The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

1973 • 19 pages

Ratings157

Average rating4.3

15

The Ones who walk away from Omelas is a story inspired from a popular thought expirement that ponders over the following question.
“Is the happiness of all worth the torture of an innocent person?”
The author implies that it isn't and walking away from one such “utopia” is the morally correct path.

To me, however, it feels like we already live in a version of Omelas.
Governments of different countries allow suffering of innocents because those people aren't under their jurisdiction. Or worse they justify it by propagating that those people are enemies in order to maintain the public order.

Is there an escape from the Omelas we live in and are silently complicit in the oppression of others?

December 28, 2024