ah, posts that look like a shitpost but are actually perfectly true, my love.
none of us* escape the fact that our comforts rely on the exploitation of others. who among us reads about the Omelas child and does not think to themselves "I would walk away" or "I would save the child." how many imagine themselves as a noble and brave dissident? but, then again, did you actually walk away? even within the narrative, walking away means leaving behind all amenities and joys of Omelas.
in our lives, we learn to ignore the tortured child. our clothes, fuel, food, entire infrastructure of our modern world depends at least in part on the exploited labor and hurt of others, including real children.
"Those Who Walk Away from Omelas" touches on an internal, frightening truth we sometimes realize about our world: it doesn't have to be this way. the amount of suffering and torment required for Omelas (and Earth) to thrive is 0, actually.
untangling ourselves from the web of torment means effectively walking into the unknown. what is there beyond a world that asks us to accept senseless cruelty? if we stop the machines, let loose the hunched and pained laborers, then there will be suffering. how expensive are clothes when each person in the supply chain has labor rights? are there tomatoes year round? will the suffering come to you, too, this upended order? will the rich grow calloused and bitter as the underling? is that not adding suffering to the world?
the luxury of Omelas is that everyone sees the child and understands their place in this twisted order. we live in a place that doesn't dare to look. hides, in fact, the tiny bodies, the scared sobs.
the tarot card The Tower depicts a frightening scene. the bodies falling bring me back to being a small child watching 9/11 overtake the TV. the suicides. the adults around me whispering that it was the only sensible choice given the circumstances. yet, like the Death card, its surface terror belies its hopefulness. the tower will topple. the change will be violent. it will unmake the tranquil world you imagined.
so yes, removing the Omelas child will topple the block tower. maybe the new tower will never be as tall or complex. but, crucially, it will miss a piece that never needed to go there.
your hope must exceed your fear.
* I suppose some people live in the wilderness eating turnips they grew and wearing handspun clothes. This is not about them.
((this is a pretty surface read imo and honestly if I get any piss on the poors about this I'm going to climb into your bathroom and do something subtle but devastating to the inner workings of your home. ))
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