2) Although the people of Omelas are fully aware of the child's suffering, those who remain in Omelas don't seem to feel any guilt. In fact, Le Guin reinforces this in her story. Do you think its possible to constantly feel guilty about the misery of others? Please explain and provide examples.
Sure, I do believe that it is possible to constantly feel guilty about the misery of others. But I do not believe that the guilt that a person constantly feels could be the dominant emotion when it comes to making decisions to better themselves, because if it is, then he or she just wouldn't be as secure or as well off as they would like to be in the world. There is always a cost for every decision that you make. For example, in basic terms, the reason why unemployment was so rampant around the world during the 2008 recession was because people decided to cut back on their spending to be safe during those unsure times. This cut back in spending had forced many companies to lay off their workers, forcing them to face unemployment. But many people did not think about the consequences of what their lack of spending would to the workforce of their country's economies (workers being laid off) and so as a result, they tried to better themselves off by not spending and did not allow their guilt (if there was even a trace of it) to stop them from making their decision.
Wal Mart is another company that perfectly exemplifies this situation. Many people constantly feel guilty about the fact that they still support a company that exploits the population (more specifically, children) of third world countries in order to operate their business and keep their prices low. Many people shop at Wal Mart knowing fully well how exactly the store's products are priced so low (because they pay their offshore workers really wages), but they do this because they would all like to save money and just be better off. Again their constant feelings of guilt (if they are feeling any) are not stopping them from doing what they are doing.
Apart from the examples, even major ethical theories such as Utilitarianism suggest that the right action is the one that promotes the greatest benefits to the greatest amount of people. Note that it does not mention all of the people, it only mentions the greatest amount of people. So this is implying that there are going to be people around the world who are going to lead a miserable life and suffer, just like that boy in the locked in the closet in Le Guin's "utopia". The citizens do constantly feel guilty about that boy's suffering, but they know that in order for them to be happy and be secure, they have to force that boy to go through what he is.
So basically, what I am trying to say is that it is definitely possible for people to constantly feel guilty over the misery of others, but it is highly unlikely that the majority of the people would risk their comfortable lives to rid themselves of that guilt and try to better the lives of the impoverished/miserable, which is also clearly reflected in Le Guin's story as well. Yes we all feel like everyone should do whatever they can to help others and help the miserable lead happy lives but that is just impossible to do so and as a result, we just feel guilty about our helplessness in abolishing the misery of others.
Works Cited: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/utilitarianism
