 by aussiegall
Back in November, I wrote about Those Who Walk Away From Omelas, Ursula K. LeQuin's classic story of what people will accept for Utopia, or its facsimile.
In the story, the people of Omelas have to ignore the central horrifying truth of the source of their Utopia. And, in a terrifying recognition of humanity's need for rationalization and self-delusion, most of the inhabitants can accept the apparent immorality of their choice simply by ignoring it. Only a few chose to leave, perhaps finding another place to live.
In my discussion, I wrote:As much as we have tried to hide it, we are now all aware of the dark secrets that were the source of our Utopia. As in the story, the act of bringing these secrets into the open destroys our paradise.
It is now all different. The world has shifted. The dreamworld is no more. Omelas has been overthrown.
Too many of our leaders wish to ignore this shift, to pretend the dream is still achievable. CEOs still behave as if we were unaware of the changed circumstances. Politicians speak as if just a little reworking of the message will get everything back to right. Both feel that money, the root of what caused our dreams to shatter, will be able to fix the problems.
They are both acting as greedily and are as inconsiderate of the world around them as they did while we were all dreamers. They are attempting to rebuild Omelas from the burnt ashes of the ruins. This is a choice of failure.
Now, those of us who wish to survive are forced to make new choices, to find a new path, to walk away from Omelas. We really have no choice because Omelas no longer exists.
I may not know where we are going to but I do know from where we are marching. I only hope I can live long enough see the new place we chose to inhabit. I wonder what it will look like. Yeah, I was full of my prose but the basic point is true. Our Omelas is gone and those of us who see that know we have to walk away, to find ourselves a new place to live. But we continue to hear from those who want to remain in the city, to hold onto Utopia even as it crumbles around them.
[More at A Man WIth A PhD]
Technorati Tags: General 11:24:17 AM 
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