Comparison Of Fahrenheit 451 And Control Of Internet Speech

The dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, and the political cartoon “Control of Internet Speech” although created in different times have a large amount of similarities regarding the rhetorical devices and themes used. Multiple editions of Fahrenheit 451 have been published throughout the years, however the version this essay will be referring to was published in June, 2013. The book revolves around Guy Montag, a fireman living in a futuristic and technologically advanced world where freedom of knowledge is censored. Forbidding books is a form of censorship(suppression of information) because books are platforms for authors to share their thoughts and readers to gain knowledge. This is achieved through forbidding books and having firemen burn those that are found.

The book explores Montag’s journey from blindly following the government to becoming an individual with his own thoughts. Fahrenheit 451 was written couple years after World War II, during which Nazi’s burnt books to censor knowledge they disagreed with. Thus real life events must have influenced Bradbury while writing the book. Similarly to Fahrenheit 451, the cartoon “Control of Internet Speech,” also demonstrates censorship, with a focus on controlling internet speech. The political cartoon was published in 2000 by an American magazine named Alternative Press Review. The context of the cartoon is a gift shop, where corporate media is portrayed as a person, and Uncle Sam as the government. Corporate media is asking Uncle Sam how he would like controlling internet speech to be wrapped, meaning how he would like censorship to be portrayed to the public. The options include, “Anti-Terrorism” and “Protect kids.” In addition to censorship, both Fahrenheit 451 and Control of Internet Speech also revolve around the theme of deception, as the governments have ulterior motives the public doesn’t know for enforcing