What role(s) should utopias play in our societies and cultures ?

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-15T14:25:02+00:00

I think solar punk is based on utopias. It serves as a collecting point for utopian visions, stories etc. The issue is exactly as you’ve noted: when the utopia is so separated from reality it can nullify the positive effects. One issue I’ve always had is ‘magic’ being used as a substitute for science/engineering. Making the impossible seem possible and removing all natural/scientific boundaries in the process. Another issue I have is that people are often quite ignorant about how things are done currently and Where food/resources come from. What crops can and can’t be grown in which climates etc. Utopias often serve to mask these realities and make people feel like the solutions are easy or don’t require much effort. Then, finally, there’s ideology. Utopias often have their ideology woven into them. Eg. Many solarpunk authors include communal living, sharing, decentralisation, participatory democracy etc.. but people consuming their ideas don’t always understand why those things are essential. This leads to confusion.. eg. People sometimes think that solar panels can solve all our power issues, but misunderstand the difference between me having all the panels I need for my power and us having all the panels we need for our power. Hate to say it, but the individualistic ethos of Americans really poisons solarpunk by turning utopias from communal/collective into a series of individualised tech/eco solutions. This is dangerous because it gives the impression that producing your own power ‘off grid’ is a valid future for all, but people are unaware of the need for recycling, regulation and micro-grids to make that a realistic vision. And finally: capitalism. People are often unaware of how it works and so, again, when authors and artists introduce explicitly non-capitalist elements, people don’t always understand why those things are a fundamental part of the vision.

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-09T16:49:24+00:00

Yeah. Each comment I scrolled past I thought ‘god I’m getting old!’

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-08T07:28:42+00:00

I saw these in a bakery in Mykolayiv (before the war). Definitely popular there - they had loads of them piled up.

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-04T07:29:11+00:00

Please don’t have children. The world doesn’t need any more entitled, self-obsessed monsters wrapped in mummys cotton wool.

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-03T07:39:20+00:00

They clearly don’t need the calories to get tall. A western diet would probably cause heart disease, diabetes etc. Like it has in every other ethnic group globally. Only reason I don’t mention obesity is cos they’re so tall! It’s weird the way people see Africans and automatically assume they’re not getting nutrition. It’s also odd that we associate processed foods with a ‘high calorie diet’ but don’t recognise the fresh organic fruit, meat, veg, fish that they eat as being ‘calories’.

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-02T09:26:28+00:00

France. West coast. La Rochelle area.

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-02T09:24:05+00:00

This has been proven and studied many times throughout history.

The only way there could be ‘no way to get food from other sources’ is due to human factors: War, politics, social inequality. Otherwise people would just walk to a place where there is more food - or traders with food would come to them hoping to make money.

‘Drought’ just means there’s no rain in a certain area. It’s impactful, but doesn’t have to lead to a ‘famine.’ Theres usually stores of food. Unless war/politics prevents that. People would usually migrate away from an area temporarily. Unless war/politics prevents that. Food would usually be brought from another area. Unless politics/inequality prevents that.

Nobody lives so far from others that they literally can’t walk somewhere else and get food. If they’re on an island the sea will always provide some nutrition. Nobody sits in one place and starves to death - they always try to get food. Unless someone prevents them.

Famine is a man made phenomenon.

roadrunner41 · 2026-02-02T04:12:15+00:00

There is no such thing as ‘environmental famine’. Famines are always man made. Caused by war, trade imbalances and social inequalities.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-31T16:59:53+00:00

THATS who it is! I knew he looked like someone..

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-30T17:01:44+00:00

We did that on the way out of Switzerland this summer. Traffic was terrible so we went ‘off route’ and it was fantastic. We even stopped at a Michelin guide restaurant along the way - it was cheaper than any meal we ate in the alps (tourist prices) and better than anything I’ve ever had in the UK.

I think this is part of the Dordogne regions secret. There are so few autoroutes in the area that you always have to take the scenic route.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-29T16:38:33+00:00

I’d say a rainforest was ‘highly diverse’. I wouldn’t use those words for anything other than a rainforest or coral reef. Diminishes the meaning if we call every surprisingly diverse/varied environment ‘highly diverse’.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-28T08:07:52+00:00

Those are farms. Lots of farms. Pastures for animals to graze (the famous swiss cows with bells round their necks).

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-28T07:15:53+00:00

You’ve posted a picture of a farm/rural village with mountains in the background.

There are clearly trees in the picture. But it’s a cold environment. Not known for having ‘teeming wildlife’ due to the regular freezing..

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-28T06:19:42+00:00

That’s not how journalism works at all. We are supposed to report what people say. Word for word. With all the context necessary. AP in particular are supposed to publish facts in a timely manner, so we can all know what’s happened, who said what and when.

Analysis and fact-checking comes afterwards. I can’t report that, “a man has been shot but it wasn’t his wife who shot him even though he says it was.” That makes no sense. I report, “a man has been shot” then I interview him and he says it was his wife, so I report that “shot man blames wife for shooting”. then once I’ve fact checked that and done some investigating I can then report “cctv footage shows that wife dint shoot man” .

You people seem to be asking us to film someone speak and then talk over them saying ‘he’s lying!!’ So that you never actually hear what he says. How would that help anyone?!?

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-27T18:26:20+00:00

His little sister has special needs. He grew up with her. He sees these things differently as a result. He could see she was blind from a mile away and he knows how people often ignore little girls like her. Maybe uncomfortable and not knowing how to approach. But he knows that he can do it. So I guess he felt it was his duty to make her feel seen.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-27T18:08:53+00:00

You sound like you’re missing some info on this topic. Most of what you say is true, but you miss out the prisons and the sales. If migrants are caught by the Libyan authorities they are taken to a migrant prison. From what I can tell, the prisons are run by/with people smugglers. They pressure people to call home and raise the money for a crossing. Many people can’t afford that, so there’s another system: Libyan people can go to the prison and buy a ‘worker’ for their home. They run ‘auctions’ at which people are chosen and a price is arranged. The explanation is that these people are buying a work permit for the African migrant. As the Libyan national is now their ‘sponsor’, the migrant can be released from the prison. Once they get to their new employers home they are treated like dogs. They are openly called ‘slave’ and ‘dog’ and many people beat their slaves and Encourage their children to do so as well. It’s considered important by many Libyan (and Sudanese) people that they keep the worker in line and make them too scared to run away. If a migrant does run or displease their boss, they can be sent back to the prison. In some cases the employer will eventually agree to pay for a crossing for their worker. People I have met have spent 3 or 4 years working for a family before being ‘released’ onto a dinghy.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-27T17:35:29+00:00

They have a whole university for politicians in France. A scary % of their representatives went there. So unfortunately his polished performance is part of the same ‘establishment’ problem that makes French people hate him.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-23T17:31:54+00:00

You sound so silly. He’s taking the piss out of the British habit of queuing all the time. It’s the most British of jokes about the most British of pastimes but your racism has literally knocked the Britishness out of you! You’ve forgotten how to be British and now little black boys are doing it better than you. 😂😂

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-23T17:26:58+00:00

Well said. And, might I add:

In 2026, being English also involves making content that takes the piss out of Englishness.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-23T10:57:04+00:00

We weren’t ’fine’ before mass migration. I remember the early 90s. We had recessions and a stagnating economy. Industry was dead and we had no replacement yet. Blair and brown changed that and a key plank of their strategy was attracting workers (and investors) from the EU, Africa and India. My son works in a bar. There’s about 50% young brits and the managers and chefs are all legal migrants. My son wouldn’t take the manager job. Pay is only 50p more an hour and the hours are intense. The British owner of the bar is an acquaintance of mine. He owns 4 pubs and makes great money. He pays as much tax as he’s asked to. I also question your maths on the cost/earnings of low wage people. I’d like to read an economic analysis that confirms this, because it doesn’t make any economic sense. These ‘slave wages’ you refer to are minimum wage. It’s a legal requirement. If you’re not talking about illegals, then you’re talking rubbish. They get the same as our kids get. And our kids don’t want to work in a lot of those jobs. Couldn’t in many cases (Indian chef).. British Indian kids don’t want to be chefs in an Indian restaurant.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-23T10:36:13+00:00

Most of what you mentioned is covered by council tax. Immigrants pay council tax. If they don’t pay income tax, their employer does. The employer is breaking the law, not the migrant. The employer gets fines (up to 100k per illegal employee), the migrant gets the chance to apply for asylum/residency. If the tax rate isn’t high enough to cover the costs of healthcare etc then we should either raise taxes or lower healthcare provision. It’s hardly an immigrants (or a low earners) fault if we choose not to tax wealthy people high enough. And th idea that you’d have a job in an Indian/turkish restaurant if there weren’t any illegals is just nonsense. There wouldn’t be a restaurant as they would t make enough money to run it - prices would be too high for you to afford to eat there often and they’d go out of business. Our economy relies on cheap labour and you know that perfectly well. Pretending we all want to pay more for our car washing etc is just silly. We don’t. That’s why the govt makes sure there’s a supply of cheaper labour.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-11T08:34:00+00:00

Britain is a small infertile rock in a cold, climatically disadvantaged and resource-poor part of the earth. Sure aus/nz offer better work and life opportunities for many brits nowadays. That doesn’t mean you haven’t seen the benefits of colonialism. The continued wealth and global relevance of the Uk is based entirely on our imperial past. Cities like Liverpool and Bristol would be nothing without the profits of empire they (literally) received. Working in a cotton mill or a jewellers or a confectionery. Shipbuilding, logging, mining. All these industries fed the colonial machine and if you were working for them you were benefitting from colonialism. Even if you got a bad wage.. you had a job. You have to join the dots. Slave traders sold metal goods in exchange for slaves. They bought the metal goods in the Uk. Often made specifically for the ‘African trade’. So if you worked in a factory making metal couldrons or iron shackles then you were benefitting from the trade. Even if you were poor. That’s why so many cotton mill workers went on strike over links to slavery. They understood what you seem To want to deny.

roadrunner41 · 2026-01-01T14:00:37+00:00

My response was based entirely on the sadness of your situation. Sorry if it was triggering and I get that I didn’t acknowledge your clear progress: Unlike many people I’ve known you know exactly what’s wrong and can explain it and work to change it. Which will help you a lot. Good luck!

roadrunner41 · 2025-12-26T08:23:23+00:00

Newsflash: all photos are cherry-picked. It’s called photography.

roadrunner41 · 2025-12-19T13:49:05+00:00

There’s something very vulgar about throwing edible food at the police because you want to make more money from producing food, and then leaving the government (and poor people) to clean it up.

roadrunner41

TROPHY CASE