Week 10-Social Control and Fahrenheit 451

"You see, it's... it's no good, Montag. We've all got to be alike. The only way to be happy is for everyone to be made equal," said the Captain to Motag. In Fahrenheit 451, a futuristic dystopia has banned books. According to the story, the reason for this was that books were the main cause of pain in people. I agree, it was heart wrenching when Dobby died, but I don't think that banning books removed all pain from this society, which was the goal. Rather, I think it increased it because one of the biggest causes of pain for people is Social Control. Comparing this movie to the Civil Rights Movement we can see how in a dystopia, and in a free nation, resistance to the social control is very similar.

Guy Montag (the main character) and his wife, Linda

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's eventually led to equal rights for black and white people alike. However, the road to this equality was a long path. It all started when africans were ripped from their homes and brought to America as slaves. Slavery was banned in in 1865, but that didn't stop the the mistreatment of these people. From segregated schools, to making them sit in the back of the bus, to not serving them in restaurants, african-americans were horribly mistreated and abused by our society, and finally in the 1960's, led by Martin Luther King Jr, they started to make a very strong stand against the social control over them. 

Social control and resistance have a unique balance. The more social control, the louder the resistance. 'Louder' could mean more obvious, taking a stronger stand, or being more violent. It is just making it's cause more known. Along with this, the louder the opposition is, the more it is going to seem on a completely different side than the social control. 

When comparing the balance to the Civil Rights movement, it is really obvious to how the scale changes over time. In the 1960's, the abused african-american population were fed up, and ready for some real change. They didn't just want the laws changed, they wanted the thought of the population as a whole to be changed to one of love and unity. At the time, the social control was very strong. White people still looked down on black people, and treated them worse than dogs. Thus, the resistance was strong and loud. This is somewhat different and yet somewhat similar to the resistance in Fahrenheit 451. 

The dystopian society in Fahrenheit 451 burns books. Everyone must be equal and painfree. Books cause pain and different views in people, making books bad. However, there is actually a surprising number of people in the society who disagree, and hide books in their house. However, because of the fire men, people who look for books and then start them on fire, their resistance is a silent one shown only in actions. One women, who had an entire library in her house, choose to burn with her books and refused to move. Actions like that was how the resistance was spurred forward. The social control was people who, when they thought someone was harboring books, turned in a picture of them to the firemen. This was a very strong 'informal' kind of social control because it kept the people in check using someone other than authorities. The thing that made it work so smoothly was that you didn't have to have proof to turn someone in. If you were mad at your neighbor, just put their picture in the box. This fear kept the people in check, created 'equality' and 'removed' pain. 

A Silent Resistance, but this women got her point across

Comparing Fahrenheit 451 to the Civil Rights movement shows that the two resistances were noticeable similar, however had some stark differences. The most prominent of these differences was that the Civil Rights movement had the ability to gather and speak out, but in the dystopian society, that just wasn't an option. However, even though those fighting for Civil Rights could speak, that doesn't mean that they were always heard. But, eventually the point got across. 

The Social Control on The Civil Rights Movement in the 60's

The informal Social Control on the Civil Rights movement was the attitude of white people as a whole. Whereas the more formal control was the police. These controls kept the african-american population in check for a long time, but not forever. Every place I can think have that has had unjust rules has only been able to keep the population in check just just so long. After a while, the people always seem to fight back and eventually win. But, sometimes the pendulum can swing to far to the other side. Maybe that is happening now when it comes to civil rights. Things like Hate Crimes seem unjust, but the law was established in 1969. I fear that in the case of Civil Rights, the pendulum has swung from one side to the other, and now we are suffering the consequences. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is totally unrelated, but I have been listening to The Beatles since we started studying about the 60's, and I really like this song and thought I would share it with you in case you haven't heard it.  :)))