@MLClark perhaps fuel for commentary, I’m curious to see your thoughts on The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Le Guin.
This is one of the most routinely discussed stories in SF, so "thoughts" on the topic can go in many directions! (Every few years, someone publishes a new story riffing on it too.)
Le Guin was inspired by a scene from my favourite novel, The Brothers Karamazov, in which Ivan argues that the concept of Heaven is unjust if it requires the tears of even one child in this lifetime.
Le Guin's story works because it doesn't explain what comes next. Just that *some* choose not to stay.
But what does @MLClark have to say about it? 😁 I suspect you’d go beyond Trolly Dilemma and Utilitarian critique. In this American election year those who leave remind me of those who refuse to sully the purity of their vote on someone they don’t agree with 100%. Is there a single word that encapsulates those who take the moral high ground while failing to engage in improving the things that disgust them? There’s one for observing them “shitenfrauds”. Okay, I just made that up. 😁💩
"Shitenfrauds." 😅
The problem with Ivan's lecture against Heaven on moral grounds is that Heaven might still exist in his universe, even if it's unjust. What then?
That's the question Le Guin leaves us with too: where are these people *going*, who walk away from Omelas? What other world exists?
The power of the story is that she describes no alternatives. What if "walking away from Omelas" can only be done figuratively, by condemning the social contract *and staying* to fix it?
The perfect society would also ideally have an *excellent* bodily fluid replenishment program!
@MLClark save the the kid, attend fewer orgies. Although the perfect society would have free childcare so I could attend as many orgies my precious bodily fluids can afford.