A Warning to Society Fahrenheit 451 Essay--A warning to society Social Satire: “trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or follyâ€, as defined by Merriam-Webster Online. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury uses social satire in a most direct way to expose censorship today. When Bradbury wrote this book, censorship was just creeping into the lives of humans, and today censorship has built a protective bubble around everything we do. Fahrenheit 451’s satire of censorship is aimed at American media and mind, American society, and our entertainment. The medium in Bradbury’s book is the epitome of a controlling media. Due to books being burned and forgotten, the government is capable of changing the outcome of history by rewriting it; therefore, history can be whatever the media want it to be. America’s government is autonomous in that they are afforded the same liberties as the free media. If the media get their hands on a certain story, they can change or omit important details that affect the story. The media of our time can censor what they want, and moreover, control the minds of American citizens. In Bradbury’s world, the media is so powerful that they burned books to oppress any uncontrolled thoughts or subliminal messages. As a result, people are then forced to stop reading. Books are condensed into smaller and smaller pieces, removing all “unimportant†information in today’s world, and the general public doesn’t care. Many pieces of literature in our world are now abridged; people can not get the full meaning of these books by reading a much shorter version. In Bradbury’s book, both the media and government were guilty of censoring books to the point of nonexistence; the written word had no substantial meaning. School is described by Clarisse as a place where one can’t think. With our society’s increasing stupidity, how long will it be before our books become burned? Much of American society today is focused on what we censor, and we are so worried about the small things in life that we don’t focus on the big things. In the land of Fahrenheit 451 the people of the society focus on the burning of books, and they don’t seem to care that the overall quality of life is declining in their society. Parallels can be drawn with our world today. For example, the government has groups specifically focusing on the censorship of media.
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Applying Common-Sense Morality to Life      I believe that I could and do “live with†W. D. Ross’s theory of common-sense morality as my own moral code. I agree with some of the principles that Kant and Utilitarianism follow, but I believe they are too strict. I agree with the system of moral dilemmas and priorities that common-sense morality uses. It allows a person to prioritize moral obligations and choose which obligation is more important based on a particular situation. I believe common-sense morality can easily be applied to situations at home, at work, and at school.      First, I will give an example of how common-sense morality can be applied to a situation at home. Let’s say that my father and I have plans to meet for dinner on Thursday night. According to Ross, I have made a promise to meet him for dinner and this situation would fall under the obligation of fidelity. In class on Thursday, I find out that I have an exam in my business ethics class on Friday and I know that I should stay home and study for it instead of going out to dinner. After thinking about the situation, even though my father and I had previous plans to go to dinner, I would decide to change our plans to a later date and study for the exam. By doing this, I broke my promise to go to dinner, but the exam is more important. According to Ross, I have prioritized the exam over the dinner in order to fulfill by obligation of self-improvement.      Second, I will give an example of how common-sense morality can be applied to a situation at work. Let’s say that I work at Wendy’s fast food restaurant. James, the manager of the store, and I are the only staff members in the store. All of the sudden, James accidentally spills hot grease all over his hand and is screaming for help. I immediately run over to help, but then a woman in the dining area screams to call 911 because her husband is having a heart attack. Now I have a moral dilemma. According to Ross, I have an obligation of beneficence to both people, but I need to evaluate which person’s health is more at risk. In this situation, the person having the heart attack is in much more danger than James. I would call 911 and then tend to James.
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