# Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrison-bergeron-by-kurt-vonnegut/611847>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 5, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrison-bergeron-by-kurt-vonnegut/611847 "2012-02-05T09:04:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrison-bergeron-by-kurt-vonnegut/611847/21 "2012-02-06T16:04:28Z")

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Socialism is not totalitarianism.

Every developed nation on Earth except the US is, by US standards, socialist. They’re also all democracies. The socialism = totalitarianism line is bullshit. Get over it.

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**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harrison-bergeron-by-kurt-vonnegut/611847/22 "2012-02-06T18:13:20Z")

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I thought it was a scary story when I read it but not for the socialism aspect. I grew up when political correctness was developing and in junior high, it didn’t seem that far of a stretch to envision a world where people were penalized for being better than someone else.

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