In response to your description, I mean.

I was required to read Rand's "Anthem" for school.

Short summary: IT BLOWS.

I read Anthem in highschool. I didn't really think it was that bad. At least is was a short book.

It's one of her least-awful books, for what that's worth.

It's certainly becoming more common, to the point where "Atlas Shrugged" is on the "summer reading" table at Barnes & Noble.

Before clicking on this video, I'd never even heard of "The Lottery".

But then, I graduated from a public school with a class of 25 people in Oklahoma.

And I only know of "Atlas Shrugged" because of that South Park episode where Officer Barbradey was revealed to be illiterate and had to learn how to read so he could hunt down the guy who was raping the neighborhood chickens.

He didn't like it, I guess. There's no accounting for taste.

I always took it to be a slam at the destructive nature of superstition. School curriculum can't outright say "fuck religion" so making this required reading is as close as they can get. Has there been some reactionary co-opt that I wasn't aware of?

(Ironically, I as a kid I always took the final Narnia book to be a slam against religion. I only realized later it was just slamming non-christian (non-white) religions.)

So far as I can tell, this is a story about the dangers of conformity, and blindly following tradition. I would also like an explanation as to why this is a "damaging" piece of literature.

I still have nightmares about it. Maybe what I meant to type was "effectively evocative".

Yeah, I think that stories like this and "The Summer People" are uncomfortable precisely because they *are* so good at highlighting the tribal mentality beneath a thin veneer of civilization. To me, that seems as applicable today as in was in '48, maybe even more so.

I agree that this is completely inappropriate to use as a teaching tool for our nation's children.

Have them read "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" instead.

This story certainly made me feel ill at ease. Quite an effective tale for bringing about discussion. I see why its commonly used in lit class and should be used in class. This story makes kids think.

My recollection of having to read this and books like Alas, Babylon reinforces the idea that education was about scaring the shit out of us kids.

Sounds to me like you got the same education the rest of us did.

Fahrenheit 451 is usually taught as the evils of censorship (it's actually about people watching TV instead reading). 1984 is about Communism. Atlas Shrugged is about how the weak leech off the strong, how the strong should abandon the weak (the opposite of what Jesus taught) and how religion will keep you from getting ahead in life. Mormons revere the US government to the point it's almost considered holy, that censorship is good, that a godly form of Communism will one day rule the Earth (although they hate man-made versions) and are required to help other Mormons by donating their time and money.

We didn't read Atlas Shrugged when I was in school and I'm kind of glad. You start reading it and after a week or so you think, "Hey cool! Let's see how far into... this... 1/3?! How long is this book?!" I think I made it half way though, reading it as an adult.