One child came back from school with a copy of the dreadful Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery" in hand. Along with _Lord of the Flies_ it's a chunk of Cold War libertarian propaganda - so I promptly handed them a copy of Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". I don't know if Le Guin actually intended her story as a point-by-point refutation of "The Lottery" but it does a magnificent job of exposing the underlying ideology and challenging it, right down to the question of what is acceptable in literature for 12 year olds - "Omelas" overtly discusses sex and drugs, with gentle humour, and condemns violence, while "The Lottery" features prudes who practice ritual murder.
If anyone here is teaching "The Lottery" or has a child for whom it is prescribed reading, I heartily suggest Le Guin's antidote to cultural poisoning.
@yetiinabox in what sense do you consider it libertarian? In so much as “the man is bad” and “public stonings/execution are not good”. But that’s not inherently libertarian (“minimising the states encroachment on individual liberties”), albeit I suspect that definition might be where our interpretations differ. I don’t want to be at cross-purposes. Agree that more people should read Le Guin, albeit I’ve not made it to Omelas yet.
@yetiinabox Likewise Flies could be considered quite anti-libertarian, showing the breakdown of morals when actions lack consequences from a broader societal expectation/rule of law (though the idea of the RN officer/“authority” arriving and everyone suddenly standing straight and behaving is a bit problematic in itself).