COLUMN: What asses and fools we are
In our information-driven society, the voices of billions clamor for attention daily. But how often is it actually information? More often than not, it is bullshit under the guise of real information that we allow ourselves to be bombarded with.
When paired with technology, “information” reaches omnipotence. It’s everywhere. We quite literally have access to those billions of voices in our own pockets, let alone the other countless ways we can tap into the world’s streaming consciousness.
Some take the anti-technology stance, saying “we are too connected," but I don’t think technology, or the desire to spread messages, is wrong. The exchange of ideas is one of the most important things in this world. It drives us forward intellectually and technologically, and because of the abundance of ideas and their exchange, this present moment is a beautiful time to be alive in human history.
However, abundance has turned into over-saturation, and we don’t listen to those voices. As author John Green states, we use them for distraction.
In this world of over-saturated information, it becomes difficult to decipher meaningful content from rubbish, and it is remarkably easy to use our screens and our information to distract ourselves without even realizing it.
This idea is represented in Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel, “Fahrenheit 451.” Montag, the protagonist, says, “Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense…”
Despite being published in 1953, Bradbury’s depiction of society in his futuristic novel possesses eery similarities to facets of our own society. Houses have multiple wall-screens constantly playing programs, people walk around with “seashells” (earbuds) in their ears, and advertisements ring out incessantly on the train. Of course, the novel’s claim to fame, the burning of books by governmental decree, is luckily not a part of what we see today in America. However, in Bradbury’s novel, the government did not initiate turning away from traditional information mediums — people stopped reading, full-length versions became ultra-condensed, and eventually, books were banned.
In my favorite quotation from the novel, Professor Faber says, “The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are.”
I love this sentence dearly and I strive to use it daily as a reminder to be a herald of critical thought and a combatant of ignorance. It is important to read books, but this quote isn’t just about books. It’s about what is housed within them, whichever medium they take. The “ideas that offer us sustenance and intellectual engagement,” John Green said. The ideas that fight our tendency to avoid being alone with ourselves, and our predisposition towards distraction.
As Professor Faber puts it, “Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself.”
