Harrison Bergeron
I just read “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut in the F&SF 60th Anthology. It’s very short, focused on its point to perfection.
A hundred years in the future, equality for all is enforced by handicapping the abilities of all those who exceed the average. Ballerinas wear weights to make them less spritely. Beautiful people are masked. Brilliant people wear earplugs through we they are shocked out of extended thoughts.
Vonnegut weaves a story of a man who rebels against it.
In “Harrison Bergeron”, demands for equality lead to uniformity for all.
Vonnegut’s dystopia results from enforcing equality of results rather than equality of opportunity.
Equal Rights placard by stevebott / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
