The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

A fictional story about a city by Ursula Le Guin
www.cbe.wwu.edu...
If you have never read it you need to read it.

[@WildfangShadowFox]

I fundamentaly disagree with your interpretation... when it comes to interpretation of the destination of the people who walk away. The author describes them, walking into the darkness, holding their heads down, walking either to the north or the west (so no specific destination --> disorientation?). So to me the important point is that they leave the city of happiness because it is built on injustice even though they trade for an uncertain future..

[@oliverdacracker]

helal olsun lan, yaz bunu güzel laf bu .

[@ryansweeney5716]

Your nearly there. It basicly supports the concept that..... It is better that a guilty person goes free than an innocent person goes to jail......

[@annebannan9817]

Ryan Sweeney Wait... could you expand on that? I don’t see the connection between that and the story.

[@ryansweeney5716]

@@annebannan9817 an innocent child or individual has been wrongfully imprisoned

[@derekandrade6025]

@NightSky The author says "But they know where they are going the ones who walk away." how is that walking in darkness.

[@rohinskii]

I came here because of spring day

[@kitty2doggyMeow]

This was a good video. I'm happy you have posted it. While saving the child was never an option put forth in the reading, Le Guin does say the three options you have as a citizen living in Omelas (the ones who stay), are you either cause the harm, you prevent the harm (by either challenging the system or provide for the child), or you leave Omelas. While there are many people who want to believe that they would 'save or provide' for the child we can't know that for sure until we experience that. Consider we live on a world that is made up of WAY more suffering as it is and still people choose to turn a blind eye and continue living within their own system. So they choose to stay in Omelas but accept the suffering child is part of their life, the system that brings then happiness. Also there can be the interpretation that turning against the majority can cause harm to the one who helps the child. They are publicly showing their disbelief and in the real world rebels become outcasts. In careers, in the government, if you speak up against the wrong often times there is a punishment inflicted on that person. Not 'going with the crowd' is a risk.

[@Jennifer770]

I read this story last night. I would take your third option of rescuing the boy, walking away from the city with him; caring for him fully for the rest of his life. For me, no person's suffering is worth my happiness as I could feel no true joy. As for the happiness of others, let them make their own happiness, not dependent on another person's suffering. How can that be true happiness? I would feel happier facing the lower society and helping; not walking away; not staying.

[@Marroz888]

Get ready for your minds to be blown Omelas is life - The boy is the suffering in everybody - You either accept the suffering and learn to appreciate life and make the most of what you have - or decide you can't live with it leave Omelas in other words leave life and kill your self - The Boy isn't real hes a metaphor you can't save him hes ten and yet people who are forty in Omelas saw him when they were young - They learn of pain and suffering when they are old enough to understand justlikewedo

[@OriginalSocalgranny]

Well done! My first reaction to the boy in the cellar was that he was there as a reminder of what would happen if a child stepped out of line and rejected the society their parents had created. The underlying premise of the story is that society cannot provide a good life for everyone because the cost would be too great. If we tried to provide for the needs of everyone, then everyone would suffer and be diminished. Omelas is built on an unstated but inviolable law of scarcity; in order to have the good life in Omelas, others must have much, much less so that the good burghers in Omelas can have much, much more. I was also struck by the fact that everyone in Omelas is brought face to face with the cruelty and injustice on which their society rests yet feels no guilt, especially since most people in our society are clueless about the destruction caused by our way of life. It is also interesting that there is only one child who is suffering instead of a teaming subterranean city of sufferers of all ages, much larger than the sunlight jewel of Omelas, which would be much closer to a description of the real world. Perhaps Ms. Le Guin thought we would find the image of a single suffering child more powerful and moving than a scene of the Chinese workers toiling 12 hours a day and living in a barracks attached to their factory, or the scene of an American prison where those unable to find work, sell drugs to support themselves and their families and end up providing a jobs for prison guards, lawyers, and the police, or the teaming streets of Gaza where the Palestinians whose lands were taken to make way for holocaust victims now live as permanent refugees. From a practical point of view, I reject the premise of scarcity with the caveat that we must restrict our population. And so I would add one more choice to the options you provide to the gentle citizens of Omelas: convince others that there are limitations to our resources and therefore it behooves us to limit our population and ensure everyone can live in the sunlight so that we no longer need to have a child in the cellar.

[@EmmaDownsMusic]

The flaw of the story is no one helps the boy. Instead the people who are exposed to the truth try to find a better place to live outside of Omelas. The thing is there is no better place to live; everywhere people are found there is corruption in some form. People are self-centered and look after their own interests. It is arguable that even people who 'give' or 'think of others' are only doing it for social recognition, which is a type of self-preservation and survival mentality.

[@brandoncolis3841]

Why is many calling this child a boy? I do not think it says anywhere that the child is in fact a boy, at least from what I read. It is quite possible no one helps the child because the child may not even exist, that too is unconfirmed, the book mentions the child, but not who exactly the child is, not the gender, not their parents, I think the author just threw the child in to catch everyone off guard, because no Utopia can be perfect, perfection comes with a cost. I find it entirely implausible that, that cost lies all on one child alone. What makes the child different from all the others? You would think that if the child was in fact real, *someone* would help him or her and rebel.

[@umchinagirard1800]

Yes Family scapegoating systems are the norm and much more prevalent than known. huge number of family scapegoated boys in USA ? www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4477594/amp/Horrific-images-tortured-Kansas-boy-Adrian-Jones.html thetab.com/uk/2020/03/06/anthony-avalos-noah-cuatro-gabriel-fernandez-netflix-146862 The phenomenon of witch-children in Sub-Saharan Africa is reportedly "on the rise", due to charismatic preachers as well as "urbanization, poverty, conflict and fragmenting communities. Superstitious beliefs in Nigeria kills thousands of innocent children every year

[@florydory]

In fact a LOT of what we believe about rewards, punishment, what we deserve, what motivates us, makes us feel good about ourselves, etc...is all in our heads. The truth is that WE KNOW HOW to help people, and there is more than enough resources to clean up inner cities, to stop human traffiking, to raise mentally whole and healthy people, etc. But we are afraid. We would rather be comfortable and blame it on something beyond our control. My hope is that someday we will become better people.

[@renzocheesman862]

"AW MAN THAT GIRL IS CUTE! ID REALLY REALLY REALLY LIKE TO.... go out with that girl" we all know you were thinking something else sir no need to hide it

[@wilsonzhao7070]

hhhhhhh, that's true.

[@galaxyofneon._.5352]

ARMYS: HERE BECAUSE OF BIGHIT Me(ARMY): 10 years ago holy sh-

[@ronallan8680]

14 Years Ago!

[@katrina2588]

Omelas is Salem O[regon] spelt backwords, Le Guin explains that she gets her inspiration by reading road signs backwards.. there are many clues through out the text that she intends Omelas to be America.. and the child is third-world countries.

[@nkfesamuel]

Those people walk away from Omelas because they don't reject the guilt and they want to walk to a Land of Justice. But not because of what you've said , "they are looking for a even better society (better than omelas) out there."

[@umchinagirard1800]

Hopefully yes 💔 Umchina Girard What do you perhaps think of huge number of family scapegoated boys in USA ? www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4477594/amp/Horrific-images-tortured-Kansas-boy-Adrian-Jones.html thetab.com/uk/2020/03/06/anthony-avalos-noah-cuatro-gabriel-fernandez-netflix-146862 The phenomenon of witch-children in Sub-Saharan Africa is reportedly "on the rise", due to charismatic preachers as well as "urbanization, poverty, conflict and fragmenting communities. Superstitious beliefs in Nigeria kills thousands of innocent children every year

[@Doefella718]

One persons freedom is another persons servitude

[@antonellafernandezcastella9184]

I wonder if they change the child when he/she gets older, or if this child just doesn't age.... I know it's a metaphor but that has always made me curious

[@dedemushi7824]

2 years late, but SAME

[@umchinagirard1800]

Intergenerational family scapegoating usually requires a new child to target. What do you perhaps think of huge number of family scapegoated boys in USA ? www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4477594/amp/Horrific-images-tortured-Kansas-boy-Adrian-Jones.html thetab.com/uk/2020/03/06/anthony-avalos-noah-cuatro-gabriel-fernandez-netflix-146862 The phenomenon of witch-children in Sub-Saharan Africa is reportedly "on the rise", due to charismatic preachers as well as "urbanization, poverty, conflict and fragmenting communities. Superstitious beliefs in Nigeria kills thousands of innocent children every year

[@fringes475]

NO, I would not walk away from Omelas knowing that there is a child treated worse than animal, sitting on its own excrement, thin and malnourished. I cannot. I probably will not leave town unless I have this child in my arms. Who has the say if the happiness and joy that Omelas experiences is true and right? Utilitarianism argues that “we should act always so as to produce the greatest good for the greatest number”, the principle of utility. In the story, one person, a child nevertheless, is bound for an eternity of suffering alone in the darkness for the happiness of thousands of people. In the story, it says “If the child were brought up into the sunlight out of that vile place, if it were cleaned and fed and comforted, that would be a good thing, indeed; but if it were done, in that day and hour all the prosperity and beauty and delight of Omelas would wither and be destroyed”. At the same time, utilitarians argue that when morality is concerned, “as special as you are, you are no more special than anybody else. I refuse to believe that Omelas’ happiness and joy that they all experience is true if they all know about the child suffering alone in the dark. They don’t deserve happiness as the child in the cellar.

[@oliverdacracker]

no u. Bunun akepe donemiyle ne alakasi var yaw>?

[@Clevis1046]

I bet there is a lot of people in your town whom are in the same situations, but you don't know about this. The short story isn't about what the reader should do, but about what we always have been doing. We are surrounded by disgrace and we rather close our eyes and walk away from our own Omelas than help because there is no way we could do this because there is no way of help.

[@otaku-chan3875]

The people's happiness is fake and temporary but the happiness that the child will feel will be true happiness

[@TibaSaira]

you saved me...tomorrow is my Mid term exam.....

[@aznssaywhaat]

I have an essay for my final exam this week that has to be about this story. I was struggling with it a little and this really helped me out. Thank you!

[@RG-uh8on]

Jordan Johnson 9 years later theres me 😂

[@alexandragutierrez528]

@@RG-uh8on 9 years and 10 months later theres me lmaooo

[@felixsaldana9699]

Thank you for breaking it down, helped me understand it more. oh and you have nice teeth and a perfect smile !

[@leahstringer87]

thanks for the video. it really helped me get a grasp on the story and a better understanding. i would help the boy. no one should have to suffer for the happiness of others

[@CrazyWalkthroug]

Absolutely amazing video. Had a hard time figuring the metaphor out, but your interpretation helped a lot, thanks!

[@DrogoBaggins987]

I really like that story but disagree with your interpretation. Like most really good stories it can be taken in more than one way so it's okay to disagree. Like the people who walk away alone each person sees things differently. I see Omelas much differently. I picture Omelas not as a fictional place but as a demographic of people. People who feel no guilt over getting rich from the use of predatory financial practices. Omelas would be a Birkshire Hathaway share holders convention. The residents have gotten very rich and don't care that B.H. companies include mobile homes and payday lenders. The child would be the people trapped in poverty either by stupidity or by lack of experience or simply in a situation that they don't have the power to change who are living in a mobile home and have negative net worth's and pay high interest. There is no way to rescue the child except by choosing not to make money by unethical means. So the people who walk away are walking away from materialism and saying no to benefiting from the suffering of the poor who are being taken advantage of. So each person who matures past money grabbing and turning a blind eye to those suffering in an unfair system are those walking away in the story and thereby doing their part to ease the suffering of the oppressed. I don't think that it is a coincidence that Omelas is sort of like the name Omaha. Nor do I think that it is a coincidence that people like Warren Buffet known as the oracle of Omaha make money off of products and services that they themselves would never use because they know exactly how detrimental such products and services are.

[@suzukikarin4599]

Not only that, it also tells us an untold side of the world. It reflects people in our world more than we would ever know. There's more than one side of the story. Just as how every individual tells a different story. It can also be reflected individually or a group

[@winthorpetrois]

Yes, it's a coincidence. It's "Salem O" spelled backwards, as Ursula saw on a sign in her home state of Oregon.

[@MutinyFever]

I just uploaded my own retelling of the story as a video response. I believe you've missed the mark on several points. Since the story is an allegory for our own world, you cannot save the boy. We cannot change the rules. Every person benefits from the suffering of others, and there is no one to save. Second, most important, we are all, also, the suffering child. Every one of us spends time in the squalor and pain and has no explanation. Third, the unknown alternative may be death.

[@jasonerazo5706]

thank you so much... this video really helped out. It was hard for me to follow the story but you were able to summarize and bring to light the meaning of it. thanks.

[@zerenthead]

i just read this story for my summer homework, but i didn't fully understand it. this video is exactly what i needed so thanks!

[@AcTommyX]

im here 13 years later

[@Thanotubis]

The particular part in this story that hasn't been repeated much (that I've seen) is this quote. "The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting." This is astoundingly true, and I often wonder why is it that Heaven sounds so boring from what I hear.

[@ManfredGeorgPhd]

You have to imagine better parties in Heaven :) The story has some tips.

[@createdforHIM5]

Tis story should be an eye opener for all of us.

[@oliverdacracker]

Yapma bakalim be sen.

[@quik2810]

Great story. I appreciate your interpretation and explanation of it. I don't think I could stay in Omelas. As much as the city I constructed in my head sounds wonderful, Le Guin clearly states that there is no guilt in Omelas. Therefore, I would not fit in. After finding out about the boy, I could never rid myself of the guilt that he is suffering for my happiness. So, I would be forced to leave and search for something better. I would not rescue the boy though because that would ruin Omelas.

[@SuperHugs4free]

I had to read this story for one of my classes at school and I really couldn't understand it all that well, but then I saw your video and I was like "Oh! Okay now I get it." So thank you so much and I enjoyed watching this video. :)

[@neurobiogirl]

Take the boy and leave the city...

[@istoleyourlatte]

neurobiogirl This is the sound thing to do, but the boy is fictional, he isn't real, he is a symbol more than a boy, so *They who left* chose not to save this symbol (that is a symbol of anything you think)

[@amay304]

That wouldn't really change the issue as they could easily replace the child with another.

[@oliverdacracker]

sen cok basit dusunmussun moruk. Sen git tekrar dusun bunu.

[@otaku-chan3875]

Yeah and sneak away so nobody knows i actually feel bad for the child

[@annebannan9817]

I think the right combination is take the boy, leave the city, leave the boy, go back to the city, leave the city

[@NORELY81]

thank u so much, it helped me to understand this story.... God bless you!

[@Deepdesert]

After watching how the Penn State students reacted I was reminded of this story.

[@Justwosweet]

Omelas seems like a really straight forward metaphor for Heaven.

[@RASyared]

One of my favorite English stories ever. The story encourages us readers to imagine, as you suggested, and it's too often that I picture those who walk away as hermits wondering on the hills surrounding Omelas. Perhaps because I encountered dreadful Orthodox hermits as a child it relates to me personally.

[@peaceloveharmonyful]

save the boy everybody can be unhappy but i would take care of him and everybody should be equal! Thanks for this video it really helped on my homework!

[@Marroz888]

Theres no such thing as utopia - thats the point of the story - Omelas is not a utopia they all have to live with the knowledge of the childs suffering, pain, and the responsibilty they have to do this just like all of us must live with our own pain, suffering, and responsiblity - Some choose not to look at it - Others do - But they all rashonalise it just like we all do - we need to its human if we don't we can't go on - those that can't go on leave Omelas

[@oliverdacracker]

masallah

[@GodAlwaysWins]

I read the ending as they walked away towards death due to their tremendous guilt. A city being better and may not even exist could be Le Guin talking about Heaven. Also John Rawls Justice as Fairness could use this short story as an example of how social actions should also benefit the least advantaged in a society. Obviously the child here is the least advantaged and what is being done unto the child is unfair and unjust.

[@TharosTheDragon]

I don't think it's just a metaphor for society. It's a metaphor for a state of mind. The ones who walk away from Omelas are moving toward a different mindset, one where your happiness isn't worth the suffering of another. Saying it might not exist means people might not be able to truly think that way.

[@takvera]

This story is about personal ethics and the tension between the individual and society. The ethical decision for me and many others would be to walk away from Omelas. Maybe we walk away not knowing where we are bound, but we retain our ethical freedom, the moral power of choice by rejecting the social basis of our happiness being dependant on the exploitation and misery of another.

[@Busada]

You stated it well that the short story allows us to create our own "perfect city." The fact that we all have a different idea of "perfect," why Anselm argued that the ontological argument for the existence of God (the perfect being) only works for God, and not anything else (like an Island).

[@lones02]

You saved alot of time for me from re-reading. Thanks for the good summary and analyzing the quotes (which I probably will not remember when it's time for discussion in the class). I guess you can say the symbol in this story is the little boy who is trapped in. I believe the city is Utopia?? Anywho, thanks for the summary.

[@oliverdacracker]

tskler

[@3aminhubcity]

and perhaps when the people decide to leave the better place they find is the one where all the treasures and luxuries of Omelas exist, but there there is no child sitting in a basement suffering. i loved this video!

[@ManfredGeorgPhd]

I think they know no such place exists as they walk away. That's not what they find.

[@oliverdacracker]

Moruk guzel konusmussun. Agzuna saglik... Hello from Rize, the real Hayrabolu.

[@oscargaitan1370]

I have watched many reviews on this story. Yet no one seems to ask certain questions. The first question who runs Omelas? The second: who made the decision as to the happiness of others depends on this child alone? Morally it is unjust, this is based on my beliefs. I question the motives behind the people of Omelas? Is it selfishness? Three can this considered a dependency as to the sacrifice of the child by the people?The story makes you question your beliefs, morals, and conscious. Four, as the child is described and the town is portrayed in a certain setting, do the citizens of Omelas have remorse and or even have an education? Fifth, being that the suffering of the child is dependent to the happiness of others, what will happen if the child passes away? The writer describes a despicable scene of the living quarters of this child, the malnourishment, so forth.. The human body can take certain inflected pain and punishment before it shuts down, what then? In my conclusion, more information is needed to understand the story. If we took the third option and took the child under our care, what would happen to Omelas?Would it self-destruct?Will another child or person have to suffer?Does it become a cycle? So many questions that need an answer. If I choose, I would choose the child. No one should inflict any kind of pain or torture on anyone to have a happy life. I would sacrifice the whole city. The town would once again be rebuilt in a tolerant society of other's differences.

[@eloh2]

Oscar Gaitan that is for you to decided. Maybe there is no one who runs Omelas and it is run by a super computer. One that knows everyone’s wants and needs. All your questions are addressed in the story.... read it a few times.... but I feel that those who walk away are choosing suicide over the encroaching quilt that they have never know. Not a happier place as this guy has interpreted.

[@whatamaze]

Wow, thanks alot. This really helped my understanding of the story

[@oliverdacracker]

we good dawg

[@joshuaeleko1]

This was very helpful to me. Thanks

[@ladybookworms]

Could you point out what part of the story did you feel says that the boy knows what it is like outside?

[@florydory]

I think that the answer lies in overcoming our cognitive fallacies. In another story, a man contracts with laborers to work in his field for a certain price. Over the course of the day, the man invites others to join in. At the end of the day, the man pays all the laborers the same amount of money (even tho some had worked 10 hrs and others worked 1). Comparing themselves to others, the first laborers are angry...but if noone had come along, they would have been fine. Happiness is in our head.

[@carrottop440]

Omelas is supposed to by a utopia. You can see as she goes on the story she starts using the conditionnel tense " I think it would be ..." so you can see she is describing it in her own terms, as she would visualize a utopia. I like the quote you brought up because she really emphasizes how most consider happiness as something rather stupid and simple. But then later in the story you learn that the citizens of Omelas are not ignorant and irresponsibly happy. They know what they sacrifice.

[@MaoUmli]

En Un Mago de Terramar Ursula Le Guin dice: "Solo en el silencio la palabra, solo en la oscuridad la luz, solo en la muerte la vida, el vuelo del halcón brilla en el cielo vacío" Y en La mano izquierda de la Oscuridad deice: "La oscuridad es la mano izquierda de la luz" Los dualismos siempre están presentes en la obra de Le Guin. Y en Omelas el mensaje es todavía mayor. Toda la sociedad de Omelas está basada en el sufrimiento. Siempre hay algo malo en todo lo bueno. Nada es perfecto

[@derekandrade6025]

Very good interpretation

[@iTzDaChosen1]

Thanks so much for your insight, your a lifesaver

[@ldlxlzh8d]

As a Chinese, I don't quite agree with what you said about China --"I'm sure these people working in the factories are driving really nice cars ...living in really nice houses." --Seriously? You mean those who run the factories,Yes, indeed. But, those who stay at the assembly line can barely make the ends meet. They are cheap labors and I have experienced this kind of work on a summer vacation in my sophomore year. So, could you please have your own perceptions on this kind of issue now that you have read a lot of books? Besides, I enjoy your analysis of the story. I think those who walk away can't live the happy life at the expense of poor kids. As a result, they left and find a place like Walden to spend their lives.

[@richardsantanna5398]

You misheard him. He said, "aren't".

[@oliverdacracker]

bana kredi versene moruk az seviye atlayalim

[@trueaznlover16]

@TheRedDash well, I believe that they would replace the boy if something happend to him because, according to the story, the child remembers sunlight and its mother's voice.

[@LordLargo37]

That's cool that you can see where I am coming from as an agnostic, and yeah, that's where I was going. I'm taking algebra right now. This chapter is on rational expressions of the form p/q| qdoes not = 0. Lot's of variables and factoring formulas etc.

[@sleazybtd]

I didn't read all the comments, so this may have come up before. I'd like to add an additional condition to rescuing the boy. Once you rescue him, the city would just replace him with someone else.

[@MaoUmli]

Y en el final, cuando habla de el otro rumbo al que se dirigen los que abandonan Omelas, implica que si es una ciudad aún mejor, una sociedad todavái más perfecta a simple vista, le horror que esconde es todavía más grande que lo que se esconde en Omelas... Ese es mi punto de vista...

[@KateGladstone]

The story reminds me of an old puzzle, whose answer tells something about the answerer. Imagine 2 men: a rich man who never gives anyone anything for free, & a poor man starving in the street. You've given the poor man everything you own: not enough. You begged the rich man: "Give"; he wouldn't. One day (now poor yourself), you find a loaded gun. Is it OK to take the gun & tell the rich man: "Give to my poor neighbor, or I shoot you?" (And does the answer change if guns are legal where you are?)

[@fangettes]

“Or if the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's Utopias should all be outdone and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture, what except a specifical and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain? To what, once more, but subtle brain-born feelings of discord can be due all these recent protests against the entire race-tradition of retributive justice?”

[@royal69]

@barwick11 you are not on the same page as what he is talking about. you r correct about both countries benefiting from trade. however, LastPriority is talking about all those chinese workers that have very little choice which are making those socks for others to enjoy them. they are suffering while the users enjoy. if the workers stop making the socks, the users cant enjoy the socks anymore. and it isn't would u help the child.Le Guin is talking about a utilitarian idea vs a kantian idea.

[@vlabogd]

Unfortunately, there is no simple solution. Neither of the options is acceptable. You can not sty, you can not leave, you can not rescue the child, if this will cause suffering of other children, maybe even worse. In my opinion, what must be challenged here is this "law of scapegoat" itself. Why are we forced to choose the lesser evil? I prefer not to choose evil at all, if possible. And who says, it is not possible?!

[@EmmaDownsMusic]

Anywhere there are human beings, there will be a city of Omelas.

[@maktoomalshamsi6899]

you helped me alot

[@TJ-kk5zf]

I think you misinterpret the ending. They are going into the unknown, which they prefer to the known evil. That is the virtue here.

[@InkBleedsDeeper]

"if it hurts, repeat it"

[@oliverdacracker]

eat sleep rave repeat

[@wilsonzhao7070]

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's true.

[@tonamoreno]

I agree. Most of us don´t have the courage.

[@oliverdacracker]

bro.

[@wilsonzhao7070]

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[@vlabogd]

Don't take me literally with my "one dollar" example. I just wanted to illustrate unfair wages in the situation when the marked is overcrowded with proposition of labor, but not jobs. And this is not the problem of capitalism only, it is the problem of humans, who are mostly just ok to stay in Omelas an enjoy it. :)

[@johnwaynepresley]

I can see why you said we have to take care of the boy for the rest of his life (b/c that would signify our lack of selfishness) BUT can we take him to an assisted living center...you know what i guess not because that would also prove the author's theory on how we leave responsibility to others. thanks for the ?

[@katrina2588]

Ursula K. Le Guin is an atheist, so I doubt she would not have wanted her story to be interpreted that way.

[@lilytheunicorn2468]

Im actually here for the bts in spring day, i was curious about it. And im jungshook this video is 12 years ago what the fu--.

[@user-ik1xc2gc3v]

WaitingToFade gurl I- ikr but girl I got homework so I looked this up

[@MrPanchog95]

Even though it would be hard to know about the kid and the circumstances he is in, I think rescuing the kid from that suffering would be egoistic from my part. See, I would feel good about rescuing the kid and even get recognition for being courageous, but by doing that, Im pretty much sacrificing the people's happiness (perfect word/city) Yes, one kid is not going to suffer anymore, but how many more people are going to suffer after that? Im not trying to be mean with the kid thou...

[@oliverdacracker]

Tekirdag. Rakim buzlu ve tatli olsun, kavunum da sulu. Lokmam da cukulatali olsun.

[@yesicamedina2044]

liked this video one question i have is how would the story change if it was told by someone else

[@barwick11]

@royal69 Neither I (or I presume yourself) are an expert on Chinese economics. Whether they have the choice or not (I believe they do, you would have to provide evidence that they do not) does not change the fact that their productivity there in "sock city" producing socks raises their standard of living by the number of socks we buy from them. If we were to stop purchasing from them, you tell me what they would do to provide a more-than-primitive standard of living for themselves.

[@southiykyk]

not to be rude but this was not a philosophical interpretation of this story. you didn't mention anything about JS Mill's theory of utilitarianism or any kind of moral interpretation of why the people stayed or walked away.

[@dandrades89]

Thank you so much

[@takvera]

As the happiness and on going stability of the many is predicated upon the misery of one, which of us would impose our morality on the many. It might be moral and ethical from an individual view, but would it be ethical from a societal viewpoint? And would it be democratic? Which of us would uphold our humanism at the cost of undemocratically imposing widespread misery upon society.

[@tonamoreno]

I agree with you.

[@oliverdacracker]

thats good

[@cmmndrblu]

You should read Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality

[@LoriStories]

great video.

[@oliverdacracker]

thank you ma'am

[@weweweLit]

ty helped me with my gr12 eng class!

[@jingchang3533]

+Ji_Ba~Chan I'm also doing that lol.

[@Whiteyw12]

There is another way, and there is a better place.

[@oliverdacracker]

topragin dibi

[@jc8236]

You missed the point of the story

[@Dirk_Dandy]

***** It describes Kantiant Ethics vs. Utilitarian Ethics.

[@MRMiguel]

Derek Bell can you please explain this a little more in detail.,

[@oliverdacracker]

no you missed the point of the story

[@carrottop440]

and as for what i'd do? i think i would be one of the ones who would walk away.. but who really knows, maybe like the rest i would find some reason to justify the treatment of the child- the sacrifice of one for the benefit of many.

[@barwick11]

@SciMethodFTW Well that's all well and good there chief, your life is yours to choose what to do with. That child's life isn't. Plain and simple. No matter if killing that child would save one life or six billion, it is not up to YOU to decide if that child lives or dies. Do you have children?

[@RednYellowLAZERs]

You have nice teeth :D

[@oliverdacracker]

no u.

[@hiyorioh]

Ya

[@3aminhubcity]

i really enjoyed this story. Had to read it for class. I just think that maybe its a metaphor for people in general and God. or Jesus. whoever. I think that people are hurting them because Gods, no matter which one you worship do not expect you to do the wrong thing or sin or be hateful or whatever the case. But since we are sitting in this world which once was beautiful, we treat God like crap (the child) while we live and do as we please, having choices to do wrong or right getting what wewant

[@ManfredGeorgPhd]

No need to make the story more complicated then it is.

[@tonamoreno]

Even if him or her were you?

[@oliverdacracker]

yes even then

[@LordLargo37]

In another vein, if I were to interpret your synopsis so, this could also be a Jesus tale. I am doing math right now, and I probably do not have the space in a comment to explain, but I would like to. So, when I get some free time, maybe tomorrow afternoon after classes, I would like to read the story, see if I can make a case , and tell you why I caught this(if you don't already know).

[@Sayoko666]

Its kinda like the pandoras box

[@o0Rice0o]

np i'll bring a new kid

[@TheSushiandme]

lol 12 yrs ago...

[@vlabogd]

This is what is called exploitation. I have money, you dont. I pay you a dollar for a work I would not agree to do for 1000. An you agree, because you are poor and you have no alternative. Don't take it offensively, please, this is just a point of view. The bad thing is that here, apparent, nothing can be done, the system is too big and evolves slowly.

[@9750711]

I liked your video but I disagree with the metaphor about the U.S. exploiting workers in poor countries. In poor countries, millions of people struggle everyday to obtain the basic needs of life for themselves and their families. For them, a job of almost any kind is an opportunity for survival. They *choose* to work long hours in unsafe condition because the alterative of having less income or none is worse.

[@arnold-hu4vk]

and this *choice* is the result of an unfair situation/system, which is exploited by the rich.

[@melissahall1931]

Wow. . Embarrassing

[@rking87]

Your belief is unfounded and ignorant. The author believes that the ones who walk away MIGHT find a better society, though it is "unimaginable" Remember what OUR nation is founded on: The Declaration Of Independence " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - please do not pin your beliefs on every American, they are not mine

[@ldballoon4]

1st the writer is horrible-way too many adjectives however society needs a lower class to sustain us ex, garbage men-But the ones who walked away are the better. WE need those kinds of professions to keep a social classes standards happy. To answer your question, I would not walk away, why,because I'm AMERICAN, WE are Capitalists. And that's why we are huge debt, loss our 401 savings,fell behind in education, and pay outrages medical bills....because we do NOT want to walk away.

[@wilsonzhao7070]

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