How Fahrenheit 451 Predicted Cancel Culture
Fahrenheit 451 is a science-fiction novel written by Ray Bradbury in 1953. It tells of a dystopian future where people are the same, and different opinions result in consequences. Sound familiar? That may be because this reality is really not all that different to the events foretold in Fahrenheit 451. Just look a t the way different opinions and quirky books are treated.
In Fahrenheit 451, if Montag ever steps out of line, he runs the risk of having a robotic creature known as The Hound hunt him down and either assassinate him or paralyze him so he can be dealt with by the authorities. In real life, if a Twitter user has a different opinion on the internet, (especially when it comes to shipping stuff,) they can actually run a risk of getting doxxed, meaning their address might get leaked, or their IP address, or their passwords, or just personal information in general. Don’t believe me? Take a look at Jellybean. They’re a Minecraft content creator who primarily does short-form content directed toward kids. Guess what? They got doxxed. For being “cringe”. “This almost happened to an online friend of mine because he liked Charizard.” Like… why???
Alright, well what else could be compared to Farenheit 451? Well, how about the main premise of the book; the censorship of books? In Fahrenheit, books have been completely banned, as to not offend “all the minor minor minorities”. In real life, there are actually some books that are banned in some places. Books like George, 1984, and even Fahrenheit 451 itself! Heck, even stuff as popular as the Harry Potter series has been challenged! Censorship these days…
This world is inching closer to the world of Fahrenheit 451 every day. Social media like Twitter is really not helping the world become any less sensitive. “If we don’t want our world to become like the dystopian, nazi Germany, censorship galore that Fahrenheit 451 is, we gotta get ahold of ourselves, start thinking for ourselves, and grow the hell up.”