astercontrol:

you see, the happiness of our society is entirely dependent on the suffering and torture of the child living underneath the city.

Yeah it’s– no we don’t choose to torture him, it’s an inevitable natural requirement for us being happy, our happiness could not exist without it

Yes of course I can explain the mechanics of it. You know how being happy requires being active and going outside and doing stuff? And all that stuff makes some noise, you know. Ever had an upstairs neighbor?…. Yep. Now imagine a whole city of them. See. Torture. Inevitable.

Yeah he hates it. he’s tried to stop our happiness for the sake of his own. Luckily the good of the many always prevails. We call him Robbie Rotten

in real life it is largely true that torture of some is not necessary for the happiness of others (“capitalism seems inescapable but so did the divine right of kings,” etc, as LeGuin herself said)

but in fiction there must be a dark side. in fiction any scenario that is “too good” foreshadows a revelation of something horrible

“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” is perhaps, in part, an exercise in the ability to distinguish real life from fiction

in real life there would be some road to freedom for Robbie Rotten that did not impinge on the freedoms of the whole of Lazytown. but in fiction, he must and always shall suffer for the greater good