Thursday, November 4, 2010

A Socratic "Anthem?"

Based upon your Socratic discssion regarding Anthem, what should be noted?  What bothers you about the ideas presented in Anthem?  Did your peers challenge you to think?  How?  Why?  To what end did you discuss ideas, themes, and significance?  Please respond to this post in class.

30 comments:

Timothy said...

What bothers me about anthem is how socialist and controlling the society is because the "government" has gone so far as to even find ways to poison the minds of all people. It also bothers me of how communist every ones thinking is and that is trying to make every one equal in EVERY single way even in how they speak.

Anonymous said...

What should bother us in anthem is how leaders in anthem treated the people giving them fake names and hiding them from the truth out side their city. No. they didn't because it is my idea and they can't change what I think or how I think it. Another thing that bothers me is how equality is the only one that stood up and fought for what he believed instead of what they tried forcing him to believe what they wanted to.

jeff said...

Some parts of Anthem really bother me because here in America we are losing freedoms every single day. They may not be as extreme as not being able to learn but they still are freedoms we all might have a strong connection to. But later on in the future we may lose freedoms like not being able to learn. Which would be a crime.

Anonymous said...

thing about anthem is that you are supposed to be apparently the same as everybody else... i feel like its weird that no one is deciding to act apron what is going on based on how people are being controlled and there scared that's why they haven't done anything is because there afraid

blogger101 said...

What bothered me in the book Anthem is adjusting to the word "we". In our society we are all different. So it was difficult to read a sentence. Also something that was bothersome was they were all supposed to be equal but the leaders were allowed to beat you and act like their better than you. Something is weird also is that Equality was the only one who spoke up and tried to progress the world. Also maybe this society in Anthem is what is going to happen to us in the future. Cause the setting in Anthem is the future. My peers challenged me to think when we thought if this story could happen to us.

TG3 said...

Anthem made me think a lot about why people don't try to stand out and be there own individual. I think that this could be based off our own society today because our government and higher power takes small things from us to start but then they will move to bigger things and that could be what happened to Anthem. The government thinks that they can control other people and take away individuality in Anthem.

AnyaC said...

What bothers me about Anthem is that talks about how society is controlling and it doesn't allow anyone to express themselves in their own ways. Nobody can discover or invent things on their own. They pretty much can't make a difference, because it "degrades" the abilities of others. My peers didn't exactly challenge me to think about about the issues, but they make me understand the problems more. I've realized that the things back then affected the rights of people more greatly. We discussed our ideas to the end that we explained the issues of the government and their control over people, and how it affected everyone negatively.

michaelz said...

I thought the way you were treated with your job was odd because they decide what you do for you entire life and you must do it every day till you die. This bothers me because what if they got hurt or you had a health problem what would you do? go to the doctors for a few days and go back to work? It doesn't seem realistic like who do you go to because you were thinking about yourself not the others so it contradicts itself. It might be that no one had health problems or you were forced to deal with it and die even but it is never mentioned in the story. Or possibly there could be no disease or sickness in this time line.

sportygirl9594 said...

The thing that should bother us about Anthem is that no one is expressing them self and don't really have there own opinion. Also if you are going to have kids you should not just be put in a room but pick a guy that is right for you and some one you like. No body is fighting for them selves, they are letting other people control them. Some thing that is bother some is when they don't except the new technology that was found. Like the light-bulb they did not want them to use they like the idea of candle light. KENDALL SALING

Anonymous said...

In Anthem people were not allowed to be individual. They could not have names, they could not think for themselves, they all had to work for a greater cause. With all people today, they have names and usually there is a story that goes with the names that are given. Everyone is assigned a number and that is how they are known, by a word and then some numbers. The government wanted to keep things how they were, when Equality discovered the light bulb, the council shot him down because someone had discovered something that was above their knowledge and that would cause people to start questioning what the government was saying.

Emma. said...

Some things that should bother us about Anthem is the limited self expression. Being individual is a sin and it is not fair to limit people on their personal beings. Also punishment is something that bothers me also. The way they are treating for just simply wanting to be themselves isn't right. Also, some people shouldn't be scared to want to be different,it should just happen and they should be happy with who they are, not ashamed. The "government" in this society also is bothering, considering how they are so opposed to others for the fear of someone actually having a good idea that they can't take credit for. Selfishness plays a big part.

AustinV said...

One thing that bothers me about Anthem is that this is real in some parts of the world or if not it may become real in the future. Theres no self expression and thats bad everyones equal, no individuality. "Mindless cattle" They don't want knew things in their city so equality is a Street Sweeper. My peers challenged me to think because they came up with things i would have never thought about. This is what Anthem is about and what scares me about it.

Bobby M said...

Things in this paragraph talks about what bothers me and the class about the book Anthem By: Ayn Rand. There is no room for self expression in the book Anthem. There is absolutely no freedom in the society of Anthem all there is are rules and laws that you must follow. There is no room for individual personality. Themes in our Socratic Seminar were: freedom, individuality, technology and laws.

Taylor said...

What bothers me about anthem is the fact that there is communist areas like this with no freedom at all and all decisions are made for you. Nobody can believe anything and are told what to believe; and if they do not believe what they are told they will be killed or beat. They worship the word "we" and don't know the word "I". Communism can be very terrible, but doesn't have to be. also, new technology is rejected and they force you to not be smart and learn. If anybody could invent and do what they want, people could be above others and the society would fall apart, so they reject Equality's invention of the light bulb and they put him in the job of being a street-sweeper so that he can be equal and they make him believe he is a bad person.

Mai said...

Something that bothers me about "Anthem" is the punishments because instead of a verbal speaking to then they are just beaten to listen. One of the things that my peers said was that this may happen in the future. This is kind of scary to think that there is a possibility of this ever happening. Also another peer said that this is a lot like America today in how everything is being limited. We start to become used to the government taking things from us. There is no equality in this primitive futuristic society. These ideas and themes weren't dicussed very deeply, but they were brought up often.

LoganL said...

The ideas in Anthem should be of concern because the culture in the book is the worship of we, if you do not worship we then your beaten until you do or until you are dead. It also bothers me that no one thinks that the system is flawed, the fact that being equal is supposed to be, but it is not true. In equality 7-2521's, or Prometheus as he is later called, world it may seem that they are equal, but they are not a street sweeper is not equal to a scholar or a leader. Upon being born in this society you are forever cursed to never be totally equal to that of your "brothers" because you might be a street sweeper and your "brother" a scholar. I pity those how have not, and will not now individualism.

Bloggerthehut said...

Lack of expression is one thing that should bother us. The punishments given should bother, instead of having warnings you get beat. The way two people mate is another thing to be bothers. The thought that this could be in the not so distant future is a bothersome thought. No one wants to stand out, and that Equality does this alone. We are having small freedoms taking away and it might end up like Anthem. How the government thinks that they are superior and that everyone else is below and can't think for themselves. Yes my peers challenged me to think because the things that they said are things that bother me too and I want to be apart of this topic and conversation. I thought this conversation was an important one and one that let us express ourselves and share out ides. this was a really good way to share what we thought but not in a writing way, more in a self expressive way!

Bloggerthehut said...

bloggerthehut is Bailey S

Anonymous said...

Anthem has no self expression. You can never be better than another. You can only be equal to someone or even less then. Anthem teaches how important self expression is and how important individuality is. My peers have expressed that another bothersome topic would be the way of punishment. Beating someone until they do right or speak good thoughts, they are beaten. The goverment is very controlling and only Equality and the Golden Ones have felt a reason to speak out. They want to escape, they know it's for the best. Equality is changing history by speaking out and proving there is more than one way to express yourselves. Brothers like Equality are given jobs that are less than there ability. They are not aloud to speak out and if they were given these higher jobs they would over power and discover new ideas that are unheard of.

Reagan H. said...

What bothers me about anthem is that everyone was treated too equally nothing was different about anyone. How they were forced to "reproduce" with who ever they were assigned to. How equality discovered the light bulb but they still turned it away although it was a great discovery they didn't want to advance that much. There was no individuality. This is an easy topic because so many things bother me about anthem.

tram said...

somethings about anthem that should bother you is that you cant be yourself and only express others the people in anthem get in trouble all the time no matter what they do or say and the government thinks that the people cant think for them selves there is no freedom in there life if i lived in there times i would not be able to do it i would feel trapped and not be able to be myself

Kellen said...

I think that no self expression is a bud issue. They are mindless and that why Equality was “cursed”. When some one was smarter or better they were deemed lesser because they weren’t like the others. they wanted Equality to be a street sweeper because they wanted to be better then Equality. It had no freedom and there freedom became less and less over time. It really bugs me to think that their society was that underdeveloped then what we are today.

jacob p said...

Anthem bothers me because Equality never said I, the government hides everything from its own people plus Equality could have helped everyone in the society with electricity but the house of scholars was too afraid to let ones creation overcome others inventions. Another thing that bothered me was Ayn Rand had a lot of theme in the book.

Anonymous said...

There is no self expression and they can't even think certain things that are forbidden even though the Councils probably don't know. The punishments are bothersome because they beat them until they submit to their will. This situation could be possible in the future. No one else speaks out besides Equality. The society is very undeveloped. They rejected the new technology. Equality is different (height, intellectual, thinks) so he is shunned. This would be a very bothersome society because of these reasons, and it would be miserable to live in and even to think about it makes me cringe.

Anonymous said...

I think that something that should bother you is how they have no self expression. Self expression defines us so why should they all be forced to be like each other. Also, the punishment is very cruel. They don’t give warnings they just will beat them until they listen which i think is very wrong. I don’t think that this is appropriate because not everyone is always going to agree and they try to force it. This also relates/reminds me of Communist Russia because it is like the whole losing freedoms and controlling environment. The next thing that bugs me, is that if the government is preaching equality when they defiantly are controlling and better then everyone else.
I think that our class had some really good ideas about what bothered us in class. Therefore I think this relates to everything in our lives. It relates to our freedoms now and what they would be like if we didn't have them. Also a theme that was throughout our discussion was how taking away freedoms were a bad thing and how we don't agree with there society at all.

Unknown said...

The way they raise their kids. no one knows who they are, who their parents are, and how you are different. Another thing that bugs me is the how the government is hypocritical. They all believe in equality, but somehow they are in a sense 'better' to where they get to choose everyone else's lives. They thought that they were better, which breaks their own rules. The Corrective Detention center is also cruel. They literally whip people to agree and go with them. Although more items in Anthem bugged me, it was an extremely powerful and inspiring book.

Unknown said...

Something that should bother us is the extreme control of the rulers over the people in Anthem. IT bothers me that the government took away all rights of their citizens. If you, a citizen, didn't act how everyone else acted, you would be punished. The punishments in Anthem were very harsh. Why do the rulers think they have the authority to tell people what they are worth and how smart they are? Even thought they were brainwashed, it bothers me that no one stood out against the government except for Equality. What bothers me the most is their method of reproducing, because putting two people in a room to have a child is not right. Making that child would not be out of love, and that child would not have two loving parents growing up. The thing that should bother us the most is fear of our society becoming like this in the future.

Unknown said...

The way they raise their kids. no one knows who they are, who their parents are, and how you are different. Another thing that bugs me is the how the government is hypocritical. They all believe in equality, but somehow they are in a sense 'better' to where they get to choose everyone else's lives. They thought that they were better, which breaks their own rules. The Corrective Detention center is also cruel. They literally whip people to agree and go with them. Although more items in Anthem bugged me, it was an extremely powerful and inspiring book.

Anonymous said...

What bothers me about the ideas in Anthem is that there is no individuality, you cant believe in yourself.No body has self expression, and if they do they are afraid of expressing it because of the council.It also bugs me , because the government chooses basically their life for the people living there. If the government is all about pleasing your brothers then pleasing yourself. Is the government pleasing its brother? No. So they shouldn't say something like that if they are portraying the opposite.

Noah tm said...

The inability to express ones self. I agree with this fact for they were not only not allowed to express yourself but they also didn't even know the word I, but the only know the word we. they didn't have the will power to stop the council. They failed to stand up except for Equality, he decided to fight the system by himself. Not an easy task for a person such as this. The people inside the city didn't even know what was going on they were like mindless cattle, moving with the rest of the herd. Equality was something that they believed in that all were to be equal. They couldn't be different, for it was a curse to be unlike their brethren. Cleaning the streets was to make him feel like that he was worthless, take the fight out of them. They tried to put him in his place to be able to form a more perfect unity. As we can see in history and in our lives today you can only subdue a person or group for so long eventually you will lose control of them and you will lose your power with them. This was most likely known by the council and the scholars, I inferred this because Equality at the end said he read of the goddess of earth and the god who brought fire to man which would be history. So the governing council may have known of struggles that happened those who are oppressed will find out and find a way to end it. It reminds me of the Civil rights movement, in which the African Americans finally said enough and fought for what they deserved to me this is quite similar to the anthem. Equality said that there were others before him and that they fought the system as he did. But they never saw their efforts. Fighting for freedom is always an idea of the oppressed no matter who, people will want change they want their freedom. Freedom to live their own life freedom to speak for themselves freedom to learn the truth, freedom of the word I.