Ray Bradbury: Real problem not censorship but television

Ray Bradbury with Bush: President George W. Bush and Laura Bush present the 2004 National Medal of Arts award to Ray Bradbury. White House photo by Susan Sterner.
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
rawstory.com - Monday June 4, 2007

Contrary to widespread critical and mass opinion accumulated over fifty years, author Ray Bradbury insists that his classic novel Fahrenheit 451, originally published in 1953 during the McCarthy era, isn't really about government censorship.

According to the renowned author, "We've never had censorship in this country and we've never burned books. There are temporary lapses." He says that when teachers or librarians tell him his books have been removed from the shelves, he simply tells them to put them back again.

Bradbury explains that when he wrote Fahrenheit 451, "I wasn't worried about freedom. I was worried about people being turned into morons by tv." He insists that the book was about "the proliferation of giant screens" and that we are now living in the period of history described in his novel.

In an August 2001 interview with Salon, Bradbury said of George W. Bush, "He's wonderful. We needed him. Clinton is a shithead and we're glad to be rid of him." In 2004, he became extremely upset over Michael Moore's use of the title "Fahrenheit 9/11" and was quoted by Swedish interviewers as saying, ""Michael Moore is a screwed asshole .... He is a horrible human being."

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