It is straight out of Kurt Vonnegut's short story, Harrison Bergeron, which I did read in high school a long time ago. (It wouldn't be allowed now.)
Everyone must be the same. You can't have any above average abilities. Equal outcomes are mandated by law. There are NO individuals, only groups. Of course, you can't make everyone excel so…
It is straight out of Kurt Vonnegut's short story, Harrison Bergeron, which I did read in high school a long time ago. (It wouldn't be allowed now.)
Everyone must be the same. You can't have any above average abilities. Equal outcomes are mandated by law. There are NO individuals, only groups. Of course, you can't make everyone excel so everyone else must be handicapped. But even this dystopian short story didn't have the added layer of race on top. What is even more fitting, the story highlights ballet dancers and their handicaps. Story here: https://archive.org/stream/HarrisonBergeron/Harrison%20Bergeron_djvu.txt
My awakening was Anthem by Ayn Rand in junior high school 60 years ago.
“In that was left of humanity there was only one man who dared to think, seek, and love. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone. He had rediscovered the lost and holy word—I.”
We need to stand forth from the mindless human herd.
I didn’t read Anthem until my mid-20s, but there is one passage that was indelibly burned into my brain:
“The word ‘We’ is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.”
Jim, I read that in high school too. In fact, high school was so long ago that I had confused the Harrison Bergeron story with Anthem. A quick search showed that the ballet dancer wasn't in Anthem and I had misremembered. I finally found the correct story. (The ballet dancer seemed so pertinent here.) But Anthem really hit me back then too. I should reread it. Here is a free Gutenberg version. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1250
I erased my original comment about Ayn Rand and rewrote it. I think if you even brought one of her books into a classroom nowadays you would be excommunicated! I can't believe we actually read it in school! After this fiasco of "I am science" and the silencing of critics, it should be mandatory in any free thinking school, just so they can weed out people who are willing to engage in controversial thought (unbelievable!) and those that demand to be protected.
Great call on the Vonnegut story. Of course, you wouldn't be reading it in today's HS classroom....more likely it would be "Genderqueer: A Memoir," replete with tales of same-sex pedophilia.
Kurt Vonnegut also wrote an interesting story about the government assigning every citizen a set of handicaps, to level the field, so to speak. I didn’t think much of the story when I read it about 50 years ago; but now it feels a lot like “equity”.
It is straight out of Kurt Vonnegut's short story, Harrison Bergeron, which I did read in high school a long time ago. (It wouldn't be allowed now.)
Everyone must be the same. You can't have any above average abilities. Equal outcomes are mandated by law. There are NO individuals, only groups. Of course, you can't make everyone excel so everyone else must be handicapped. But even this dystopian short story didn't have the added layer of race on top. What is even more fitting, the story highlights ballet dancers and their handicaps. Story here: https://archive.org/stream/HarrisonBergeron/Harrison%20Bergeron_djvu.txt
My awakening was Anthem by Ayn Rand in junior high school 60 years ago.
“In that was left of humanity there was only one man who dared to think, seek, and love. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone. He had rediscovered the lost and holy word—I.”
We need to stand forth from the mindless human herd.
I didn’t read Anthem until my mid-20s, but there is one passage that was indelibly burned into my brain:
“The word ‘We’ is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.”
Jim, I definitely have to reread it!
Jim, I read that in high school too. In fact, high school was so long ago that I had confused the Harrison Bergeron story with Anthem. A quick search showed that the ballet dancer wasn't in Anthem and I had misremembered. I finally found the correct story. (The ballet dancer seemed so pertinent here.) But Anthem really hit me back then too. I should reread it. Here is a free Gutenberg version. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1250
I erased my original comment about Ayn Rand and rewrote it. I think if you even brought one of her books into a classroom nowadays you would be excommunicated! I can't believe we actually read it in school! After this fiasco of "I am science" and the silencing of critics, it should be mandatory in any free thinking school, just so they can weed out people who are willing to engage in controversial thought (unbelievable!) and those that demand to be protected.
Thank you for the link to Anthem. I read it today and it’s incredible. Thanks again.
Great call on the Vonnegut story. Of course, you wouldn't be reading it in today's HS classroom....more likely it would be "Genderqueer: A Memoir," replete with tales of same-sex pedophilia.
Vonnegut also used this concept in his novel The Sirens of Titan. I don't know which he wrote first - the short story or the novel.
Kurt Vonnegut also wrote an interesting story about the government assigning every citizen a set of handicaps, to level the field, so to speak. I didn’t think much of the story when I read it about 50 years ago; but now it feels a lot like “equity”.
I haven't read that one. Thanks for the tip.
I recently dug this story up, too. I read it in middle school and never forgot it.