We are living in a society that has an idea of an "American Dream", yet you are more like to have an "American Dream" story come out of Canada. That is because the United States, when compared to 24 other countries, "ranks 16th in the amount of intergenerational earnings mobility." (Corak). This means that children that grow up in poorer households are finding it harder to be able to move up out of this poverty, in other words they are unable to "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" as politicians like to say, and there is nothing the children can do about it. We have problem in this country where the poor keep on getting poorer and the rich keep getting richer, and unlike the people in Omelas who know that their privilege comes with the pain of another being, the rich in this country do not care about the children who go hungry every night, or the veterans that are living on the street who fought for this country. No, the rich buy politicians to do their bidding, knowing that the tax cuts promised for the middle-class and poor, are going right in the pockets of the billionaires. To tie it back together, I want the billionaires to be held accountable for buying our government and turning it into an Oligarchy. Just like the people of Omelas, the rich know that their corruption is hurting many people, but unlike the people of Omelas I guess they don’t have the morals to stop. I believe that if we act more like the ones who walk away from Omelas, to be able to not accept when other people are treated unfairly even though your life may be unaffected, is a good start to fixing the inequality in this country.jj
hCorak, Miles. "Economic Mobility". The Stanford Center of Poverty and Inequality. (2016)
ult/files/Pathways-SOTU-2016-Economic-Mobility-3.pdf
https://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Pathways-SOTU-2016-Economic-Mobility-3.pdf
I think it's interesting that you noted that you believed that the message of the story should be used as a societal norm for how we live our lives. I also agree but I think where we might disagree is in what specific message. The message I extrapolated from the story was one of a warning of sorts to be hyper critical of anything that seems too good to be true. To probe at such things to see they hold up. I believe the the philosophical hypothetical of the 'Utopian' City with the kid in a basement could be a stand in for anything that presents a pretty veneer but may have less than savory inner workings that aren't outwardly visible; be it on a societal level or otherwise.
ReplyDelete-Kenneth
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly agree with everything that you argue in this post! This was also one of my favorite stories that we have read thus far. I agree that America is not as progressive as it could be because of purposeful tactics set in place by those in higher power. There are also strategic constructs set in place for those who are born into poverty to remain in poverty. I like that you included specific examples that support the claim that you make. Well done!
-Kyra M
I do agree on everything that you have stated in your post. The statement from your post " if we act more like the ones who walk away from Omelas, to be able to not accept when other people are treated unfairly even though your life may be unaffected, is a good start to fixing the inequality in this country" is the one that stick out for me. If we all unite and stick for eachother when ever we face difficult time, i think we all could off solved our problems.
ReplyDelete-Weini.W
Carter,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post and appreciated that you linked economic inequality in our society with the ones who walk away. Accountability is something that I am very passionate about and agree with you that the rich do keep getting richer and that when we hold them accountable for their corruptness they do not own up to it rather they go around the problem. It seems that, at least for some of the hyper-rich, part of being wealthy means losing morale. If our government had a much more reasonable way of enforcing laws and had more successful way to enforce accountability, then we may get somewhere.
-Aly
For the most part I like your post, however I feel that it does start to get a bit opinionated and general when talking about the rich versus the poor. The point that people need to stand up for what is right takes in account the generally accepted moral standard within American society, nevertheless I believe that speaking from an ethically point of view is highly controversial. This is because every person views the world in a different way and therefore has different definitions of what is considered right versus what is considered wrong. For example, a popular opinion amongst today's youth is that smoking cannabis is alright, even healthy, and should not be illegal. Without further research into the developmental effects of cannabis one cannot reach a conclusion as to how to legalized the issue. From the story we can see this issue with the people that stay in their utopia versus the ones that walk away. Morally speaking people can relate to both sides as it is a basically a clash of the many versus the few. Most people feel bad for the disgraced and tortured youth, but no one on either side does anything to help the child's situation. Instead they just ignore the problem or walk away from the issue that is troubling their morals. This story was confusing, but after reading and analyzing it in detail I decided that both sides are wrong and at fault.
ReplyDeleteI like that you connected your post to society today. I think that's one of the main purposes of Utopian stories- to make it look at our world in a different way. I think that maybe the Omelas story is supposed to make us question things that seem too good to be true. In America we do have many privileges when it comes to accessibility. We can buy all sorts of clothes and foods and goods- but a lot of these are not ethically sourced. I think Utopian stories serve as good tools to look at our worlds in a different lens, like you did in your post too.
ReplyDelete- Bailey West
I agree with your analysis, Omelas is symbolic for our society and how we are propped up by people living in torment. However, I had a different take on who those in torment were. I didn't feel like the child being tormented was America's working class, I felt that the child was symbolic for the developing countries and immigrants that we depend on to prop up our economy. To me, the child was symbolic for the migrant worker who makes less than minimum wage to pick fruit and crops and the child who makes a pair of $200 Nikes for $1 pay. I don't think it is the rich that need to walk away from Omelas, I think it is all of us that need to walk away. Sweatshops are not new, we all know they are used, yet we still wear brands that use them. Omelas is a call to all of us.
ReplyDelete-JJ