but I want you to do it right this time
March 1, 2021 7:06 AM Subscribe
Wow this was stunning. Maybe i'm reading the wrong way into it, but I am loving the emergence of the stance that suffering isn't normal or necessary
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:37 AM on March 1, 2021
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:37 AM on March 1, 2021
Sometimes -- mostly the same times where I'd like a peek at the world where in the 1860s all the wealth of the bondsman's toil had been sunk and where every drop of blood drawn by the lash had been repaid by one from the sword -- I kinda want to read "The Ones Who Lead An Army Back To Omelas"
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 12:03 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 12:03 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
I happened to read The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas in a random short fantasy anthology when I was a teenager, and it always stuck with me. It was interesting when I realized a few years ago that it's a famous story by a famous author.
I've bookmarked the N.K. Jemisin story. I'm imagining it as an epic dual between two fantasy greats, and I want to make sure I read it at the right time.
posted by Alex404 at 12:30 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've bookmarked the N.K. Jemisin story. I'm imagining it as an epic dual between two fantasy greats, and I want to make sure I read it at the right time.
posted by Alex404 at 12:30 PM on March 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
This morning I read that and I didn't understand it. Then this afternoon I read the original Le Guin story, and then re-read the piece.
And....oh, my.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:35 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
And....oh, my.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:35 PM on March 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
There's some gorgeous imagery and metaphor in this, and some of the alliteration and assonance is glorious:
We’ll split each other like pomegranates,posted by prismatic7 at 3:29 AM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
palm cups chasing seeds or teeth to tile,
staunching all our wounds with sorries even as we ply our knives.
I always find the fantasies of fixing injustice really don't fix the first issue, in so much that the measured cost isn't a literal child in a room, it's a metaphor for the suffering of a few inherent in prioritizing the collective.
The thing is, I don't buy the argument that the few must suffer for the greater good is inherent. Not to mention that when we do ask for "the few" (who are often not all that few) to "take one for the team", it always winds up being the same dispossessed groups asked to suffer, and the same privileged individuals who seem to never be asked to make a sacrifice. Even if the child in Omelas is meant as metaphor, it's a metaphor that notes that the sacrifice for "the common good" is not born equally in society.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:00 AM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
The thing is, I don't buy the argument that the few must suffer for the greater good is inherent. Not to mention that when we do ask for "the few" (who are often not all that few) to "take one for the team", it always winds up being the same dispossessed groups asked to suffer, and the same privileged individuals who seem to never be asked to make a sacrifice. Even if the child in Omelas is meant as metaphor, it's a metaphor that notes that the sacrifice for "the common good" is not born equally in society.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:00 AM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by Shutter at 8:03 AM on March 1, 2021 [15 favorites]