Utopian or Myopian

People often use the word "utopian" in the accusative, to mean "that which is impossible", when in fact their own condition may be called "myopian", "of limited vision". Folks living in cynical ages take cynical conditions for granted, and anything outside those bounds seems impossible, while to sensible people living under sensible laws, chaotic conditions seem precisely what they are, and sensible conditions seem sensible, not impossible.

Cynical people take it for granted that tobacco companies, originally formed and enriched by slave labor, should have virtually unchallenged sway over society, and that the attempt to limit their influence legally is impossible, even though there have been countries and states which have successfully done so. Cynical people take it for granted that judges in the 1800s would completely subvert the common law which protected everyone from neighbor's pollution, be it by air or by water, in favor of industrial lobbyists whose pollution has continued to poison the air and water, when the common law had been used successfully in many cases for hundreds and hundreds of years to protect people's rights.

Those who are surrounded by a sense of impossibility that limits their natural feelings for justice should not ridicule those who are able to see clearly and wish to transform situations for the better. To just accept things as they are is a thrallish attitude.