Thread: Outlawing Anything Therapeutic - Advice

Originally Posted by guy_faukes

I would take a look at Animal Farm, 1984 for similar, dystopia-like scenarios. Orwell was especially good at creating semi-believable "hell-on-earth" societies. He started from the ground up, basing his ideas from the ground up (I think) on how Soviet and other dictatorships maintained 'legitimacy' with their peoples as well as their ultimate failings.

I think problems you are (and have been running into) is that you're working from the opposite direction top down, which is a very difficult thing to do.

I've read Animal Farm and 1984. As well as a whole slew of other dystopian/utopian fiction. I've done a lot of research on dictatorships but things still have to make reasonable sense to be accepted. That's why I asked the question. But I think I figured it out. I do believe I'm working from the ground up. I don't know what gives you the idea (or anyone for that matter) the opposite impression. I'm still creating my world. Writing and coming up with new ideas. That's why I'm throwing things out there.

Yeah, completely disregard my last post. That was just fairly bad assumptions/lazy reading on my part.

The colors thing does sound plausible, especially with tying it with disease, witchcraft and illness since it does occur in superstitious, present day societies. Though these same societies tend to promote a set of colors over others.

I am interested on how people dress in this society and how you're gonna work the colors of natural human appearances (eye color, hair color... maybe even skin) in this twisted little universe.

Originally Posted by guy_faukes

The colors thing does sound plausible, especially with tying it with disease, witchcraft and illness since it does occur in superstitious, present day societies. A problem might be "well, how do people dress?" and the issues with natural beauty (eye color, hair color... maybe even skin).

For how people dress, I'll have to familiarize myself with different fabrics and styles... Lots of white and shades of gray. Very little black, if any. Black would be left to authoritative figures. As for the body, I was thinking genetic manipulation for the majority of the population but some would be born "all natural" but have to resort to hiding their differences in fear of being ridiculed and unpatriotic.

Giving new meaning to the phrase "well... don't you look gray today!"

You could maybe go a step forward with the naturals and have them be persecuted and demonized as the enemy for being nature incarnate.

I do thoroughly retract my "read 1984" comment. Looks like you've got some of Orwell's lines of dark thinking down hehe

Originally Posted by guy_faukes

Giving new meaning to the phrase "well... don't you look gray today!"

You could maybe go a step forward with the naturals and have them be persecuted and demonized as the enemy for being nature incarnate.

That's certainly an option.

Originally Posted by guy_faukes

I do thoroughly retract my "read 1984" comment. Looks like you've got some of Orwell's lines of dark thinking down hehe

Not a big deal. As for the dark thinking, I'm trying to go as dark and crazy as I can. I've also read that writers when writing need to acquire a sadistic license. At first, I wanted to have it take place in the near future but I think it's a lot more fun to go even further. Someone on this board (I can't remember the quote) said to go as far as you can with the idea. Don't hold back. It might even be a popular writing quote on the web. Not sure. But it's good advice. There's so much more to the world (rules and regulations etc.) that I've created that I think it will be a lot more interesting to read and discover.

Have you read Brave New World?

It is basically the opposite of whether you seem to be going for. Rather than outlawing "therapuetic" things, the powers that be have drowned the populace in those things, so to speak. It might give you some ideas.

Originally Posted by Cambyses

Have you read Brave New World?

It is basically the opposite of whether you seem to be going for. Rather than outlawing "therapuetic" things, the powers that be have drowned the populace in those things, so to speak. It might give you some ideas.

Yeah, I've read Brave New World. I'm trying to do the complete opposite of that. I'm aiming for a 1984/Fahrenheit 451 type of setting.

@Lin: well if Big Pharma sells anything antidepressant or stress relieving, then sex would be the first thing they'd want to get rid of.

@NB: Chemically induced impotence as a side effect to various other drugs could do the trick as far as men go. Removing the impulse would work but it would be more dramatic if they had the urges but were incapable of doing anything about them