Question: What reasons does Beatty Give for the current state of society and for books being destroyed

In Beatty’s profession as fire chief, it’s unacceptable for him to have any leniency towards books in society. He explicitly tells Montag why he believes this early in the novel.

Beatty believes that by creating and sharing media like books, there will always be a group that is offended by it. Beatty gives an example of this when he says “Coloured people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Burn it. Someone’s written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book.” (Pg. 57) Beatty, as well as the government, sees the thought-provoking nature of books. The conflict they create between different groups of society can inspire real thought towards their freedoms and rights as people, which can be a threat to the system in place. New ideas and free thinking could result in change, which isn’t tolerated in society.  Beatty believes that the most important thing is for people to be happy. He says “What do we want in this country above all? People want to be happy, haven’t you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren’t they?” (Pg.56). In Beatty’s outlook of society, all the people need to be happy are distractions and stimulations, rather than the actual freedom of thinking, and understanding of who they are or what they are doing.