What is the title of the story about a society that was so obsessed with everyone being equal that the strong had to wear weights... the pretty had to wear masks and the intelligent were dumbed down?

Answer 1

"Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical story published by Kurt Vonnegut in October 1961 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In the story, the United States has decided that no one should feel inferior to anyone else, so they passed the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the U.S. Constitution to require that anyone who is superior to other people has to be handicapped to bring them down to the level of the rest of the population. Good looking people have to wear masks; strong people have to wear weights; smart people have to wear radio sets that broadcast noise that makes it hard for them to think. The protagonist is exceptionally good looking, athletic, and smart. He breaks into a TV station while it is broadcasting, throws off his handicaps and starts dancing with a ballerina whose handicaps he has also discarded. The "Handicapper General" of the U.S. shoots them dead to prevent them from continuing and making other people feel bad about themselves.

Answer 2

The story you are referring to is likely "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a dystopian fiction that explores a society where individuals are handicapped to achieve equality in all aspects, resulting in a suppression of individual differences and talents.