“All you want is production without men who’re able to produce, isn’t it?”

In Atlas Shrugged, Henry Rearden asks this of a gang of politicians and bureaucrats trying to foist an insane scheme on him. Some people say Rand created a caricature. But recently, the New York Times made the erasure of creators explicit with an ad presenting “imagining Harry Potter without its creator” in a positive light. Perhaps the Times people think books are created by a “Fiat Librum” spell requiring no work. (“Fiat Librum” is probably bad Latin. Wizarding Word magic is built on bad Latin.) It’s magical thinking.

The suggestion is reminiscent of Barack Obama’s “You didn’t built that.” Denying credit to creators relieves the beneficiaries of any sense that they owe them anything, even acknowledgement.

Some of us, of course, don’t get bylines. I’ve sold over a thousand articles that were published without my name on them. But even in those cases, the customers knew I was doing good work and said so. They knew that someone needs to understand the subject and know how to put it into terms the reader comprehends.

Acknowledgment may not put food on the table, but we don’t live by bread alone. Whether we write best-selling novels or ephemeral blog posts, recognition of our creative work is an important part of our compensation.