By Tonja Condray Klein©02/21/2023

I read FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury sometime between 1985 and 1990. I bought the E-book and just read it again in 2023. Although I remembered what it was basically about, I was astounded by the fact it was from, 70 years ago in 1953! The fact that it is even MORE realistic NOW than back then makes it even more alarming for me. I looked at my bookcases at home and felt fear of what it would mean for me personally if my beloved paperbacks were burned, especially since many can’t be replaced by no longer being in print or E-Book formats now. It would mean I’d never be able to read them again, and THAT IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. I’m a writer of my stories and an AVID READER of others’. If someone showed up with a flamethrower to torch my collection, I’d interfere violently.

The woman who collapsed in the house with her books that the ‘firemen’ were burning was someone I related to completely and was in tears over, but then I GOT ANGRY. I understood her dying with her books because ‘firemen’ and local government in the book were against her so she must have thought she’d rather die than live without the books she loved; unfortunately, for any who would try to burn my books, I wouldn’t burn with them unless I took the ‘firemen’ with me and only if I didn’t have any other choice. I’d probably try to do what Guy Montag did to the ‘firemen’ in some way BEFORE any of my books were burned. Even if a book is considered ‘evil’, I’m NOT for book-burning. I’ll cite Henry Jones, “…morons like yourself should try READING books instead of BURNING them!” He is COMPLETELY right!

My point is that even though we haven’t come to THAT point YET, I can see it happening sooner than I thought possible a decade ago. FAHRENHEIT reminded me that once we lose freedom to read former and present books as the written word that I was taught to embrace even in my generation X education, we face the threat turning into a nightmare should the government turn against us and we fail to protect our rights legally. TO READ MEANS YOU KNOW REAL FACTS! Yes, I write fiction, but I research reality too. I read a lot of fiction and nonfiction by writers in various genres. I might be more eclectic than some, but when one to two generations after me can’t read what I did in third grade at age 8 then this is distressing and could be the beginning of the major decline for cherished intellectual learning in America!

READING IS FREEDOM! Whether I’m reading Graham Hancock archaeological nonfiction, Christine Feehan paranormal romance fiction, the Christian Holy Bible nonfiction, or Ray Bradbury science fiction, I find facts from eras and research represented. Some people claim fiction is lies so no facts exist in them, but I’ve read historical books citing mythological stories from before the time of antiquity or the written word in cuneiform text with archaeological finds to question if worldwide ‘tales’ are that off-base with actual history. If you can’t READ the books now, then how can you understand anything like the histories of the world or the way our government is supposed to protect citizens with what OUR RIGHTS ARE? I’m not going to trust ANYONE to tell me ANY of those things. I will READ it ALL for myself!

Verbal history happened before writing began. When it comes to various places around the world, writing didn’t develop as quickly as it did with others, so verbal ‘stories’ were passed on from generation to generation until writing was learned. One of the books that tell this reality is THAT’S WHAT THE OLD ONES SAY by Chief Joseph RiverWind. Not only does it explain how Native American tribes passed on their history verbally, it also shows their relating of it through centuries to millennia verifies historical accounts, the Jewish Torah, and Christian Holy Bible. There are many reputable books that bring history into better understanding from research and artefacts found more recently than what we had only two centuries ago. How can we let children, grandchildren, family, or community NOT be able to read at all in 2023?

If you haven’t taken the time to read FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury, then I suggest you find it in a library while you still can or get paperback, E-Book, or audiobook all available on Amazon. It has several curse words so it’s not religious, and it has various books mentioned that I don’t agree with, but it has a message that Americans NEED in 2023. One kid I know in my neighborhood told me he can’t read, and it broke my heart since he’s even older than I was when I got the box set of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis for Christmas and began reading them in third grade. Covid-19 pandemic put learning on hiatus, but I’m not sure that is the reason for this loss of ability. Gen-Z can’t seem to read, write, do math, or even understand the sciences that my ninety-one year-old mother learned before she reached eighth grand long ago!

I read books by people I don’t agree with on some things but at least agree with on something, and I think that’s a way to stretch your understanding of other viewpoints that helps you to become knowledgeable about more than only the things you are comfortable with learning. I’ve read things that went against something that I knew as a fact or believed in personally as proven truth but carelessly discounted without evidence supporting another viewpoint or theory. THIS lack of being able to examine more than one viewpoint or piece of evidence on any given subject then becomes an incomplete conclusion and the beginning of ideological indoctrination used by government systems like socialism, communism, and totalitarianism. WE MUST BE ABLE TO READ BOOKS TO KNOW THE FACTS OF REALITY! If not, we lose all.

This could be WHY education is trying to NOT teach children to READ. If we don’t stand up and demand that all children are given the life-preserving education that previous generations were taught without compromise, then we will see America become more and more like the FAHRENHEIT country that made BOOKS illegal to read or own. America CANNOT allow this to happen in 2023 or any time in our future! I might not like or agree with what some books say or teach, but like FREEDOM OF SPEECH we need FREEDOM OF READING for adults! Age-appropriate restrictions are still necessary to protect kids, but that should be the ONLY censorship. Books from the past might have speech that we don’t agree with anymore, but THAT is what shows we have LEARNED from the past enough to know things changed.

A large amount of young adults and even adults right now in 2023 can’t read books that were read in elementary school only decades ago and can’t understand the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. One of the things used by despots and ruling classes in history was NOT allowing the people of their countries to be able to have education at all so they wouldn’t be able to rise above the ‘class’ the rulers deemed as acceptable… they wanted and still want servants or slaves. That infuriates me since America fought against that kind of mentality to be free to choose our own government laws. Now I’m seeing what should alarm everyone. Protect your rights to keep burning of your books from happening in America… or you might have to protect them with a flamethrower by yourself…