Fahrenheit 451

Yep, another book read, cover to cover, including afterward and coda.

It's uncanny how much of what Ray Bradbury wrote in Fahrenheit 451 in the 1950s still applies today! When he talks about the seashell radios in everyone's ears, constantly feeding a stead flow of sound, I think of everyone plugged into their iPods. When I read about the wall sized television sets and the mother talking about just setting her kids in front of them, I think about how kids (and even adults) I know can become 'plugged-in', unable to interact with anything else when the TV/computer/game console is on.

I found the three 'necessary things' for making use of books to be rather insightful.

...Number one, as I said: quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right to carry about actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two...

In the book, he talks about people rushing around so quickly that they never have time to stop and think. Compared to today, the 1950s must have been idyllic, but yet he still had these fears. I've found that a problem with today's society is that we don't slow down. Granted, I'm not willing to give up my radio, computer, cell phone and TV, however, I do think that all things should be used in moderation. Aside from being poor, one reason why I don't have more minutes on my cell phone contract is because I would be likely to try to use them, spending all the time on the phone. Ever notice that it's almost impossible to strike up a conversation at the bus stop, because everyone is already having a cell phone conversation?

In this past year or so, I've noticed that I've had difficulty just sitting and being quiet. I've come home and felt the need to turn on the television, even though I hadn't watched much TV in the preceding 6 years or so.

Anyway, the world is still going to hell in a handbasket now, just as much as it was then. I won't be so arrogant as to think that things are worse now than they ever have been before. If the people preaching the fall of society had been right, then human society would have ceased to exist long ago. On the other hand, this is no excuse for ignoring the need for social change. The poor still need to be fed. Intellectual freedom still needs to be respected, etc.