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Anyone remember the source of the essay about the town where everyone was happy, and how it feels unbelievable until you find it has a horrible secret, which so
by tunesmith 9y ago
Anyone remember the source of the essay about the town where everyone was happy, and how it feels unbelievable until you find it has a horrible secret, which somehow makes it more believable? I think that is her writing.
- d_j_b 9y agoThat is a short story called "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas"
- Angostura 9y agoI think I have it in "The Winds 12 Quarters"
- steveax 9y agoSalem O backwards
- BerislavLopac 9y ago"People ask me 'Where do you get your ideas from, Ms. Le Guin?' From forgetting Dostoyevsky and reading road signs backwards, naturally. Where else?"
- emmelaich 9y agoYes, a story that has haunted me ever since I read it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Omelas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Om... The EarthSea Trilogy has stuck with me too.
- kej 9y agoEarthsea was a trilogy from '72 to '90, but it's now five novels and a bunch of short stories. They're all good.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ACow_Adonis 9y agoIt's "the ones who walk away from Omelas". Short read and available online:https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf
- pygy_ 9y agoIt is, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16218616 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16218616
- Fede_V 9y agoIt's basically taken almost verbatim from a dialogue between two characters in The Brothers Karamazov. She later said she didn't remember the dialogue at the time but it was stuck in the back of her head and was definitely an influence.
- teraflop 9y agoThe core idea is the same, but "almost verbatim" is a gross misrepresentation.
- farss 9y agoGreat artists steal.
- FelipeCortez 9y agoSee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomnesia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomnesia
- bolasanibk 9y agoThat story always makes me question what decision I will make if in a similar situation.
- ars 9y agoI wondered the same thing. But then I wondered "Why did they walk away? Why not comfort the child and end it?" In the story she says a single kind word to the child would end it. I can understand living there, but I don't understand walking away. By walking away you are not helping the child. So what does it matter that you are not benefiting?
- sooheon 9y agoTo help the child and end it means to deprive many others of happiness as well. It is also likely to be wasted, as she writes in the story, the kid may be so far gone beyond consolation.
- Fargren 9y agoAfter reading the story I immediately thought that the point was that most of us live in Omelas. I don't think I have it in me to walk away.