ROAD TO DYSTOPIA

By Ojo Deborah

Dystopia is a land ever flowing with anguish. A place where its inhabitants live in fear, dread and cannot escape from. We seem to be rushing towards it. If that be the goal, here are seven ways to get there faster:

One: Destroy books.

A man that doesn't know his past cannot predict his future. Books are a source of knowledge bound to outlive generations.

When they are gone, man forgets and becomes ignorant.

Two: Enable Mob Violence.

Nigeria has a rate of 55 extrajudicial mob killings per year according to Amnesty International. Many times the crimes have not been proven or are minor.

Aluu Four in Port Harcourt, Deborah Samuel in Sokoto, Ibrahim Mbaya in Jos, Amaye in Niger and many more. Lack of social empathy will get us on the train to misery faster than the crime rate itself.

Three: Hurt your environment.

Fell trees without replanting. Litter endlessly. Poison the air and ruin the soil.

Four: Cheat.

Asking a friend for inspiration in an exam is still malpractice. Get into rooms through brown envelopes. When dishonesty becomes a way of life, integrity becomes a distant bad history.

Five: Monetise basic needs.

Put a premium on everything. Water should be strictly regulated, air should be commodified and hours of rest should come at an exorbitant price. 10000 naira for two hours of sleep.

Six: Normalize Cynicism

Frank Crane has never been more right when he said “ You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don't trust enough”. In Dystopia, there's a “Them” and a “We”. The structure remains strong as long as this dichotomy is sustained.

Seven: Lose Hope

By now, Dystopia is densely populated and its people no longer believe things can get better. They cannot return to their former home, for they know nothing about it and like Africans would say, “a man who can't tell where the rain began to beat him cannot know where he dried his body.”

The road to Dystopia is unending. Welcome to Dystopia.