Harrison Bergeron And All The Troubles Of The World
Inessa Baustad Oostindie
Block G – Ms. Vadacchino
Nov. 19 – Dec. 2, 2014
The Impossibility of Equality and Humanity’s Mutual Existence in Society
What is the key to a perfect, equal, yet just society? There may not be one. Both Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” and Isaac Asimov’s “All the Troubles of the World” are short stories that satirize societies which are based on the goal of equality but which reveal deeply inhumane and unequal restrictions and practices. The bureaucratic and technological means of restricting the exercise of reason and development of ethics or memory in society in both stories suggests that it is impossible for an equal and humane society to exist.
Reason is humanity’s tool for interpreting, integrating, evaluating, …show more content…
In “Harrison Bergeron” the bureaucratic government uses handicappers to scramble and blast the thoughts of some people and causes them to lose perspective in order to calm civil unrest and to equal and match an individual to the lowest common denominator. In “All the Troubles of the World” Multivac warns the government in time for them to stop crimes and other inconvenient activities to keep the public at ease but also to give everyone equal chances in the society. Memory is crucial for reason to exist; in fact both rely on each other to exist, reason on memory to facilitate facts from fabrications, and memory on reason to give people the common sense they need to make decisions. Without memory a person cannot live up to their full potential and could not try as it would be impossible for them to learn anything. The public in 2081 even suffer from a short term memory loss because of this – as seen when George and Hazel cannot remember that their own son, Harrison, was executed on television while they watched. In the case of Harrison Bergeron it may actually be decent for them not to remember, but when did the government decide that it was “okay” to do this? To block the death of a child from the public’s memory when no one was given the choice to remember is unjust and …show more content…
When a society’s development of reason, memory and evolution is stunted this creates an inhumane society. In both Multivac’s society and the society in 2081 the societies are not only inhumane but immoral. The handicappers and Multivac’s power used in enforcing ethics in these societies are problematic as the people are told by the government what is right or wrong and in Multivac’s society they go as far as determining what occurs and affects the lives of the public. It is human to grapple with right and wrong and to develop an individual’s own moral compass, this is impossible when in both short stories people are influenced by what the government alone conveys and instead of taking responsibility they place or are forced to place their problems on another entity or governing group of individuals people when really they should be demanding to develop their own senses of right and wrong. If the people did demand this there would not be as drastic ethical breaches such as no privacy, no memory loss caused by the handicappers, and no stunt in development by both societies. Though because of the repression of reason people would not be able to demand or very well argue for their freedom, it would be impossible to break such a strong and intact societal cycle like this one without help from
Block G – Ms. Vadacchino
Nov. 19 – Dec. 2, 2014
The Impossibility of Equality and Humanity’s Mutual Existence in Society
What is the key to a perfect, equal, yet just society? There may not be one. Both Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” and Isaac Asimov’s “All the Troubles of the World” are short stories that satirize societies which are based on the goal of equality but which reveal deeply inhumane and unequal restrictions and practices. The bureaucratic and technological means of restricting the exercise of reason and development of ethics or memory in society in both stories suggests that it is impossible for an equal and humane society to exist.
Reason is humanity’s tool for interpreting, integrating, evaluating, …show more content…
In “Harrison Bergeron” the bureaucratic government uses handicappers to scramble and blast the thoughts of some people and causes them to lose perspective in order to calm civil unrest and to equal and match an individual to the lowest common denominator. In “All the Troubles of the World” Multivac warns the government in time for them to stop crimes and other inconvenient activities to keep the public at ease but also to give everyone equal chances in the society. Memory is crucial for reason to exist; in fact both rely on each other to exist, reason on memory to facilitate facts from fabrications, and memory on reason to give people the common sense they need to make decisions. Without memory a person cannot live up to their full potential and could not try as it would be impossible for them to learn anything. The public in 2081 even suffer from a short term memory loss because of this – as seen when George and Hazel cannot remember that their own son, Harrison, was executed on television while they watched. In the case of Harrison Bergeron it may actually be decent for them not to remember, but when did the government decide that it was “okay” to do this? To block the death of a child from the public’s memory when no one was given the choice to remember is unjust and …show more content…
When a society’s development of reason, memory and evolution is stunted this creates an inhumane society. In both Multivac’s society and the society in 2081 the societies are not only inhumane but immoral. The handicappers and Multivac’s power used in enforcing ethics in these societies are problematic as the people are told by the government what is right or wrong and in Multivac’s society they go as far as determining what occurs and affects the lives of the public. It is human to grapple with right and wrong and to develop an individual’s own moral compass, this is impossible when in both short stories people are influenced by what the government alone conveys and instead of taking responsibility they place or are forced to place their problems on another entity or governing group of individuals people when really they should be demanding to develop their own senses of right and wrong. If the people did demand this there would not be as drastic ethical breaches such as no privacy, no memory loss caused by the handicappers, and no stunt in development by both societies. Though because of the repression of reason people would not be able to demand or very well argue for their freedom, it would be impossible to break such a strong and intact societal cycle like this one without help from