The Need for a Pariah Exposed in Those Who Walk Away From...

The Need for a Pariah Exposed in Those Who Walk Away From Omelas Affirmative action is perhaps the political hot potato of the decade. Its divisiveness has escalated racial tensions all across the nation, in forums political and academic. It also creates problems on a daily basis for millions of Americans in the workforce, education, housing, and so forth. Affirmative action, by its very definition, uses discrimination to attempt to create equality. Its ultimate goal is to make everyone equal to everyone else- intellectually, ability-wise, and (dare I say?) socially. What the proponents of this racial and gender communism do not realize is that society can only function in the absence of complete equality. Society is always in†¦show more content†¦This small child, roughly ten years old, is locked in a broom closet in the basement of one of the town’s buildings. There it is kept as a sick spectacle for all to see- grossly mistreated and debased by humanity. The child is feeble-minded, neglected, malnourished, and abused so harshly that when visitors come to see it, one of them may come in and kick the child to make it stand up. Perhaps the saddest element of this tale of woe is that the child thinks that it is being punished for something it did to cause offense. I will be good, it says. Please let me out. I will be good! Generally, when they first see the child, spectators are shocked and sickened at the sight. But they do nothing. You see, the citizens are aware of the child’s presence. They are aware, as well , that it is a necessity. They all know that it has to be there. Some understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, ...the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars...even the abundance of their harvest...depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery. Somehow, the oppression of the child makes possible the advancement of Omelas. The citizens need to keep the child down so that they can rise. It is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of [Omelas]. They all know that if the child were to be freed, Ã’...in that day