farenhight 451
... him none." The futurist government displayed in Fahrenheit 451 tried to prevent any feelings or opinions contrary to their own because they did not want to be challenged. Instead, they fed unwanted junk into the minds of their people through the parlor, a wall to wall television. This machine, that does not inspire the thinking process, lead them to make the conclusion that their world revolves around it and nothing else. Critical thinking became less important. The ability to make rational decisions diminished. "So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life." People were not given the opportunity to realize how imperfect their society was and to change it for the better. The ideas given in Bradbury's book are not new ideas. After the fall of the Chou dynasty in 246 B.C., Ch'in Shih Huang-ti became the new ruler of China. Because of his tyranny, people had many reasons to hate him. To prevent criticism of his rule, the emperor ordered the burning of all books. Two thousand years later, the Nazis under Adolf Hitler destroyed forbidden books in huge bonfires. What were in these books that evoke such fear? Hitler knew that books motivated revolution. The Nazi government was not a reasonable government. It tried to control its people and to shape their thinking. Anyone who refused to conform was destroyed. The actions of Ch'in Shih Huang-ti and Hitler showed remarkable similarity to Bradbury's book. Books were considered dangerous because they stimulate the human mind to question about the dependability of their government. The ideas for change often comes from books. Because of this, many great upheavals in the history of mankind got their ideas from books. For example, John Locke's Treatises on Government discussed about the three basic rights of man. He also believed that as reasonable ...