So me and my friend bill were talkin about how we like to read books that make us think alot. Fahrenheit 451 was definitly one of them. Some of the things we got out of it were pretty wierd,like how out goverment is already using things like censorship to "help us" but what there really doing is making us less of individuals. What do you think about this...?

When I saw Jeff was posting this question, I knew I had to reply. This was definitely one of those books which draws you into it. For one thing, I made quite a bit of connections. After reading the book, I felt like how I had felt for the next week after I had seen the movie "Signs". Only this book will have changed my thinking for the rest of my life, than just any movie would.
When I look at the society Ray has created in Fahrenheit 451, I find it harder and harder for me to believe that our society, take the US government for example, has not already become the same way. I am sure they already use so much propaganda to get us to believe what they want us to believe. Don�t get me wrong, I appreciate what our government has done for us. We are one of the worlds super powers, but is it right is the question. Most would say not. One thing I do try to do, is always looking at both perspectives. Take the war in Iraq for example. Our president, said going to war was the right thing to do. Was it? I try to trust the president in his decision. I trust he knows something I don�t know, whether it just be too plain complicated, it might result in conflict inside the country like a revolt, or just there be some other reason he doesn�t want us to know why were over there. To me, going to war with a specific country over an issue like terrorism, which is linked all over the world, cannot be pin pointed in one country. I believe our governments use propaganda for issues such as wars to get a group of people like a country, all thinking in the same direction, to avoid rebellion. Now, the other perspective is your average citizens, in which the question becomes, "shouldn�t we know?" We have the right to know why we are over there. This is just one of the many issues that comes to mind reading the book F451. A connection was made when Montag said "Another war" or something along those lines. The point is, he really doesn�t know the reason for it. He simply goes along with it, because the government is so censored.
Are we headed in this direction? With television and other media sources already being such an influence on how we behave, I would say yes. All we have to do is see that there is some new fashion in a magazine and everyone is soon going along with it. In the book, Beatty gave a speech to Montag about where all firemen started and why books must be burnt and how it got this way. He explained that books started getting shorter and shorter until they were just a few lines. We are already getting to that point. People are using spark notes, trying to get by with reading shortened versions of literature. It is hard to contradict that we, as people, are not already well on are way to creating a society identical to the one which Montag lives. It is a scary thought, though I think we all should think about it. If we all truly don�t want to see us live in a world like that, then we must make some effort to prevent such a disaster.

The thing which I have carried with me all the years(24) since first reading F-451 is the need to preserve all good things and all things good.

For instance, if in the future our eco-system is so screwed up that grass can only be grown indoors or the only Koala Bears left on the planet are stuffed, well that's not my idea of preservation.

Preservation through prevention.