There are many countries out there that can be used as examples of real-life dystopias. Russia with its totalitarianism and the stronghold on the media, China and its personality cult, North Korea and its human rights violations—all of those are correct.

But thinking that the western world is somehow very far removed from those realities is hypocritical. We’re all slowly inching ourselves towards a reality that Cormac McCarthy would have a blast writing about.

Take, for example, mass surveillance. Don’t tell me you’ve never had that moment where you talked about wanting to get something and then, completely unexpectantly, got an ad for it on your browser. It was creepy at first, but not it’s just a thing that happens.

Everyone that has a phone and internet is monitored both by the government that makes sure you’re in line and corporations that want to sell you a better deal. They track your location, note how long you stay for in which places, keep tabs on your communications and, often, have access to your camera and microphone. If that doesn’t sound dystopian, I’m not sure what does.

Then, let’s not forget about how partisan and politicized the media is. These days it is so tough to find a news outlet that’s neutral when reporting on what’s happening around the globe. To the point that media bias is not at all a surprise, and we even have independent studies and charts about which way which news outlet is leaning.

Do we even need to mention the environmental disasters? Floods in California, droughts in the Midwest, islands on fire—and that’s just the US. There were heatwaves all over with record-breaking temperatures and floods in Sudan, Libya, Ghana, and way more. One just has to remember how New York looked during Canada’s wildfires earlier this year and you’ll know you we are living example of dystopia.

There’s hope though. We don’t check all the dystopian boxes just yet, at least not everywhere. One of the criteria seems to be uniformity and conforming to same expectations. And so far, we are doing alright there. 

Many of us have rights to protest and do exercise it. Sometimes there are hiccups here and there, but people seem to be aware enough to notice the issues. On top of that, people can doubt things and voice their opinions about it. Sometimes, they even garner following for it.

All in all, we’re not quite full-on dystopian just yet. We can get there very fast if we want to, though, so it’s important to note the sate we’re in even if it’s through internet lists like this one. As a wise man once said, check yourself, before you wreck yourself. And we all know that the last thing we need in this world is more wreckage.