“In Pursuit of Utopia” is a monthly show graciously hosted by Brett Veinotte, founder of the School Sucks Project. Each month, we discuss utopian thoughts and theories from different periods of time, the aim being to underscore their relevance to us today. To no small degree, history is an ever-growing pile-up of utopian ideologies; we live atop the pile, our past being replete with “noble” sacrifices and deadly missteps on the upward journey to human perfection.
In this show, we pour over the history of imagined human perfectibility. What has this notion won us? What has it lost us? How have utopian plots to realize heaven on earth—or to establish perfect, scientific, “rational” states—ended up? All this and more is explored in the School Sucks Project and Age of Utopia joint-presentation, “In Pursuit of Utopia.”
EPISODE 1: “FROM THE BOTTOM UP”
In this episode, we define our terms, and introduce the concepts of “utopia” and “myth.”
Here, we look at the utopian theories that swept the Old and New Worlds in the 17th and 18th centuries. We explore the Puritanical fathers of colonial America, who hoped to encourage God’s return to earth. We then turn our attention back to Europe, observing the rise of the ideal of a “rational society,” as it was originally posited by Francis Bacon, and covertly attempted by the elusive Illuminati.
This month, Brett and I look at some major tenets of Enlightenment philosophy, and how it suggested a new brand of utopia, just as the western world really began to open up.
With a title like that, what could go wrong? Well, that’s exactly what Brett and I explore in this episode, all about the American Revolution: What it offered, what it delivered, and why those things wound up being very different.
EPISODE 5: “COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY”
France, 1789. Medieval policies send the nation’s poor into a state of bitter starvation. The same Medieval policies give the clergy and the nobility special rights over everybody else: Those who do all the work. Something needed to be done, and something was. Yet, out of the noble cause of liberty, equality, and fraternity, sprang a vicious system of authoritarianism. In the name of the Revolution, anything was permissible. In pursuit of utopia, the ends justified the means.
EPISODE 6: “…AND NO MAN IMPROVES”
As the American government lurched to the west, seeking to conquer the continent, a new philosophy emerged among those who felt detached from the federalism passed down by the founding fathers. These “Transcendentalists,” led in their thinking by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, rejected the rising materialism and standardization of American culture, and instead sought to return to nature in order to discover what true individualism could be. Though in many ways this philosophy repudiated the utopian vision of a centralized United States, some Transcendentalists attempted to create from scratch new “colonies” of their own. You get one guess at how that worked out for them…
For the first time, Brett and I are joined by historical researcher Kevin Cole of unityofthepolis.com. We discuss the community at New Harmony, IN, which was an early experiment in socialism. We also discuss some of the underlying reasons why studying utopianism is important, and comment on the dangers of ideologically-saturated messages. There was so much on the table for this conversation, that we had to agree to a Part 2 in order to hit it all. Enjoy Part 1 of my talk with Brett Veinotte and Kevin Cole.
EPISODE 8: “NEW HARMONY, PART 2”
Brett and I are joined by Kevin Cole again, to continue our discussion of New Harmony. We discuss Neef’s educational philosophy, life in the experiment, and more. We have decided to expand this series even further to include a third part, just to be sure that we’ve gotten everything out of New Harmony we can.
EPISODE 9: “NEW HARMONY & BEYOND” (PART 3)
To wrap up the discussion on the Utopian experiment at New Harmony, Kevin Cole joins us again. We delve into his personal interest in the subject, then discuss the philosophical underpinnings of Robert Owen’s proto-Socialist society. We examine this early Socialism as opposed to the Enlightenment philosophy that had animated the American Revolution just one generation earlier. We even talk a little bit about the dreaded Illuminati, and it’s actual role in the history of the late-18th and early-19th centuries.
EPISODE 10: “FABIAN SOCIALISM”
Socialists are known the world over for their call to revolution; the forcible overthrow of the oppressor class, to be replaced by a “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Yet, not all Socialists shout “Revolution!” Some instead occupy positions of influence—positions in politics, banking and finance, education—and work to change the system from the inside. In the late 19th century, a group was formed in England, with the expressed goal of doing exactly that. This “Fabian Society” is the subject of this episode of “In Pursuit of Utopia.” Brett and I are once again joined by Kevin Cole, and the three of us discuss the origins, ideology, and influence of this organization.
EPISODE 11: “FABIANISM & DEGENERATION”
In this conversation, Brett, Kevin, and I put a bow on the subject of the Fabians, and address the cultural context in which they arose. This leads not only to a bit of discussion on life in Victorian Era England; it also takes us back to the very roots of Western philosophy. We dig into the ever-lasting influence of Plato and his Utopian Republic, and show some of the critical links between ancient philosophy and the political philosophies that cropped-up at the end of the 19th century. This episode serves as the perfect transition from Episode 10 into Episode 12, which will take us even deeper into the world of Platonic philosophy, as we discuss the mystical origins, aims, and techniques of the British Empire.
Thank you for tuning in, and please don’t forget to visit schoolsucksproject.com.
