Word: utopians
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Expectations, then, run high amongst the new chosen ones. In their conversations, they imagine all the utopian schemes of ideal-Harvard. It will be full of the most brilliant, friendly, and beautiful teenagers on the planet. The dorms will be capacious old historical structures with presidents’ names etched in the walls. The professors will all be intellectual titans who lavish students with posh research sinecures and emit pleasant fragrances of lilac to boot. A river of candy and diamonds will course mightily through the center of Harvard Yard on alternate Thursdays, and the sex will be plentiful...
...from the point of view of a current student, to look with amusement at the grand designs that the new freshmen have in store. Certainly there is nothing wrong with a measure of overeagerness and naïveté. But is it possible that the thing which places these utopian expectations so wildly off-mark is their existence in the first place? Or, put differently: do the unmoored expectations of Harvard prefrosh reflexively cancel themselves...
...despite the gloom and doom, science fiction also displays an optimistic view of humanity. Arthur C. Clarke in particular created many utopian societies that ceased to view individuals based on race, religion, or nationality and instead regarded all as members of a shared human species. Clarke believed that peace could emerge if the same energies that result in war and genocide were channeled into space exploration and the eventual colonization of new worlds...
...Colosseum in Rome could testify to human achievement, but dark clouds suggest impending misfortune and perhaps serve as a warning to the papacy in Rome about the perils of its own sinful ways. By the end of the 17th century, the myth had reemerged in a more utopian form, as scientists and artists exalted man's ability to conceive and carry through grand projects: the tower becomes a unifying force, and images show people holding hands around the unwavering structure...
...with which the Bush Administration viewed Bill Clinton's failed efforts to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To Bush's team, Clinton's desperate pursuit of a deal--his first-term Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, visited Israel 35 times--was a waste of presidential prestige. It smacked of utopian arrogance, as if Americans thought we could make a messy world behave the way we wanted...