harrison bergeron by kurt vonnegut

this is a fascinating story about equality. it was rather politically-charged. i think it was trying to mock those forms of government that demanded everyone to be equal and that property to be evenly distributed among all men. i found in a website that it was actually criticizing egalitarianism. here it was assumed if such ideology prevailed, bad things are bound to happpen.

i guess what we can deduce from the story is that inequality isn't always bad. it actually helps a society operate well. i mean, if everyone is equal, we will all be doing the same thing. we will just be mediocre at doing things. there is no room for competition, which is a driving force. there is no room for excellence, brilliance and productivity. it will all be about backwardness. whereas if there were, for lack of a better term, inequality and competition, then people can excel in different things. more and more ideas will come out in the open, and some of them, in one way or another, will probably contribute to the betterment of the society. i may sound idealistic here but i think that was basically what it was trying to say.

the part hazel exemplified stupidity seemed to be a fitting ending. it sort of makes one feel the hopelessness of it all. i found the story really cute and, at the same time, thought-provoking.