One of the main topics in Fahrenheit 451 is censorship. Censorship is put to an extreme in the book. No �pores in the face,� no hardship, you may even say no reality. Looking at today�s world where more and more is allowed in PG movies and E rated games, it seems like we are going in the other direction, but if you look harder we�re well on our way. We now get censored for stupid small reasons like religion, ethnic symbols, and racial slurs, which are part of everyday life. In addition to that, the government is making absurd laws about censorship and media usage and rating. My questions to you are: What do you think of the censorship of F451? Are we getting closer or farther from the extreme in F451? And if so, will we get to that same extreme?

Well, censorship on that scale is occurring right now in China. Several months ago dandelion posted an article about Chinese students having to read THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. The version they were reading was concocted by the Chinese Government. It had Anne being an Iraqi living in present day U.S.A. and having to hide from the evil Bush Administration's Stormtroopers.

As for censorship in the U.S.A.? I'm not aware of anything I like being censored. Perhaps we are leaning the other way right now, which I don't find to be such a great thing. About a year ago I heard a rap song on the radio which was glorifying forced sodomy. RAPE. My kids are 9 and 12 and listen to that station.

Also, I participate at another discussion board which has mostly authors and aspiring authors. This one author started a brilliant discussion on what swear word he could use other than the F-word, because it seemed to him that he was repeatedly using it in his books but couldn't have that gritty realism without the swearing.

I think being concerned, perhaps even vigilant, about possible trends in censorship is important. However, where do you draw the line? Was Napster wrongfully censored, or were they fencing stolen property and justly shut down?


[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 09-03-2004).]

I think that the censorship in F541 is very different from PG movies and E rated games. I think it's solely based on the fact that the government wants to protect the ability of the people to live real lives. Why? Well, the fact that they could be dead any minute is proved true at the end of the book. Could you imagine a city of millions of people all knowing that they could be bombed and killed in a matter of minutes? It would be complete chaos. Instead of this, the government decided that they would completely censor the ability of the citizens to concern themselves with more than media and their everday lives. They are protecting the people and allowing them to live happy lives where they don't need to be distraught over war and dieing.

It was North Korea, actually, and Anne's diary was not necessarily so much mistranslated as misrepresented: http://www.raybradbury.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000158.html

My bad.

...this again...
(but I'll let it pass, I guess)
Cheers, Translator

Attaboy, let it go. I'm with you on this one, but I thought it fit rather nicely on this thread.