicament is quite easy to imagine. According to the subreddit r/ABoringDystopia, that is because humanity is already moving in that direction.
This online community unites 760K members and they regularly share real-life examples to prove their point. Here are some of the recent ones that seem pretty convincing.
#1 Strange Priorities
#2 This Is Not Normal And Should Not Be Seen As A Wholesome Story Either
Before the subreddit was created in January 2016, there was a Facebook group of the same name.
The group was founded by the late philosopher Mark Fisher, the very person who originally coined the term “boring dystopia.”
However, Fisher, widely known as the author of the cult classic Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, told Vice that the group “wasn’t that well thought-out at the start” and that he hadn’t done anything like this before.
As a result, he closed it in November 2015. But apparently, the internet needed such a space.
#3 That Is The Truth Sadly
#4 ‘murica Never Disappoints
#5 Argentina New “Anarcho-Capitalist” President Announced People Would Lose Social Welfare Plans If They Blocked Streets In Protest. These Are The Streets Outside Congress At 3:00 Am
Originally, Fisher had noticed a common theme in pictures he shared on Facebook and wondered if it could be developed into a group.
“It was understood from the start to be a consciousness-raising exercise, encouraging people to perceive the actual state of Britain rather than the PR state,” he said in December 2015, a month after he shut down the group and before the inception of the subreddit. “Which is surprisingly hard, because there’s this mixture of Silicon Valley ideology, PR, and advertising which distracts us from our own aesthetic poverty, and the reality of what we have. Which is just all these crap robots…”
#6 The Oligarchic States Of America
#7 It Is So Over Goddamn
#8 So We’re Here Now, Do We Deserve Each Other?
#9 It’s A Trickle-Down Nightmare
“Crap robots” were a common theme on his Facebook group. One typical post included a photograph of a broken vending machine, with a note attached to it saying, “The light inside has broken but I still work.”
“It’s Californian ideology without Californian sunshine, isn’t it?” Fisher asked rhetorically.
#10 Housing Crisis Reality
#11 Bernie Asks, Billionaire Answers: The $7.25 Standoff
#12 Heil… Wait, This Can’t Be Real?
#13 Palestinians Returning To Their Homes In Khan Yunis, Gaza After The Iof Partially Withdraw. This Was A City That Housed Approx. 400,000 People. Photo By Ali Jadallah
To many of the three thousand members the group had, it’s content was mainly entertainment, but it also served to illustrate “hauntology,” the term Fisher used to describe the sense of a lost future—in this case, one where machines enhance, rather than hinder, our lives.
#14 The State Of The Union
#15 So I Happaned To Rewatched Don’t Look Up, And This Scene Hit Pretty Close To Home
#16 Ten Whole Thousand Dollars!
#17 Economist Michael Hudson Warned That The Parasite Anti-Economy (Finance, Real Estate, Insurance) Would Devour The Real Working Economy. Article Link In The Comments
According to a new survey from book publisher The Folio Society, around 26 percent of American men and 14 percent of women feel like they are already living in a dystopia.
At the same time, only one-third of Americans believe the nation has a functioning democracy, and younger people were increasingly convinced that democracy had failed in the U.S.
Americans are particularly concerned over free speech (60 percent) and government surveillance of personal and family finances (45 percent).
#18 The Human Internet Is Dying. AI Images Taking Over Google
#19 And Some People Are Afraid, That A Class War Might Be Imminent
#20 Picture Sent To Me From A Friend That Works In An Amazon Distribution Center
#21 Top 1% Of U.S. Earners Now Have More Wealth Than The Entire Middle Class
However, why did Fisher close ‘Boring Dystopia’ 1.0 if his thoughts are proving to be so relevant to people?
“For me, the point at which the group started to go downhill was when it became like every other Facebook group. It was just recirculating ‘content’ and sending links, keeping people inside what I would call capitalist cyberspace instead of looking outside at their own environment,” the philosopher explained. “It felt like it was reinforcing the condition it was intended to displace.”
#22 Whistleblower Found Dead
#23 17,000 Tourists Arrived Today With Cruise Ships In Santorini, A Small Greek Island. Santorini’s Total Population Is 17,000 Citizens. Overtourism Is Real And It’s Scary
#24 Russia In The 90’s But It’s Argentina Today
#25 Guerrilla Poster On The Subway
The alternative to closing it was endless policing by him and Rumi Josephs, an artist who served as the group’s second admin. “It didn’t work at that scale, and you could feel that it wasn’t the right place for it… It was just an experiment, and Facebook probably wasn’t the right platform. I didn’t want it to be diluted.”
#26 Drones Luring Civilians To Their Deaths
#27 I Can’t Even… (Link In Description)
#28 This Ad Looks Like It’s From A Dystopian Movie But It’s Real
#29 Yet Again The Us Vetoes A Un Resolution For Ceasefire
Fisher cast Facebook as a distorted reality following an alternate sense of time, where old news is endlessly recirculated and human nature is subject to automation. At that time, the filter bubble had already felt developed enough to rewrite reality by what companies paid for us to see. Which hasn’t really changed since, either.
Because of this, in 2023 (over 6 years after Fisher’s passing), the subreddit’s team eventually released a statement saying it wanted to honor his stance and committed to removing social media content unless posters get approval from the moderators. It will be interesting to see how well they will manage to enforce the rule.
#30 Improvised Shelter Made From Condo Sales Signs
#31 The Official White House Page On The Us Constitution Just Went 404
#32 Used Meta AI To Edit A Selfie, Now Instagram Is Using My Face On Ads Targeted At Me
#33 Tik Tok’s Ban Comes With A Side Of Propaganda
#34 Even A Paying Customer Is Considered Loitering If They Stay Past 30 Minutes. What Happened To Hanging Out At Diners?
#35 AI Company’s ‘Stop Hiring Humans’ Ads All Over Sf
#36 Went To A Bar To Watch The Olympics. Everyone Pledged Allegiance To The Trump Flag Before Starting
#37 Tire Particulate In Your Bloodstream
#38 Today, For The 32nd Year In A Row, The Entire World Voted To Condemn The Us’ Illegal And Cruel Embargo Against Cuba – Except For Three Countries
#39 Removing Slavery Was On The Ballot In California. It Literally Had No Opposition Campaign At All, And It Still Lost
#40 I’m Going To Celebrate Today As A Holiday
#41 A Perfect Snapshot Of America In The Trending Articles From 12/6/24
#42 Sad Times With No Reprieve On The Horizon
#43 There Is No Privacy Or Freedom In Tesla
#44 A Police Sniper Stationed On The Roof Of The Indiana Memorial Union Overlooking A Student Encampment At Iu Bloomington
#45 A Company Box Lunch That Comes With Simulated Cookie Printed Out
#46 It Isn’t A Threat, The Casings Are Empty. It’s A Reminder Of How Far Society Is Being Pushed By Profit Over People
#47 What’s The End Game Here?
#48 Idk If They’re Joking With This Survey? Or What? Prolly Trying To Make A Point I Hope
#49 Absolutely Speechless Right Now. Am I Being Trolled?
#50 What’s Next Gambling How Many People Die?
#51 Don’t Worry Yall. Since La Cut $17.6 Million From The Lafd And Gave A Significant Portion To The Lapd, The Police Will Be Able To Handle It
#52 Where Have I Seen This Before? Hmm 🤔
#53 “What Starts Here Changes The World” Officers Surrounding Peaceful Pro-Palestine, Anti-Genocide Protesters At The University Of Texas In Austin
#54 Had To Pay 50 Cent To Use The Restroom, But There Is A Cutout For Kids To Use It Free
#55 Maye Musk, Mother Of Richest Man In The World, Sits In On Doge Meetings
#56 Spotify Decided The Device I Bought Less Than 2 Years Ago Will Just Stop Working
#57 Israel Wipes Out Another Village In Lebanon
#58 Just Got This In The Mail Today
#59 The Definition Of “Out Of Touch”
#60 Fortune Magazine Shaming Gen Z For Not Purchasing Diamonds Mined By Children Or Owned By Oligarchs
#61 Corporate Media Says Corporate Greed Not Driving Inflation
#62 That Won’t Even Cover My Out Of Pocket Maximum For The Year
#63 Ys Presidential Candidate And Ambassador To The Un, Writes ‘Finish Them’ On Bombs Used To Mass M*rder Children
#64 The First Image That Pops Up When You Google Beethoven Is Now AI Generated
#65 It’s Hot Let’s Gouge People For Water
#66 McDonald’s In The 1980s Compared To Today
#67 Tesla Cybertruck Reportedly Catches Fire Outside Trump Hotel In Las Vegas
