In 2081, everyone is virtually equal. No man is smarter, more talented, or more handsome owing to the American Government’s Constitutional Amendments 211, 212, and 213. Handicaps such as radio transmitters, physical weights, and masks ensure that no one exercises reason beyond short bursts of thought, or use strength, grace, and appearance in his advantage. The fear of the “dark ages,” a past society defined by fierce competition, impels citizens to follow.
One day in April, husband and wife George and Hazel Bergeron were watching TV. Hazel is considered average for her time and wore no handicap. George however had an ear radio that transmitted sharp noises every twenty seconds to stop him from taking advantage of his brain. A 47-pound bag hung around his neck.
Ballerinas on TV bore ugly masks and physical handicaps that rendered their movements jarring. The news reporter who interrupted the show had a serious speech impediment. The reason for the interruption is the son of George and Hazel, Harrison.
Harrison, the apotheosis of inequality, was imprisoned at only 14 years old. Just as the news announced Harrison’s escape from prison, the 7-foot young man covered in 300 pounds of metal crashed into the set. His face donned large earphones, thick glasses, and a red ball for a nose. He exclaimed that he is the emperor and everyone must obey him. He ripped his handicaps like wet tissue. He looked like a god. He summoned a ballerina to be his muse, broke her free from her handicaps, and urged the orchestra to play their best. In their beauty and grace they defied gravity, kissed while floating before Handicapper General Diana Moon Glampers pounces into the studio and shot them dead.
Hazel and George watched in horror, but not for long. Hazel soon forgot the tragedy with her short term memory, and George couldn’t mull over it before sharp noises interrupted his thoughts.
Such is the dystopian future Kurt Vonnegut paints in his 1961 short story. The social critique (of communism in his time) rings true today as PC culture threaten the foundations of democracy while a narcissistic society is reaching a tipping point. It’s a story I keep going back to, partly because of my fondness for sci-fi and drama (my all-time favourite series is Black Mirror), and how Vonnegut never fails to incite imagination in his readers no matter the age.
Equality cannot be taken literally. To mark it as a cultural goal in that sense is counter intuitive. It will always result in the oppression of another. Harrison Bergeron is a witty yet powerful commentary on the human flaw: its terrifying marriage of inadequate recognition of our race’s place in this world and our zealous grip over ideologies, and what happens when we’re left to bank on crude perceptions.
Just as Vonnegut exposes in the story, the consequences of literal equality spawned a nation of mediocrity. Even the handicaps developed to hold down five thousand pounds fell off Harrison like wet tissue paper. Society stopped progressing. Progress, the very element that makes humanity marvellous, overlooked. As natural as it should be, as how we’re created, it’s in diversity that we find progress. It’s a simple notion that should be embraced.
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