Elliot Gengler - Utopias and Dystopias

The ongoing Syrian Civil War is coming up on it's 10th anniversary, and the war in Afghanistan began almost 20 years ago now. While American presence in Afghanistan has steadily declined, and Syria seems to have reached a stalemate, it seems like Americans have turned sharply against the idea of foreign intervention, many saying they just want to leave the Middle East alone. There's a similar dynamic in 1984, with the governments constantly fighting against the other powers in the Middle East. While most people act patriotic about it all, I get the impression from Winston's experience that they all realize how pointless the wars are, and how the wars will never be won. Though if they were to express those feelings, they would be arrested pretty quickly. Still, Oceania maintains that they are fighting and winning, and that the people just need to give a little more to the government, to secure victory.  I wonder if, similarly to what's happened in America in the last 20 ...

https://apnews.com/article/legislature-legislation-local-governments-nevada-economy-2fa79128a7bf41073c1e9102e8a0e5f0 The Nevada state government has unveiled a plan to allow the creation of "Innovation Zones," large areas of land which will be transferred to tech firms over the course of a few years. These zones would eventually gain the legal powers equivalent to a county, meaning they would have their own courts, collect their own taxes, and even have their own police force.  This is a bad idea. The use of flowery language (in typical 1984 fashion) hides the fact that these Innovation Zones would be a nightmare for the workers living there. Tech firms would be given massive authority over the actions of workers, making unionization would be near impossible. And, with a monopoly on local employment, employees could be paid minimum wage even for skilled labor, and given the bare minimum in terms of benefits.  If a worker wants to leave the zone, to find employment elsewhere,...