A world “nearing utopia” means nothing if it folds under narrative pressure. You claim they won’t abandon their values during war — but where is that tested? Where is the cost?
If the ideals survive without friction, that’s not hope — it’s insulation. And if body positivity is presented as an untouched truth while death and trauma gut everything else, that’s not healing —that’s moral tourism.
War stories don’t need to erase softness. But they do need to ground it. Beauty matters because of the horror, not in spite of it.
If your utopia survives, show me how it bleeds, and if it doesn’t — it’s not utopia. It’s a delusion with good lighting and cute furry sprites.
And, please, don’t defend tone misalignment as moral purity, when it’s just aesthetic inertia. If your world can hold both slaughter and self-love, then show the friction, not a Pinterest board stapled to a battlefield. Own the clash or get out of the genre.
P.S.
Star Trek: TNG — one of the most optimistic visions of the future — never lets its ideals go untested. Every utopian principle was stress-tested against diplomacy, trauma, loss, and ethical contradiction. That’s what made the hope earnest, not ornamental. Maybe you should take notes.
edit:
> I strive to achieve, and if I fail at doing so, then I shall fail with at least trying.
“Failing while trying” isn’t nobility. It’s evasion.
You’re not under attack for having ideals. You’re being asked whether those ideals fit the world you’ve built. You say the war is just one part—but the stakes shape every part.
Trying doesn’t excuse misalignment. Effort isn’t immunity.
This isn’t about whether your ideals are beautiful. It’s about whether your story earns them.
If you fail without facing that, then you’re not failing by trying.
You’re failing by refusing to listen — while an untrained echo chamber flatters your ego instead of asking the real question:
Are you actually failing yourself?