Not so long ago, in a remote corner of this planet, was a Utopia- the perfect society. Everything about the place was almost perfect, the people, the ethical government, the prosperity and the green-ness. It was a new habitat and the people had made all efforts to showcase their place as the epitome of perfection to the outside world, and the effort showed.
But, as with any other place, Utopia too had a small problem. Long before the city was built, there used to be a hamlet of poor outcasts in that place. They continued to live around the area and could be seen living on the pavements of the glittering city.
The sight of these poor amongst all the prosperity of Utopia brought different responses from the Utopians. There were three kinds of people, those who felt pity at the poor and used to feed and cloth them, there were many who were indifferent. And then there were a third class of people for whom the very presence of these god forsaken people was an eye sore. Incidently, this third catagory for people was the most vocal and demands were increasingly being raised to get Utopia rid of the pavement dwellers. They started putting more and more pressure on the government to act.
So what did the 'ethical' government do? Well, nobody actually knows for sure. But one fine morning, the Utopians woke up to find that the poor had simply vanished from the streets. And people were just clueless as to what happened to them. But slowly disturbing information started getting leaked from within the establishment. It was said on the fateful night before, the poor were all herded together, taken to an unknown location and gassed to death; as making arrangements for their rehabilitation was too much of a chore.
This infuriated some people and they started pestering the government to come up with an answer. At first, the government simply chose to ignore the questions; but when the protests became louder, after a prolonged silence, the government came up with an answer. The response was that, to ensure the percieved general well being of the Utopians, the government hired a private agency to 'take care of the poor'. Surprisingly, the government claimed complete ignorance on to how was that 'taking care of' activity carried out by that agency. The President of Utopia said in a public gathering that he would look into the issue. Needless to say, the issue was soon forgotten.
Incidently, much before the Government came up with this answer, the activists started getting veiled threats to fall in line or face the consequences. There were people who were happy to see the 'eye sores' gone and they started accusing the activists of needless rabble rousing. Some of them who were getting undue benifits from the establishment were concerned that any messing up with the establishment will mess up their comforts. The indifferent ones were simply surprised as to why so much importance was being given to such a petty issue.
The unexpected backlash from the Government and fellow Utopians, shocked and silenced the activists. They conceded defeat sensing that it was a lost cause and no matter how much they protested, nothing was going to happen. Slowly, they too got assimiliated in the main stream of Utopia.
So today, Utopia is finally perfect at last, The Establishment is happy and so are the people, Foreign dignitaries are being given a walk through to showcase how a perfect city should be run. The Elite are happy for getting rid of the eye sores. No one actually cares anymore...
... And they say that some unmarked graves outside the boundaries of Utopia have been forgotten too ...
But, as with any other place, Utopia too had a small problem. Long before the city was built, there used to be a hamlet of poor outcasts in that place. They continued to live around the area and could be seen living on the pavements of the glittering city.
The sight of these poor amongst all the prosperity of Utopia brought different responses from the Utopians. There were three kinds of people, those who felt pity at the poor and used to feed and cloth them, there were many who were indifferent. And then there were a third class of people for whom the very presence of these god forsaken people was an eye sore. Incidently, this third catagory for people was the most vocal and demands were increasingly being raised to get Utopia rid of the pavement dwellers. They started putting more and more pressure on the government to act.
So what did the 'ethical' government do? Well, nobody actually knows for sure. But one fine morning, the Utopians woke up to find that the poor had simply vanished from the streets. And people were just clueless as to what happened to them. But slowly disturbing information started getting leaked from within the establishment. It was said on the fateful night before, the poor were all herded together, taken to an unknown location and gassed to death; as making arrangements for their rehabilitation was too much of a chore.
This infuriated some people and they started pestering the government to come up with an answer. At first, the government simply chose to ignore the questions; but when the protests became louder, after a prolonged silence, the government came up with an answer. The response was that, to ensure the percieved general well being of the Utopians, the government hired a private agency to 'take care of the poor'. Surprisingly, the government claimed complete ignorance on to how was that 'taking care of' activity carried out by that agency. The President of Utopia said in a public gathering that he would look into the issue. Needless to say, the issue was soon forgotten.
Incidently, much before the Government came up with this answer, the activists started getting veiled threats to fall in line or face the consequences. There were people who were happy to see the 'eye sores' gone and they started accusing the activists of needless rabble rousing. Some of them who were getting undue benifits from the establishment were concerned that any messing up with the establishment will mess up their comforts. The indifferent ones were simply surprised as to why so much importance was being given to such a petty issue.
The unexpected backlash from the Government and fellow Utopians, shocked and silenced the activists. They conceded defeat sensing that it was a lost cause and no matter how much they protested, nothing was going to happen. Slowly, they too got assimiliated in the main stream of Utopia.
So today, Utopia is finally perfect at last, The Establishment is happy and so are the people, Foreign dignitaries are being given a walk through to showcase how a perfect city should be run. The Elite are happy for getting rid of the eye sores. No one actually cares anymore...
... And they say that some unmarked graves outside the boundaries of Utopia have been forgotten too ...
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