If I come across something really nice in any book I am reading, I tend to write it down and save it somewhere. It always feels nice to go back once in a while and look at what moved / interested me at a particular point in time. Now, I am just going to go ahead and add these lines directly to my blog. So here it goes…
If the government is inefficient, topheavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it…Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Dont give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.
The above para is from a science-fiction novel that was published in the 1950s. Scary that it seems to ring so true nowadays.
Any guesses which novel this is from?
No, but I would love to know. You’re right, it is scary!
The book was “Fahrenheit 451” . Highly recommend it 🙂