There is a 1973 science fiction or fantasy story, depending upon how you define those terms, by Ursula K. Le Guin titled “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.” Le Guin got the name for the fictional city of Omelas from a fleeting glance in her rear-view mirror at a road sign as she drove away from Salem, Oregon. Omelas is a utopian place, whose citizens spend their days and nights seeking pleasure, recreating, or working, if they choose. Everyone has enough to eat and places to sleep without having to toil for it, a true paradise. However, beneath the city a child is imprisoned in horrible conditions. It isn’t explained why, but the existence of Omelas is dependent on the continuous torture of this child. Le Guin was obviously setting up the moral quandary which is the spine of the story.
Most citizens of Omelas have accepted the bargain, barely thinking about the shackled child below the streets. A few, though, are troubled enough by this situation that they cannot. Sooner or later the troubled ones simply walk away from Omelas, turning their backs on all they know. When the Walk Away movement began, Le Guin’s story resonated loudly in my head.
I am not a scholar of Le Guin’s work, but from reading her and about her one can glean that she was a feminist and an anarchist. Her honest, old-fashioned leftism viewed a practical anarchism as an end goal achievable and worth striving for. I don’t agree with, but do feel an empathy for, those bitter old anarchists. After using them as cannon fodder, the socialists pulled a cynical bait-and-switch. The people who call themselves anarchists today wink at each other, understanding “anarchist” as a convenient cloak to hide under and a hammer with which to wreck the hated system (which at least works) on the road to a socialist uberstate (which won’t). Would Ursula K. Le Guin, were she still alive, feel welcome on the Left? Hard to say. The mere fact that she wrote “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” argues that she would not. The story demands debate and dissent, which modern leftists appear to abhor.
Step by step over the years the Democrats have retreated farther away from the truth, burrowing deeper into the comforting warmth of their big, beautiful lies. They pity and scorn those who can’t, or even hesitate, to follow them in that deep. The leftist must hold in contempt those who don’t agree with him completely. Even the slightest doubt creeping in will corrode the foundations of his beliefs, which are built not even on sand but on air and arrogance. The vitriol also serves to keep leftists in line, knowing they will be mercilessly attacked if they break ranks.
And yet, a growing number can no longer manage the moral gymnastics required to be a Democrat today. Slogans like “speech is violence and violence is speech” are not confined to the pages of dystopian novels anymore. The Democrats bellow them with passion while out for nights of burning, looting, and shooting those who speak their minds or even just try to eat supper outside a cafe. Louder than the chants in the streets are the screams of the shackled and tortured child Truth beneath the edifice of the Democratic Party. Saner Democrats, those not mesmerized by the power they imagine is almost within their grasp, have woken from their slumber to this nightmare. Reluctantly, they turn their backs on all they know, and walk away. read more
h/t Systematically Confused.
Who is John Galt, comes to mind.
There is no Utopia.
Even the Garden of Eden had a snake in the grass.
Child torture.
Pass.
I have been saying for years that a true statement would be, ” you can’t be a Christian and a Democrat.” This story also describes those who try to be both. As Christians, they know that abortion, transgenderism, and almost every thing the Democrats stand for is evil, but they choose to look away. They will be sorry on judgement day.
That was the only story I ever read by Le Guin, and it has always haunted me. I don’t recommend it for the faint of heart, the description of the child’s hell is heart-wrenching.
never much into Le Guin’s writings …. always seems to try too hard to complain, (particularly about the ‘patriachy’ … as in ‘She Unnamed Them’ & ‘The Left Hand of Darkness) w/out going into too much detail, leaving the reader to guess
she always did seem to believe there is no Utopia in any society of humans, as in ‘The Dispossessed’
… & sometimes I think the child & Omelas could be some sort of metaphor for Christ & the world … but her vagueness leads one to imagine any storyline the reader can concoct
Her “A Wizard of Earthsea” series is a read not to be missed if you are a sucker for good fantasy..
@John, I’ll check it out. I just started a fantasy book that promises to be interesting.
The old lady friends in my parish seethe at the name of Donald Trump. I am a convert to Roman Catholicism, much in the vein of Taylor Marshall and many countless other historians, authors, musicians…we came searching for Truth, and horrors, what we found was ecumenism. The ladies are offended in aesthetic sensitivities, and pointing out the obvious good the man has done is a waste of time. Pointing out the obvious evil of their party produces sullen silence. I am somewhat bemused, because of the despair that comes from losing one’s beloved long held political fantasy. Oh well. History and Truth win out. I haven’t been back to church due to the Clipboard Stasis checking you for proper spacing and mask placement. Fear of death has seemingly won over Resurrection and joy.
Her daughter, Moira Greyland, may have given a clue into the child torture thing, as it looks like there was some real life experimentation going on.
Jewel you just need to shop your catholic church. If the new found priest doesn’t wear a mask you can bet he is as repulsed by these libtards as you are.
And it is amazing there are any leftest catholics but even more horrible is that there are leftest priests
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/archbishop-vigano-trump-is-preparing-to-fight-against-the-demonic-forces-of-the-deep-state
The Ones Who Walked Away title reminds me of a story I listened to on NPR many many years ago. It had a disgusting ending.
Some children playing in the woods heard a man who had fallen into an old hand dug water well after he stepped on the old rotten cover concealed below the fallen leaves, and fell in. He had been stuck in the well for many days when the children discovered him. The children talked to the man but never came close enough to see him or be seen by him. He asked for them to fetch adults to help him, and when they left he thought that is what they were going to do.
However, over the next few days the children or only one or two of them would return to the well talk to him, and listen to his pleas for help or ask them to at least bring him something to drink or eat. But they would not bring him any food or fetch adults to help him. The story ended with all of them walking away, and no one ever helped the man out of the well.
I was left thinking what a terrible story with no redeeming value. Wondering what was the point of the story, and why would NPR broadcast the story.
Walk away? Hell, I ran away when I saw this was about Ursula Guin.
(Insert robot with flailing arms) DANGER! DANGER! BORING SOCIALIST FANTASIES ABOUT ANGST AHEAD!!!
Blink, your story reminds me of an interesting Italian movie called “ Non Ho Pauro”, meaning I’m not afraid. It is the story of a group of poor rural Sicilian kids who find a fair skinned, blue eyed blond boy in a well. He pleads with them to be let out, and the children decide to help him by feeding him instead. It turns out that he was kidnapped by their parents and is being held for ransom. The children are in a quandary. Help him or expose their parents to the law. Very good movie.
A little internet searching found the story was titled, “Man in the Well”, a short story by Ira Sher.
You can find short videos or audio of the story on the internet. My recall got one story detail wrong, they bring the man some food.
Reading some online discussions of the story, some see it as a version of “Lord of the Flies”, children behaving badly (or adults) in groups. Inability to forgive one’s self later for bad behavior when young. Break down of societies. Well, we certainly see a lot of that lately. Lack of trust or empathy between people when they can’t see each other face to face.
Similar in someways to the people in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” who did not walk away, and were content to live their lives at the expense of the tortured child below the city. Red pill or blue pill?
Here’s one take on possible themes of the story. Not that I necessarily agree with his view. Or others online that are different.
http://dmasciocchi.blogspot.com/2012/09/theme-for-man-in-well-short-story-man.html .
Jewel, I too am a convert to the Catholic Faith. If you want real, unadulterated, full strength Catholicism, abandon the Novus Ordo and run to your nearest FSSP or SSPX parish. The Tridentine Latin Mass is far superior to even the most reverent Novus Ordo and you won’t hear socialist drivel from the pulpit.
Frank,
Moira Greyland is actually the daughter of Marion Zimmer Bradley. Also a writer contemporary of Le Guin’s, and possibly fellow traveler.
While both did have some interesting pieces, was not a fan of either author.
What Bradley, her husband, and later partner, perpetrated on their daughter and son (other children, too) justly earned their beds in perdition. Perhaps old ‘Notorious’, herself, can now engage as Advocate in their behalf. She surely earned her spurs for that court.
IATS
TWD
Clearest description of socialism in literature ever, even better than 1984 or Animal Farm