Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

As more and more people on the modern radical left argue for 'equality of outcome', rather than 'equality of opportunity', I wonder how many of them have thought about what this logically leads to? Communists and socialist of the past never argued for equality of outcome, as a bit of research will show. As much as I disagree with the underlying philosophy of the old left, at least they had thought their positions through. In the 21st century, the new left doesn't seem to be capable of the thought process to do that.

Many years before the rise of this new irrational 'leftism', the well known author, Kurt Vonnegut, wrote the following story. It was copyright 1961, when most Americans believed in equality of opportunity and could never have imagined that in just over five decades there would be people seriously advocating equality of outcome.

This short story is the prophecy of the logical end of the cry for equality of outcome. Read it and resist!

Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.

(Read the rest of the story)