That's a great question. What similarities do you see? I do see a methodology of thinking through an argument that could be similar. I need to look more closely at Beatty's words and see where his arguments are going (it's been awhile).
I see a similarity in the reason they give for banning or editing literature. Plato wants to eliminate passages that contain objectionable ideas such as men crying, praying to gods, gods seeming weak and achilles wavering about going to war or staying home. Beatty says books are burned because they might be offensive to some like white people wont like uncle toms cabin and cigarette smokers wont like books about lung cancer. IT seems simiar to me. ALso the firemen are like the poice and in Plato's time he was a very powerful authority and thought he had ultimate say. My english class wanted me to ask this question and we appreciate your replies.
I guess a difference might be that Plato felt that persons ought to be assigned to certain classes of society. Some were guards, a handful were the philosopher-kings, etc. I think Bradbury is more of an egalitarian in that way. So for Bradbury, knowledge is up to everyone.
I agree that their (Beatty and Plato) had similarities.
