The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

[DesertShark]

It is a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin. If you have not read it, you can read it here: http://www.geocities.com/lneefe/omelas_intro.htm

For those who have read it, what would you have done if you were a member of the community in Omelas?

-DesertShark

[Junius]

I don't know. :unsure:

On the one hand, it would seem...pointless for me to leave to appease my own moral outrage at the treatment of the boy when that treatment is going to continue nevertheless. But we could use that argument about a lot of things...

On the other hand, that treatment is so disgusting, how could you live knowing that you are *somewhat* contributing to that cause? I'd feel guilty - even though we are told that there can be no guilt in this utopia. But it just seems pointless to leave in this situation.

Also, I'm not sure what the last sentence means "The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas." Well maybe its fitting that I don't understand where this place is, since I'm not leaving Omelas!

But, it could be just a normal world. Doesn't make sense, since that is quite imaginable. Could be a hell-hole, but that is quite imaginable and also unlikely consequence of someone taking the noble moral position. And then again it could be a chance to make a utopia out of a...normal world? That's unimaginable, I suppose, and it has a 'definite purpose'.

So, I'm not sure. If I had to chose, I would stay. Why? The orgies and the drugs, of which I am a big fan.

[DesertShark]

I don't know. :unsure:

On the one hand, it would seem...pointless for me to leave to appease my own moral outrage at the treatment of the boy when that treatment is going to continue nevertheless. But we could use that argument about a lot of things...

On the other hand, that treatment is so disgusting, how could you live knowing that you are *somewhat* contributing to that cause? I'd feel guilty - even though we are told that there can be no guilt in this utopia. But it just seems pointless to leave in this situation.
Indeed. I think I would try and talk to the other people living there in an attempt to get them to understand what they were doing. In my opinion, a little bit of my own suffering is worth not having anyone else suffer tremendously. All the feelings the young people feel when they first see the child are important; its extremely limiting to only experience a small spectrum of emotions/feelings. I also think that this story was adapted from Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, from the section that explains why god doesn't exist.
Also, I'm not sure what the last sentence means "The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas." Well maybe its fitting that I don't understand where this place is, since I'm not leaving Omelas!

But, it could be just a normal world. Doesn't make sense, since that is quite imaginable. Could be a hell-hole, but that is quite imaginable and also unlikely consequence of someone taking the noble moral position. And then again it could be a chance to make a utopia out of a...normal world? That's unimaginable, I suppose, and it has a 'definite purpose'.
Perhaps they go somewhere where everyone is suffering, which is hard to imagine even though it is happening right now.

So, I'm not sure. If I had to chose, I would stay. Why? The orgies and the drugs, of which I am a big fan.
I'm also a big fan of both (more the drugs though), but not at the expense of someone else.

I just reread the story and it made me think of the bible, Jesus, and heaven. According to Christians, god did that to his son so that everyone else could go to heaven (although, god didn't do it as well as the people in the story because people still suffer now). So, would you choose to live in heaven forever at the expense of one individual child? I sure as hell wouldn't, but I'm not religious and god doesn't exist so its pretty irrelevant.