ANTHEM: 3/5

I liked it, but it felt really contrived. Like the author wanted to write an essay and accidentally wrote a novella instead. The main thesis is that our current culture worships the idea of the collective - "we" care more about the "we" than the "me," at least intellectually. So we praise selflessness and discourage selfishness. The author, Ayn Rand, believes that denying oneself is not only unintelligent, but harmful. If we all were to focus too heavily on that idea, Rand's story argues, then we would lose the major and rapid gains that humanity has achieved through the minds of outcasts and nobodies. Inventions would be cast aside because they disrupt the status quo. Thoughts of preference for individuals we care most about would be scorned because they are unfair. 


But I think there's a logical fallacy here. Just because we believe that selflessness is a virtue does not necessarily imply we think you should always deny yourself. For instance: I can both enjoy the food I eat and use the energy for others. Heck, I can use the energy for myself AND others. It's a mistake to say that my eating is only for others, and it's a mistake to say that it's only for me. Anthem was singing a song in a world with only one scale. But in the real world, we have major and minor scales, and scales from other cultures that don't even sound pleasant to our earholes. We can choose which song to play based on the needs of the environment we're in - it doesn't always have to be in the white keys surrounding middle C.