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A Conversation with Ray Bradbury ("if you watch local news, your head will turn to mush")
Fahrenheit 451, 50th Anniversary Edition ^ | 2003 (50th anniversary of Fahrenheit 451) | Ray Bradbury

Posted on 11/16/2011 7:23:31 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat

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Ray Bradbury grew up in a Baptist home while living in Illinois, Arizona and California.

He is best known for his book "Fahrenheit 451", a book about government censorship of books and thinking. The government uses TELEVISION as a distraction to real thinking, and anyone found with a book has their home and goods burned to the ground.

Bradbury's hero in the novel is a book burner whose mind and heart is changed. He sees the television for what it is: a distraction to keep people from thinking.

I don't know Bradbury's politics, but he was damn right about TV's detrimental effects on the human brain.

I think Bradbury's thoughts on censorship might be a bit different 8 years later--it certainly seems as though some form of "censorship", though not explicit governmental censorship, is rampant in some quarters. "Censorship" as I see it is an act of government, not the market place.

1 posted on 11/16/2011 7:23:31 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: Recovering_Democrat

More of what Bradbury said about Moulin Rouge:

It came out a few years ago and won a lot of awards. It has 4,560 half-second clips in it. The camera never stops and holds still. So it clicks off your thinking: you can’t think when you have things bombarding you like that. The average tv commercial of sixty seconds has one hundred twenty half-second clips in it, or one-third of a second. We bombard people with sensation. That subsitutes for thinking.


2 posted on 11/16/2011 7:24:05 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: Recovering_Democrat

Bradbury is a paleo lib but his comments here are good. And funny.


3 posted on 11/16/2011 7:26:23 AM PST by PaleoBob
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To: Recovering_Democrat

I think the film “Network” nailed it a long time ago. I gave up broadcast and cable tv a few years back and haven’t missed it a bit. In fact, I’ve lost all tolerance for it. If I am exposed to it for even a few minutes, it starts to make me sick.


4 posted on 11/16/2011 7:29:15 AM PST by Huck (I predict record low turnout for the GOP primaries.)
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To: Recovering_Democrat

I got rid of TV in the mid-1990’s. Whenever I’m exposed to LOCAL news anywhere in the US, without exception I notice the same thing. They speak and act, literally, like their primary audience is in the 7th grade.


5 posted on 11/16/2011 7:32:00 AM PST by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Recovering_Democrat

Read all his major works in high school. I’m not a big si fi fan but loved his stuff.


6 posted on 11/16/2011 7:33:48 AM PST by skeeter
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To: Recovering_Democrat

that is why I stopped watching the news.


7 posted on 11/16/2011 7:34:58 AM PST by television is just wrong
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To: Recovering_Democrat

I’m Montag.


8 posted on 11/16/2011 7:35:14 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Recovering_Democrat
More of what Bradbury said about Moulin Rouge: It came out a few years ago and won a lot of awards. It has 4,560 half-second clips in it. The camera never stops and holds still.

I totally agree . . . Moulin Rouge was probably the worst film I ever saw . . . the jerky camera crap was extremely annoying . . . it never let up . . . 1-1/2 hours or so of constant flickering screen . . . garbage.

And yet, they had a very beautiful female lead that the camera could have spent time on, but they chose to go goofy with the camera jerks.

9 posted on 11/16/2011 7:37:33 AM PST by laweeks
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To: Recovering_Democrat

My favorite Bradbury book was “The Martian Chronicles.”


10 posted on 11/16/2011 7:37:40 AM PST by NRA1995 (Obama's presidency is shovel-ready; let's bury it in 2012!)
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To: montag813

Obligatory Ping.


11 posted on 11/16/2011 7:38:01 AM PST by Yossarian ("All the charm of Nixon. All the competency of Carter." - SF Chronicle comment post on Obama)
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To: Paladin2

I hated the new Moulin Rouge. The original one was much better.


12 posted on 11/16/2011 7:38:32 AM PST by MichaelNewton
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To: Recovering_Democrat

Where’s the entire interview?


13 posted on 11/16/2011 7:39:40 AM PST by Dick Vomer (democrats are like flies, whatever they don't eat, they sh#t on.)
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To: skeeter

My favorite story of his is so non-sci-fi: Dandelion Wine. Every time I read it, it evokes a deep sense of nostalgia and yearning for good days of life.


14 posted on 11/16/2011 7:40:40 AM PST by Thorliveshere
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To: Recovering_Democrat
he was damn right about TV's detrimental effects on the human brain. I finished reading this book yesterday and agree with you. What I found so interesting is that it was first copy written in 1953. He had such a clear vision of the future - TV's control and degradation of morals. I kept thinking as I read, "Is this guy a conservative?"
15 posted on 11/16/2011 7:42:15 AM PST by neefer (Because you can't starve us out and you can't make us run.)
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To: Recovering_Democrat

I can’t remember who said the following quote.

“Those who don’t read the news are uninformed. Those who do are misinformed.”


16 posted on 11/16/2011 7:45:57 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Thorliveshere
Yes. He was best at short stories though, IMHO.

And he's lived long enough to see some of his favorites themes being born out in a general sense, for better or worse.

Mostly worse.

17 posted on 11/16/2011 7:47:34 AM PST by skeeter
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To: Recovering_Democrat
"If you watch local news, your head will turn to mush."

And, if you watch national and international news, your head will explode!


18 posted on 11/16/2011 7:49:42 AM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Huck
I really liked TV, turn it on and I'd sit in front of it and flip through the channels and zone. For the past five years I've been more or less TV free. I watch movies on DVD or Netflix, get my news only online (thanks Freepers). But now, I can't even get interested in movies; the best thing I've watched recently was a 30 minute show about two beavers building dam.

I'm now onto audio books, downloaded from the library, I can listen and do other things at the same time. I'm not trying to be snobbish about it, I just can't tolerate what is being served up. The news has me ranting for hours and the shows, well, they just plain s**k.

19 posted on 11/16/2011 7:51:34 AM PST by NativeSon
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To: Recovering_Democrat

bkmk


20 posted on 11/16/2011 7:53:14 AM PST by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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