Rough Draft The true power of humanity has been expressed many times in past pieces of literature and in current innovations that are frequently used today. The question about this power is can it be used by humanity to destroy humanity. Many examples lead to this answer being yes. In 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, humanity continues to show that they have the power to destroy themselves through constant surveillance, brainwashing, and government control.
With all the power that comes from new technology, people lost their right to privacy while under constant surveillance. In Cornelius Frolik’s article “Smile, you’re on camera almost everywhere you go”, Frolik explains how the growing surveillance cameras that are used to protect public safety …show more content…
In Michelle Walling’s article “How Television Programs Our Minds”, she elaborates on the reality of how dangerous simply watching TV can actually be. Walling states “Watching TV puts the viewer into a highly suggestible sleep like hypnotic state. This provides easy access to the subconscious” (1). While people watch TV they are in this hypnotic state which makes it easy for whatever they are watching to influence them. This can be very dangerous because there are certain things that can be put on television to influence a person in a destructive way. This is a dangerously powerful way to change a person's thought process. Televisions being used to influence people's thoughts is also used in Fahrenheit 451. In this book Guy Montag lives in a society where reading, learning, and having conversations is frowned upon, which leaves plenty of time for everybody to spend in their TV parlour. The walls of a room in the house are replaced with television screens which creates a room surrounded by screens. Guy’s wife is constantly glued to the screens and completely loses track of what goes on in the outside world (Bradbury 20). People in this society easily lose track of reality and become confused with what is and is not real. The simple power of television can control what society knows. It is a huge source of information and if …show more content…
In William Lutz’s article “The World of Doublespeak” he writes “In 1977 the Pentagon tried to slip funding for the neutron bomb unnoticed into appropriations bill by calling it an enhanced radiation device” (179). The government controlled decisions by simply changing the name of an extremely dangerous atomic bomb to something that sounded less threatening. They use doublespeak by simply changing some words. Doublespeak is used by the government frequently to control how people think. The government is also an extremely powerful source in the book 1984. In 1984 the government is so powerful that they can completely change and erase the past as they see fit. The government decides what the public knows and even what they thought they knew. They change what they want when they want to change it (Orwell 37-48). The government is so powerful in this book that they not only control what is happening in the world at that moment, but they also control what has happened in the past. If they want someone to never have existed then they make him non-existent, and if they want to create a man that never lived then they create that man. They have overwhelming control over their citizens that can easily be used to destroy the world as they know it. In the book Fahrenheit 451 the government controls society's knowledge by burning all the books that hey can find. Guy Montag
With all the power that comes from new technology, people lost their right to privacy while under constant surveillance. In Cornelius Frolik’s article “Smile, you’re on camera almost everywhere you go”, Frolik explains how the growing surveillance cameras that are used to protect public safety …show more content…
In Michelle Walling’s article “How Television Programs Our Minds”, she elaborates on the reality of how dangerous simply watching TV can actually be. Walling states “Watching TV puts the viewer into a highly suggestible sleep like hypnotic state. This provides easy access to the subconscious” (1). While people watch TV they are in this hypnotic state which makes it easy for whatever they are watching to influence them. This can be very dangerous because there are certain things that can be put on television to influence a person in a destructive way. This is a dangerously powerful way to change a person's thought process. Televisions being used to influence people's thoughts is also used in Fahrenheit 451. In this book Guy Montag lives in a society where reading, learning, and having conversations is frowned upon, which leaves plenty of time for everybody to spend in their TV parlour. The walls of a room in the house are replaced with television screens which creates a room surrounded by screens. Guy’s wife is constantly glued to the screens and completely loses track of what goes on in the outside world (Bradbury 20). People in this society easily lose track of reality and become confused with what is and is not real. The simple power of television can control what society knows. It is a huge source of information and if …show more content…
In William Lutz’s article “The World of Doublespeak” he writes “In 1977 the Pentagon tried to slip funding for the neutron bomb unnoticed into appropriations bill by calling it an enhanced radiation device” (179). The government controlled decisions by simply changing the name of an extremely dangerous atomic bomb to something that sounded less threatening. They use doublespeak by simply changing some words. Doublespeak is used by the government frequently to control how people think. The government is also an extremely powerful source in the book 1984. In 1984 the government is so powerful that they can completely change and erase the past as they see fit. The government decides what the public knows and even what they thought they knew. They change what they want when they want to change it (Orwell 37-48). The government is so powerful in this book that they not only control what is happening in the world at that moment, but they also control what has happened in the past. If they want someone to never have existed then they make him non-existent, and if they want to create a man that never lived then they create that man. They have overwhelming control over their citizens that can easily be used to destroy the world as they know it. In the book Fahrenheit 451 the government controls society's knowledge by burning all the books that hey can find. Guy Montag