Fahrenheit 451

3. Captain Beatty says, " The important thing for you to remember, Montag, is we're the Happiness Boys, the Dixie Duo, you and I and the others. We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought. " Are there people today who would agree with Beatty that debate and uncertainty lead to unhappiness? Do you agree with him?

First of all, by this point, Beatty's words to Montage were tongue in cheek as this statement was merely a pre-emptive to Beatty forcing Montag to burn down his own house; so I don't take it as an endearing situation of camaraderie, it was a snake like statement designed to further rip at the edges of Montag's suffering willpower.

The statement itself? Would people today agree with it? I would say there are quite a many that do. How often do we hear different voices crying out within the crowd as to what is or is not "politically correct?" Nearly on a daily basis, someone is crying out to shut down the voices of someone else, or to free someone else's voice. A lot of society is forced in certain directions because a population of people desires it so.

A few examples are evident is instances such as, the removing of certain entries in scholarly textbooks as reported by Fox News. Texts are scanned to find material that may be deemed "offensive" to any particular group of people."A textbook review process taking place in states across the country has changed or eliminated references to everything from the Founding Fathers to hot dogs, leaving many to charge educators with distorting history in the name of political correctness." Certain images such as hot dog, snow-men, and butter are deemed inappropriate for tender eyes. Even Mount Rushmore has been renamed "The Framers" for some obscure reason of offense.

Deputy superintendent of education in California, Sue Strickel gave the reasoning for such actions as being in the best interest of the community at large. "I think our textbooks should, to our greatest capacity, be free of any type of stereotyping," said Sue Stickel, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the California Department of Education. "We need to make sure that all ethnicities are represented. We need to make sure that both males and females are represented. We need to make sure that our materials cover the full gamut." I can't help but wonder at what expense is history being damaged so someone or another doesn't get the wittle feewings hurt. History is history people. Not a gentle re-enactment where vital pieces are left out to make it seem more charming. We need truth, we need facts, and we need the right to experience those realities.

So, is Beatty's world upon us? Certainly not as egregious as in Fahrenheit 451, but it is slowly creeping into a possible existence. Stop killing the truth. We will eventually forget the truth if we do not keep accurate record, and accept it as a hard reality. We're not supposed to rewrite history to appease anyone. I'd like math to be easier. Can’t we just make everything 2+2=4 because I am offended by geometry? Flat out, this is censorship. If we don’t tackle the problem now it well could lead to a problem like Fahrenheit 451.