Has the 'Fahrenheit 451' Dystopia Already Arrived?

Ray Bradbury wrote 'Fahrenheit 451' in 1953. In it, he predicted what our consumerist society would become within a few decades. He managed to create a nearly prophetic work despite having little information about how the technological revolution was going to evolve over the following decades. The society he created in his book is a decadent and entertainment obsessed world consumed by the artificial. Ultimately, this society ended in disaster because it was incapable of facing the truth. To the casual reader the story might seem to take place in a dystopian environment far removed from our own situation, but my own reading left me wondering whether the society imagined in 'Fahrenheit 451' was really that much different from our present reality. The more I thought about the parallels, the more I began realizing that Montag's world was hardly different from our own.

Among the greatest similarities between our contemporary American society and that of 'Fahrenheit 451' is the influence of TV. In the fictional America envisioned by Ray Bradbury, TV constituted a huge amount of people's "socialization." It reduced or eliminated the amount of time people spent in deep thought, and it provided virtual relationships and alternative worlds for those wishing to indulge in it. Our twenty first century TVs are not as all-consuming and influential as those portrayed in 'Fahrenheit 451,' but when we calculate TV-esque digital devises like computers it seems Bradbury was writing about a society very similar to our own.

In 'Fahrenheit 451,' the main character, Montag, bemoaned how no one communicated with him (including his own wife). He expressed this concern to Fabor: "Nobody listens any more. I can't talk to the walls because they're yelling at me. I can't talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say" (Bradbury, 84). We are experiencing a similar phenomenon today. People are substituting true communication for digital entertainment. Mildred, Montag's wife, thought the time she spent with her friends watching a comedy called the 'White Clown' was valuable "bonding time" despite the TV being too loud for them to hear each other talk. Her distorted idea about "quality time," however, is very common among modern families. In a survey reported by The Daily Mail, ten percent of family members admitted the only time they spent with their spouse and kids was in front of the TV (dailymail.co.uk). Nielsen Media Research's latest study shows that the average American watches four and a half hours of TV every day, and that number does not include computer time (Nielsen Media Research)! When you consider that number in relationship to the number of hours people typically spend at work or school or sleeping it ends up being the majority of their free time. It is hard to imagine much meaningful conversations are happening when people's concentration is being divided between flashing images screaming for attention and their friends and family. Yet, in today's world, the primary time spent with others is facing a TV. This trend might seem harmless enough to a casual observer, but when evaluated more closely it should be seen as having a profound effect. Among the problems cited with modern dating is that it is usually entertainment centered, and it is often associated with a trip to the cinema or some other show. Many couples fail to perceive each other's true natures while dating because they spend too much time distracted by the consumption of stimulation.

The second major way the technology of 'Fahrenheit 451' is similar to that of our present society is that it was used as a way to prevent people from meditating on their own thoughts. Mildred sat in front of the TV "walls" engrossed, and if she was not watching TV she had the radio "seashells" in her ears. Faber commented on their lack of time to think when he told Montag why he refused to have TV walls in his home:

"If you're not driving a hundred miles an hour, at a clip where you can't think of anything else but the danger, then you're playing some game or sitting in some room where you can't argue with the four-wall televisor about what is 'real.' It is immediate, it has dimensions. It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It must be right. It seems right. It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn't time to protest" (Bradbury 84).

Many historical thinkers have emphasized the need for quiet meditation in order to gain peace and discover truth. Albert Einstein said: "I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind." Euripides said: "The good and the wise lead quiet lives." Most people today, however, have fallen into the technological trap Bradbury predicted. When we are not watching TV or browsing the internet we are listening to music. Even solitary moments, like riding in vehicles, have been filled with the noise of news broadcasts, comedy acts, and talk shows. Popular culture and marketing campaigns fill our ears and push aside any attempts to think critically. 

The third similarity between 'Fahrenheit 451' and our own contemporary society is in the development of virtual reality. Throughout Bradbury's book, technology served as a replacement for the real world. In our own world, virtual reality has taken the form of video-games and avatars. People are no longer content with their circumstances because they can often achieve a form of their deepest longings in a digital way. Disenfranchised by reality, they allow their imaginations to run wild and live out their fantasies artificially. Games like 'Sims,' 'Halo,' and 'Second Life' are making some aspects of reality obsolete. I personally know many people who spend numerous hours a day in digital space. Marriages have been ruined, friendships have slipped away, and work and school are often forgotten simply because they were less interesting or immediately rewarding than completing the next 'World of Warcraft' objective. It was discovered in a recent study that 8.5 percent of youths aged eight to eighteen are addicted to videogames. The Chinese government reported that seventeen percent of their youth aged thirteen to seventeen are addicted (The Washington Post). These internet and gaming trends are turning into an epidemic of distraction.

Among the results of the 'Fahrenheit 451' society's decadence was that its people became increasingly less tolerant of things that disturbed their "peace" or its supporting worldview. Historical information was among the objects most in opposition to their make believe world of leisure and fun. The facts never quite matched what they desired to believe. Bradbury's fictional society dealt with this problem by rewriting history, contorting classical literature, and dumbing down the educational process. 

The idea and practice of rewriting history is not new. It has been carried out by governments for millennia. However, it has probably never been carried out so systemically as what is now taking place in the twenty first century United States. The rewriting of history, however, has not been a government initiative so much as the desire of the masses to avoid inconvenient truths. Historical revision is now carried out because people want to justify their own behaviors, and they want the great men of the past to support them. For example, the Christian identity of America's founding fathers has been systematically buried in our popular discourse. Many of their explicit concerns about Christianity's importance to our national identity have been totally warped to appear as if they meant precisely the opposite of their original sense (Apologetics Press). Many of the founding fathers felt it was necessary to integrate Christianity into America's national society. George Washington said: "Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens." However, many people today claim our first president wanted religion and politics to be utterly separated. Many more examples of this kind of historical revision could be presented. This tendency to distort the founder's ideas and spread lies about the past can be seen in the Montag's society in 'Fahrenheit 451.' In one example, his profession concocted a history for the fire department in order to support its work of burning books. They decided to claim a grand semi-accurate chronology that totally misrepresented the true meaning of history: "Established, 1790, to burn English Inspired books in the colonies. First Firemen: Benjamin Franklin" (Bradbury 34). This clear distortion of history, however, would not be terribly surprising in our current social paradigm. 

History is not the only thing suffering distortion. Montag's dystopian society contained schools in which most information was communicated without discussion or question. The character Clarisse McClellan was among the victims of this decayed educational spirit. Clarisse was a sixteen year old girl who was considered antisocial because she always wanted to talk and ask questions in school. Sadly, the same spirit pervades our own school system. Kids today are hoarded into buildings and taught a mass curriculum that fails to fully interact with deeper concepts that could enrich each student's soul. Because of our modern factory inspired school system, many students fail to gain an understanding of major facts and concepts. Peter Hyman, a speaker and teacher, claimed that the unspoken motto of modern schools has become: "we'll spoonfeed you the required nuggets of information to pass your exams if you behave and do your homework on time." There are numerous factors that have contributed to this situation, but Hyman's own interpretation is insightful: "Because teachers often do not have the techniques or confidence to engage in open-ended, probing questioning. Because in some schools there are crowd-control issues that get in the way. There is perhaps one further reason. We don't prize thinking in this country. We are suspicious of the intellectual; it's almost as if we believe too much thinking is not a good thing" (The Observer). These are disturbing suggestions. Is it possible that Americans no longer believe that thinking is a good thing? I find that likely. The Captain Beatty character made a statement that seems all too familiar in our modern comfort driven world: "Don't let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world" (Bradbury, 62). 

Our schools dreary unthinking educational philosophy has extended into its choice of literature students are taught. The Bible, for instance, can no longer be read in public schools, despite its unparalleled historical importance, simply because some have labeled it offensive. Captain Beatty understood the importance of mediocrity when he said:

"Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the dog lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics anywhere. The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that!" (Bradbury, 54). 

The desire to avoid offending minorities is among the most familiar aspects of modern American society. When you turn on the news it is filled with accusations of racism and advertisements filled with inclusive casts. The term "political correctness" has emerged to describe the sterile communication that hopes to offend as few people as possible, and this kind of communication has been embraced in all the communal areas of American society. Compromising the truth to make people feel better is a colossal problem that threatens our ability to assess problems accurately, and we have lost the ability to deal with important issues because we have been handicapped by accusations of "discrimination," "racism," "phobia," and "stereotyping." Our contemporary society has been warped by exactly the mindset expressed by Captain Beatty.

Among the most interesting quotes in 'Fahrenheit 451' is Faber's commentary on his society's underlying divorce from reality:

"So now do you see why books are hated and feared, they show the pores on the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon phases, or less, hairless, expressionless. We're living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from the chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality" (Bradbury, 83). 

Faber's observations were incredibly descriptive of twenty first century America. Today, our citizens believe they are entitled to all the blessings accumulated by past generations. They believe they should be able to maintain lives of bliss without the pain that was necessary for their fathers to create that bliss. Since the so called "greatest generation," Americans have lived in a perpetual adolescents that has never fully reconciled with reality. Our past few generations have increasingly trended towards rising dept and falling morality. These disastrous trends are the result of successive groups of people who think they can live however they want while still maintaining a powerful, prosperous, and free society. Without discipline, or the need to develop it, our culture has become the most materialistic and spoiled in history. We have created an artificial utopia of perpetual reward for doing nothing. We have ceased living in the real world where failure and success are built on talent and hard work, and we have now entered an alternative where none of the regular rules apply. The society of never ending fun and entertainment portrayed in 'Fahrenheit 451' has become non-fictional. Our present society no longer appreciates the concept of journey. We are attempting to live only in the destination. 

Personally speaking, I know that whenever I decline anyone's offer to drive me across campus, citing an appreciation for walking, most people perceive me as strange. My friends make jokes about my desire to walk, and they have even given me a nickname reflecting this. They sometimes drive up alongside me and talk about how strange I am for not jumping in their passenger seat and traveling the quickest way possible. This is our society's problem, and that of 'Fahrenheit 451,' we no longer understand the importance of travel and quest. We no longer see that the foundations of wisdom are grounded in experience. We only see the result, grab at it, and claim we have received it by luck or entitlement. We want the reward without the struggle. 

Approximately ten percent of Americans were taking antidepressants in 2005, and that number is likely much higher today (Business Week Magazine). That number also does not include those taking anxiety pills and other psychological medications. In addition to these drugs, there are an incredible amount of people who take sleeping pills on a daily basis. Thirty three percent of children and teenagers take some kind of pill every day. America has become a "pill popping" nation. Our mentality about drugs parallels that of the society portrayed in 'Fahrenheit 451.' Mildred took sleeping pills nightly, and she attempted suicide via overdose. The medical crew who revived her reported they "get these cases nine or ten times a night. Got so many, starting a few years ago" (Bradbury, 15). The level of dependence on sleeping medication is among the factors contributing to people's divorce from reality. An abundance of drugs has convinced many that there is no need to face real problems because there is always a quick fix solution. Many, if not most, modern Americans never deal with their deeper spiritual problems because they are too busy suppressing their results.

Another problem is that many people living in the twenty first century are so removed from the natural world that they are no longer capable of appreciating anything that is not artificial. An example of this can be seen by how few people regularly pause to appreciate the beauty surrounding them. People drive cars everywhere while bemoaning the heat, cold, rain, and snow. They rarely take time to enjoy the flowers on the trees, the greenness of the grass in Spring, or the interesting nature of the clouds on a particular day. How many people are afraid of every insect they encounter before knowing what species it belongs to? Very few people choose to walk or ride a bike when they have the chance to drive. Many contemporary Americans seem to be afraid of nature. They fear what they have no control over. They have no love for what is real. They have no affection for the source, they appreciate only the sterilized product manipulated by man. The characters portrayed in 'Fahrenheit 451' seem very similar. Clarissa McClellan observed: "I sometimes think drivers don't know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly" (Bradbury, 9). Humanity has moved farther away from nature and become more enclosed within self-created walls. We have built a barrier between ourselves and our Creator. We will never cure our decadent culture until we learn to go back to the source.

Contemporary America has become very similar to the fictional society portrayed in Bradbury's novel. We have almost reached the dystopian world imagined in 'Fahrenheit 451.' Is there any hope we will reverse course and recover? Sadly, there seems to be very few people willing to fight for a return to reality. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before our society shares the fate of Montag's. 

 

NOTES 

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Del Rey, 1996.

Paul Sims. April 2, 2010. www.dailymail.co.uk.

Susan Quilty. Nielsen Media Research. www.helium.com.

'Study Finds Some Youths 'Addicted to Video Games.' The Washington Post. April, 2009.

Peter Hyman. 'We Should be Teaching Our Children to Think.' The Observer. August, 2009.

Liz Szabo. 'Number of Americans taking Antidepressants Doubles.' USA Today 2009

Cathy Arnst. 'Pill-Popping Nation.' Business Week Magazine. May 27 2008.

Dave Miller. 'America, Christianity, and the Culture War.' Apologetics Press.

Peter Hyman. 'Drop GCSEs. We should be teaching our children to think.' The Observer, August 16, 2009.