The Evolution Of Technology And The Demise Of Intellectual...

The Evolution of Technology and the Demise of Intellectual Thought Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury has long been a staple of literature classes around the globe. And for years, the popular consensus has been that the main theme of the novel is censorship. When examining the political environment at the time of the book’s publishing, it is easy to understand why many readers identified with a message of suppression and government regulation. It was 1953 and American Senator Joseph McCarthy was in the midst of his controversial communism investigations. However, in a 2007 interview with LA Weekly, Bradbury clarified his intentions behind the classic novel. â€Å"Fahrenheit 451 is not [†¦] a story about government censorship. Nor was it a†¦show more content†¦In 1950, the U.S. Census reported that only nine percent of American households had a television set. By 1990, that number had risen to ninety eight percent (U.S. Census Bureau 885). The astonishing explosion in the prevalence of television indicates that Americans were not pr acticing moderation. And that crucial lack of control is exactly what Bradbury warned against. In Montag’s first conversation with his young neighbor, Clarisse shares an interesting piece of information. She states, â€Å"Have you seen the two-hundred-foot-long billboards in the country beyond town? Did you know that once billboards were only twenty feet long? But cars started rushing by so quickly they had to stretch the advertising out so it would last† (Bradbury 7). This revelation is crucial because it informs readers of the extraordinarily fast-paced lifestyle that technology has enabled. Speed and sensory overload prevent people from truly absorbing and processing the environment around them. Montag then accuses Clarisse of thinking too much. The teenager explains that she has time to think because she rarely watches television. Even in the future there are only twenty-four hours in a day. And while most humans use those twenty-four hours to hustle through life, distracted by television and other chatter, Clarisse takes the time to ponder existence. As the conversation between neighbors