Transcript
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Narrator/Quote Reader (0:33)
We did not ask if he had seen any monsters, for monsters have ceased to be news. There is never any shortage of horrible creatures who prey on human beings, snatch away their food, or devour whole populations. But examples of wise social planning are not so easy to find.
Rund Abdelfattah (Host) (0:53)
It's the year 1516. We're inside the pages of a book called Utopia, breathing the fictional air of Antwerp, Belgium.
Narrator/Quote Reader (1:03)
The Utopians fail to understand why anyone should be so fascinated by the dull gleam of a tiny bit of stone when he has all the stars in the sky to look at.
Rund Abdelfattah (Host) (1:13)
An old sunburned, long bearded traveler named Raphael Haithalide has just returned to Europe after spending five years on an island called Utopia, and he's seeing the world with new eyes, ranting to anyone who will listen.
Narrator/Quote Reader (1:28)
I can perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of the Nation.
Rund Abdelfattah (Host) (1:35)
About corrupt leaders, absurd laws, and the enclosure system in which so called landlords fence off lands belonging to villagers, turning them into their personal fiefdoms, all for the sake of profit. What a contrast to the island of Utopia, he reminisces, where every man has
Narrator/Quote Reader (1:55)
a right to everything.
Rund Abdelfattah (Host) (1:57)
Gold is used for chamber pots, private property isn't a thing. Everyone wears the exact same colorless clothes and works six hour days, everyone has his eye upon you, and all movement is perfectly regulated.
Narrator/Quote Reader (2:13)
If any man goes out of the city to which he belongs without leave, he is taken for a fugitive, severely punished, and if he does this often, he is condemned to slavery.
Rund Abdelfattah (Host) (2:28)
The author of this book, Thomas Moore, invented the word utopia. It's a Greek pun combining utopos no place and utopos good place. It asks in a tongue in cheek way, is a perfect society possible? Or is the fantasy just a mirror held up to reality and a chance to change it?
