A CRITIQUE OF WIGO (WHAT IS GOING ON): A KORZYBSKIAN EVALUATION OF DYSTOPIAN FICTION.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	A CRITIQUE OF WIGO (WHAT IS GOING ON): A KORZYBSKIAN EVALUATION OF DYSTOPIAN FICTION.
Authors:	SUDHA, BINI BABU
Source:	ETC: A Review of General Semantics. Oct2025, Vol. 82 Issue 4, p286-312. 27p.
Subjects:	General semantics, Social criticism, Fiction, Power (Social sciences), Philosophers, Facts (Philosophy), Oppression
Abstract:	Using a general semantics perspective, the paper analyzes the potential of dystopian imagination as a form of social critique by mapping the life-worlds portrayed in selecting fiction and evaluating them as allegories of WIGO (What Is Going On). Alfred Korzybski's diagnostic, prognostic, and remedial approach to ailing social-political-cultural structures and processes provides the theoretical framework for analysis in this paper. In Korzybski's view, when humans fail to live up to their time-binding potential, they feel alienated, transform into animals or automatons stripped of emotions, and succumb to "unsane" orientations that misdirect our nations and civilizations. The paper illustrates how deviating from the time-binding way of life and surrendering to energy- and space-binding instincts of survival may lead to the degeneration of human selves and societies, as depicted in dystopian novels. The study identifies parallels between our historical and contemporary realities and the experiences captured in dystopian fiction, employing three major tropes: the blatant and subtle exercises of power, the intersections of power and knowledge, and the epistemic violence implicit in the calculated misappropriation of language and ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection

Description
Abstract:	Using a general semantics perspective, the paper analyzes the potential of dystopian imagination as a form of social critique by mapping the life-worlds portrayed in selecting fiction and evaluating them as allegories of WIGO (What Is Going On). Alfred Korzybski's diagnostic, prognostic, and remedial approach to ailing social-political-cultural structures and processes provides the theoretical framework for analysis in this paper. In Korzybski's view, when humans fail to live up to their time-binding potential, they feel alienated, transform into animals or automatons stripped of emotions, and succumb to "unsane" orientations that misdirect our nations and civilizations. The paper illustrates how deviating from the time-binding way of life and surrendering to energy- and space-binding instincts of survival may lead to the degeneration of human selves and societies, as depicted in dystopian novels. The study identifies parallels between our historical and contemporary realities and the experiences captured in dystopian fiction, employing three major tropes: the blatant and subtle exercises of power, the intersections of power and knowledge, and the epistemic violence implicit in the calculated misappropriation of language and ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	0014164X