In 's
"," "radical mediocrity" is a byproduct of the push for universal equality
that has finally come to fruition in 2081. This equalityin which "Nobody was smarter than
anybody else... Nobody was better looking than anybody else... Nobody was stronger or quicker
than anybody else..."was instituted through the 211th, 212th, and 213th Constitutional
Amendments and enforced under the iron rule of Diana Moon Glampers, the United States
Handicapper General, and her dedicated group of agents.
"Handicaps" are provided to any person who shows some sort of exceptional
ability in order to bring them back down to the "standard." Those with beauty must
wear grotesque masks. Those who are strong receive sashweights and bags of birdshot to hinder
their movement. Those with great intelligence are forced to wear radios connected to a
government transmitter that emits sharp, disruptive noises.
George,
Harrison's father, must wear forty-seven pounds of birdshot and a radio. He mentions that the
punishment for adjusting one's handicaps is, "[t]wo years in prison and two thousand
dollars dine for every ball I took out."
Harrison himself is provided
with thick glasses to obscure his vision and give him headaches, earphones to block his hearing,
three hundred pounds worth of weights to slow him down, and a red rubber ball nose, tooth caps,
and shaven eyebrows to cover his good lucks. His attempt to rebel and overthrow the rule of the
government results in the ultimate punishment: execution.
In other words,
not only has excellence and talent been completely stripped of its worth within this society,
but so has the value of human life.
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