What reasons does Beatty give for the current state of society and for books being destroyed?

 

In the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, the character Beatty says the current state of society is caused by the people when technology started to become more popular than books and books were burned so the people can stay happy. In the quote “There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick.” (pg 55), Beatty talks about how it was not the government who made everyone happy, but it was the technology and mass exploitation that brought happiness to everyone. Beatty says that “not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal” (pg 55). Beatty thinks if everyone was made equal, then everyone will be happy because no one would compare themselves to someone better than them. Therefore, Beatty thinks books are not good for the society. Books contain knowledge which can educate the reader or make them think differently. By educating the reader, it will cause inequality because some people might be smarter than the other. Burning all the books will help keep order in the society by keeping them uneducated. All these points show that the society chose how to live their lives and by burning books, it protects them by keeping them equal which makes everyone happy.