In my tenth grade English class, we read Fahrenheit 451, and we were asked to answer this question: how did Ray Bradbury's predictions hold up? It was an intentionally broad question that once stumped me. But, after writing the essay in six hours (at two in the morning), the answer came to me. Ray Bradbury was incredibly accurate. The following essay is a research essay comparing the novel and modern America. From the political polarization and media control to the below quality education system, it begs the question...
Could the United States be the next fascist dictatorship? Fahrenheit 451 is a renowned novel that portrays topics such as anti-intellectualism, conformity, and technology as a prediction for future America. It was written a little over seventy years ago in the middle of the second Red Scare; a time where the country was in fear of communism, so they silenced people. Some would say that Ray Bradbury’s predictions of life weren’t too accurate save for Seashell earbuds; however, Bradbury’s predictions did hold up. Literacy rates in the country have been on decline, and since 1950 there has been a rise of anti-intellectualism and a rise in the spread of fake news along with social media. By examining the prevalence of mediocre education, government propaganda, and the dependency on social media in American citizens with regards to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, it becomes clear that if the United States were to stay on its current path, the country may become susceptible to fascism.
Step One: The Consequences of a Lack of Education and Literacy
The purposeful system of education in Bradbury’s America is a machine to create a society of citizens disdainful towards the pursuit of knowledge to keep them blissfully ignorant. When talking with Montag about school, Clarisse describes the process, saying, “we never ask questions… they just run the answers at you” (Bradbury 27). Clarisse also describes that the classes are mainly about physical education and watching TV, a large part of this life. The education system is arranged around the consumption of television. Knowledge can be drawn from topics such as screenwriting or TV history, but not when it’s heavily regulated to give no worthwhile information. It gets repetitive, boring, and overstimulating, and never is it encouraged to ask questions. There is just the spitting of ‘facts’ which ruins the relationship between students and education. It fuels the dependance on the television to stimulate their minds while they consume mindless content meant to sway their thoughts. As long as citizens do not know any better or don’t want to know any better, then they will not ask questions. You have to want to know things, and by diminishing the natural curiosity allows the government to slip by in their actions without anyone caring. However, the students don’t know this and will continue to happily engage in the experience this school system provides, which is exactly what this government wants because they now have an open opportunity to rewrite history, change society, and keep everyone under their control with the people none the wiser and that’s how they like it.
The US education system inches closer to fascism by fostering a society of anti-intellectuals starting in schools with the focus on creating a labor force instead of critical thinking skills, nurturing curiosity, and foundational and media literacy. In “Anti-Intellectualism in US Schools”, the author addresses the mediocrity and ineffectiveness of US public schools and writes that, “the key element missing in the experience of school… is care for intellect” (Howley et al. 10-11). The author goes on to say that care for intellect involves interpretation of the world, which involves critique and change. Schools are the basis of most education, and if schools don’t nurture the mind and learning, then it reflects in society. If schools don’t care to teach how to understand the world and change it, then the likelihood of developing the critical thinking skills to discern fact from fiction is slim. An NBC survey charted literacy rates once in 2017 (19% in the lowest performers) and again in 2023, “the [lowest levels of literacy] increased to 28%” (Murphy). The extremist nature of fascism relies on equally extreme promises, and it takes a lot of ignorance not only to believe them, but also to support them. But, ignorance isn’t hard to come by, especially in a school system that doesn’t encourage the pursuit of knowledge and information. Fascist dictators gain their power from people who willingly give it to them, therefore they rely on the blind trust people give them, which only comes from either intentional ignorance or general ignorance, both of which originate in schools that don’t equip their students with the skills they need to see through their words.
Step Two: Government Propaganda and The Spread of Misinformation
The revisionist history in Fahrenheit 451 is the sign of rampant propaganda the government instills in society to rewrite history in its favor. One instance of revisionist history with the intent to disseminate propaganda is when Montag first meets Clarisse, she asks if firemen always started fires, and Montag says, “houses have always been fireproof” (Bradbury 6). Montag himself is not trying to spread any propaganda or rewrite history with any ill intent, but he’s acting as a puppet for those who are trying to do so. He distributes misinformation without a problem, working as a gear in the machine. In fact, when Montag is talking with Beatty later in the section, he says “in the old days, before homes were completely fireproof” (Bradbury 31), signalling that he’s complacent in this system. Spreading the information that houses have always been fireproof only promotes the idea that the way society is now is how it’s always been; it normalizes the current society. Having this information circulating makes it easier to prove that other aspects have always been this way, and serves to aid their agenda without any questions. ‘Everybody knows houses have always been fireproof, why would the government lie to us?’ There is clearly something sinister happening within the government who has found an opportunity to make sure that nobody knows about it, or at least won’t do anything about it because it’s under the carefully curated curtain of public opinion and general knowledge and is now considered to be true.
Collectively, the inability to distinguish fake news from fact and the decided unimportance of literacy and care for intellect will be the cause for Americans to be manipulated by the propaganda of populists. In the midst of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson signed Executive Order 2594 and established the Committee on Public Information (CPI), whose goal was essentially to spread propaganda. The author of “The Committee on Public Information and the Birth of US State Propaganda” claims that the federal government has gained a ‘great repressive power’ and “much of that power was used to suppress both opinion and physical demonstrations of protest against the war” (Fischer 6). The CPI established the ‘Four Minute Men’ and gave volunteers speeches to recite to millions of Americans throughout the country to encourage enlistment and garner public support for the war and the Allied powers. The common characteristics of fascism such as promoting lies and inciting hate, controlling the media and what’s considered truth, creating scapegoats, nationalism, and militarism often rely on both the media and word of mouth. Also an indicator of fascism, anti-intellectualism often supports those factors because if there is a public that doesn’t know or doesn’t want to seek the truth, then they will believe their empty promises, and suddenly a fascist dictator was democratically elected to rule the country. A dictator elected under the guise of change would have the power to influence public support on fascist policies throughout the country because everybody trusts them. The CPI may not have tried to raise an authoritarian regime, but the ability to establish a committee with such power to silence dissenting opinions while promoting another makes it possible, which risks the entire democracy.
Step Three: The Media’s Normalization of Radical Opinions
The TV family in Fahrenheit 451 fuels an echo chamber of opinions that serve as pro-government propaganda and continue negative public perception on books and intellectualism as they repeat what the ‘family’ tells them. At the beginning of section two, Mildred tries to convince Montag to give up trying to read books because they aren’t people, and they should talk about living people, using the example that “[her] ‘family’ is people. They tell things; I laugh, they laugh!” (Bradbury 69). On the surface level, the difference between books and TV is simple: one is text, one is pictures, but their messages can be the same. They tell stories and embody their author and characters’ experiences. The heavy government regulation on TV changes their similarities, and now their messages are completely different. The books keep their messages even as they're burnt to the ground, but the government needs to provide some entertainment to keep the public distracted. But, despite containing people in it, there’s no message or depth to the television shows. They’ve been stripped of their life and suffocated by the tight grip of the government; it’s one message or no message, no inbetween and the punishment is death. This quote shows the relationship between Mildred and the TV; she does things based on the TV ‘family’. When they say things, it’s funny. They laugh, then she laughs. She adopts the opinions and actions of this ‘family’ because there’s only one opinion to form. If that opinion happens to be a radical, extreme view on society, then that’s the opinion she adopts. Mildred represents the average citizens of this society and illustrates the loneliness and isolation throughout. These citizens rely heavily on these TV programs because they’re the only ‘people’ there. Nobody socializes because what is there to talk about? What is there to do? The government has eradicated freedom by curating a dependency on the television for mental and social stimulation. The few approved TV programs are the perfect echo chamber of opinions for their agenda and to keep the public ignorant and entertained, because if the public is clueless, unconcerned, but overall supportive about the government’s actions, then they will do nothing about it. The TV ‘families’ will make sure of it.
The increasing use of social media in the American population serves to politically divide the country by normalizing radical ideologies and fake news through algorithms, making the public easier to manipulate due to lacking media literacy. In a Defense One article from 2024, the author talks about a study that concluded that “Political discourse online is largely dominated by extreme ideological voices, creating a false perception… that these views are more widely held than is the case” (Tucker). Due to the algorithms seeking maximum engagement, often the most attention grabbing content is the extreme. The article continues to talk about how the way people surround themselves with like-minded people increases the likelihood that they’ll believe fake news to be true. This influences the way that each side of the U.S. political spectrum sees the other, that each side is too extreme, so they must pull further away. This creates a want to search for a solution to fix the problems that the other side created; this is where upcoming fascist, authoritarian leaders find opportunities. People believe fake news in their echo chambers and want to solve the problem with their new leader, not knowing that it may walk them further from democracy.
Conclusion
America’s risk for fascism will only keep rising, and it may be a matter of time before the country resembles the future Bradbury predicted. To quote Faber, “the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom [is] the unmoving cattle of the majority.” If an authoritarian regime were to rise in the U.S., the current system in place makes it incredibly easy to fall for its charm, claiming to grant immense change; they will not tell us they are authoritarian or fascist. If it’s the people spreading disinformation because they don't know any better, then they should be taught better. The founding principle of America is democracy, and it would be a shame for the republic to be so short-lived. The only way to prevent this is to nurture the natural curiosity, to create a literate society strong in reading comprehension and media understanding. Otherwise, there will only be a few people to memorize texts for the future, and “the word ‘intellectual’ [will become] the swear word it ‘deserves’ to be.”
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Bibliography
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Simon & Schuster, 1953.
Characteristics of Fascism Mussolini Hitler Putin. www.keene.edu/academics/cchgs/resources/presentation-materials/characte….
Fischer, Nick. “The Committee on Public Information and the Birth of US State Propaganda.” Australasian Journal of American Studies, vol. 35, no. 1, 2016, pp. 51–78. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44779771. Accessed 22 May 2025.
"How Propaganda Is Used." Gale In Context Online Collection, Gale, 2022. Gale In Context: High School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/MKONVW818212261/SUIC?u=va_s_022_0010&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=20c7d728. Accessed 9 May 2025.
Murphy, Joe. “Survey: Growing Number of U.S. Adults Lack Literacy Skills.” NBC News, 10 Dec. 2024, www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/survey-growing-number-us-adults-lack-lite….
Tucker, Patrick. “How the Internet Is Making America More Susceptible to Rumors and Lies.” Defense One, Oct. 2024, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=8f88182a-f7d3-3981-a805-9fefddba678e.
“View of Anti-Intellectualism in U.S. Schools.” Asu.edu, 2025, epaa.asu.edu/index.php/epaa/article/view/683/805.
Comments
this is sooooo good and so well researched!!!!!!!!!!!!! nice job!
thank you!!
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