Role Of Censorship In Fahrenheit 451

How does one know if something is right or wrong if they do not even know what the issue is? It is impossible. Censorship promotes the idea of ignorance for sensitive or offensive topics to impose a party’s agenda upon people. Ray Bradbury articulates this idea perfectly in Fahrenheit 451 through a dystopian society fixated on stopping the exchange of knowledge between people. In today’s society censorship is just as prevalent, and a bigger issue than people realize.

News has long since been about facts. Government censorship pollutes the news stations, spinning fictional stories to glaze over injustice, or just to give their citizens the idea that they have some basis of security. China uses their news stations as a puppet. They promote

the ignorance of the unjust actions and events occurring throughout their nation and the world. On July 25, 2016, China ordered multiple online portals to cease most of their original news reports in an attempt to control China’s journalism. This was an attempt to create more Communist-controlled mouthpieces to boost popularity ahead of an important party meeting next year. These portals reported on informative topics about police brutality, tainted milk, and air pollution. The use of media by China is similar to the scenario occurring in Fahrenheit 451. Media is constantly used as a propaganda outlet to bolster the view of the government. North Korea is a prime example of this. The internet is heavily filtered and the means of news are specially selected. Journalists have to go through extensive background checks and are required to go to a college for multiple years. The colleges ensure that the students go through a strict ideology review. Censorship has a larger effect on the news than people realize, and the stories surfacing recently about censorship is just the tip of the iceberg.
History demonstrates again and again how close-minded societies and governments can be. Ideas that free people from the chains of ignorance are attacked by societies and labeled as blasphemous or outrageous. Philosophers and forward thinkers have been silenced time and time again. Views of philosophers and discoveries of scientists have been pushed under the rug countless times. Socrates, a famous philosopher in Greek times, was sentenced to death for his unorthodox views and “corruption of youth.” His violation of the political and moral code was viewed as threatening, because the government wanted to uphold the social and political hierarchy by preventing education of the youth. These acts of silencing some of the most prominent thinkers has been, disturbingly so, a pretty common occurrence. While most people have accepted the idea of evolution, the state of Texas, while acknowledging it as a thing, refuse to teach it and refuse to educate the youth on the “weaknesses of evolution”. Pope Pius IX, part of the Vatican Council, created a list that scientific beliefs that would pretty much excommunicate one from the arms and love of God. While most Popes condemned science, some were advocates for its progress. Science is a controversial topic, and has been a constant battlefield for religious advocates and atheists.
The freedom of authors and writers have always been tested and questioned.

From the Nazi book burnings, to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, to Texas school textbooks, this is a huge problem worldwide. Within the Texas educational system, they have refused to admit the existence of evolution. Science textbooks within the state of Texas are skewed and biased, accusing evolution of being religious propaganda for atheists. Sexual education is not supported in multiple states within textbooks. While the idea of teaching sex is considered blasphemous, it is keeping children ignorant and can pose a danger to the spreading of diseases. While textbook censorship is horrible, the most egregious instance of censorship is the Nazi book burnings, an occurrence almost 100 years old. Anything viewed as “Un-German” was subsequently burned. Prominent minds such as Albert Einstein and Helen Keller had their books burned. As Helen Keller stated in her Open Letter to German Students, “You may burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas those books contain have passed through millions of channels and will go on.” Regardless of how enlightening a book was, they all were thrown into a pit riddled with ideas lost to the flame. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum, a list of books banned by the Catholic Church, was formally abolished in 1966. Prior to the abolishment, its 400 year reign restricted certain books from being read and produced. Consequently, the limitation on these books decreased the amount of ideas being shared, therefore promoting ignorance. While the books on the list were viewed as blasphemous, prohibiting them slowed down scientific and intellectual discoveries. Notable authors on this list include, Galileo Galilei, John Locke, and Nicolaus Copernicus. While the boundaries of authors are still a debatable topic, society is slowly becoming more

accepting.
In modern society, censorship has been viewed as almost an irrelevant topic. In this war-torn culture, prevention of violence seems like a more prevalent issue. Contrarily, peace could be restored with the promotion of truth, rather than lies being spread to benefit an elite party. This issue might seem outdated in this increasingly progressive society, but censorship is just as prevalent, and it is misunderstood. Society should invite ideas that, while being contrary to popular belief, share a new perspective on something.