Fahrenheit 451
Is equality truly as incredible as it is made out to be? The issue of equality is an issue faced by human beings in every state, in every country, on every continent on planet earth. It is also an issue faced in the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The issue with equality is that there is no way to truly reach it without handicapping the extraordinary. Also, equality tends to promote mass culture, which is extremely detrimental to progress. Because of this and the examples provided in the novel, it can be determined that when mass culture governs a society, it will lead to the degradation of said society through the destruction of philosophy, deprivation from originality, and the need to please everyone.
Primarily, mass …show more content…
Pleasing everyone is not only impossible; it is also impractical. Nevertheless, as a society progresses and expands, the need to please everyone is an issue that always arises. This can be observed in America today as labels are constantly changed and redefined to suit every single individual. The society in Fahrenheit 451 is in similar circumstances as shown by the quote, “All the minor, minor, minorities with their navels to be kept clean.” (Bradbury 55). Attempting to please everyone is completely innocent by itself, but the side effects of trying to do so can be harmful to the advancement of a society. For example, by attempting to cater to the feelings of everyone, quality information is avoided because it is seen as hurtful. In the novel, this is shown by the quote, “Someone 's written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book”(Bradbury 57). Here Sgt. Beatty is explaining to Montag the importance of destroying literature that causes unrest amongst different groups in their society. This quote clearly shows how pleasing everyone leads to the physical destruction of quality information. Pleasing everyone can also cause harm to a society by stifling the voices of highly opinionated individuals. Some might argue that by doing this you eliminate the destructive criticisms of hateful individuals, which is a beneficial. Although this is true, thinking this negates the fact that by silencing the opinionated you also destroy any other sort of criticism. If this is done, a society simply cannot expect to progress due to lack of motivation for improvement. Therefore, when mass culture causes a society to attempt to please everyone societal progress will come to a
Is equality truly as incredible as it is made out to be? The issue of equality is an issue faced by human beings in every state, in every country, on every continent on planet earth. It is also an issue faced in the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The issue with equality is that there is no way to truly reach it without handicapping the extraordinary. Also, equality tends to promote mass culture, which is extremely detrimental to progress. Because of this and the examples provided in the novel, it can be determined that when mass culture governs a society, it will lead to the degradation of said society through the destruction of philosophy, deprivation from originality, and the need to please everyone.
Primarily, mass …show more content…
Pleasing everyone is not only impossible; it is also impractical. Nevertheless, as a society progresses and expands, the need to please everyone is an issue that always arises. This can be observed in America today as labels are constantly changed and redefined to suit every single individual. The society in Fahrenheit 451 is in similar circumstances as shown by the quote, “All the minor, minor, minorities with their navels to be kept clean.” (Bradbury 55). Attempting to please everyone is completely innocent by itself, but the side effects of trying to do so can be harmful to the advancement of a society. For example, by attempting to cater to the feelings of everyone, quality information is avoided because it is seen as hurtful. In the novel, this is shown by the quote, “Someone 's written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book”(Bradbury 57). Here Sgt. Beatty is explaining to Montag the importance of destroying literature that causes unrest amongst different groups in their society. This quote clearly shows how pleasing everyone leads to the physical destruction of quality information. Pleasing everyone can also cause harm to a society by stifling the voices of highly opinionated individuals. Some might argue that by doing this you eliminate the destructive criticisms of hateful individuals, which is a beneficial. Although this is true, thinking this negates the fact that by silencing the opinionated you also destroy any other sort of criticism. If this is done, a society simply cannot expect to progress due to lack of motivation for improvement. Therefore, when mass culture causes a society to attempt to please everyone societal progress will come to a