Skip to content

An Army of Mindless Drones

2012-07-13 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · reflection essay

Replying to John's Fahrenheit 451 video, Hank defends Clarisse as a stand-in for our culture that lets readers see how weird any culture is, but argues Mildred is unrealistic: mass entertainment hasn't scrubbed people of humanity, and there are no mindless drones.

What is said

00:00:00 — Hank reads for what books do to him, not how; auto-ignition temperatures and the title's precision

  • ★★★ Hank says he reads books very differently from John: he thinks about what they do to him, not how, and constant analysis would keep a book from doing its work. (hedged) — 00:00:00 · John Green, close reading
  • ★★ Hank says auto-ignition temperature is when something bursts into flame without an ignition source, unrelated to burning; paper's is about 425 to 475 °F, so 451 is too precise. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Hank calls his auto-ignition point a great example of an uninteresting way to talk about a book, but says he has to be himself. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:00:29 — Defending Clarisse against John: she is our culture placed in Montag's, showing how weird any culture looks from inside; the book lifts Hank above his culture; Mildred as the least realistic character

  • ★★★ Hank says John was terribly unfair to single out Clarisse as unrealistic in a novel full of unrealistic characters; as a professional constructor of fake teenagers John may be hypersensitive; Hank likes her. (hedged) — 00:00:29 · John Green
  • ★★★ Hank says Clarisse is him: a fairly well-adjusted member of our culture placed in Montag's as a counterpoint, opening the door for Montag to ours and for us to see how weird his is. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Hank says Montag, well adjusted to his society, can't see its weirdness and is disturbed when questioned; everyone reacts that way, since every culture does weird things its members don't see. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank contrasts how we see others' customs as weird (bones in noses) with our own, such as circumcising baby boys, which feels totally normal. (playful) — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Hank says the book is one of the few that lift him above his culture to ask why we do strange things, which is hard, almost inhuman, for a cultural being. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank says no one in the book or in all of literature is more unrealistic than Mildred: no amount of TV watching leads to accidentally attempting suicide; you can't scrub love out of the human. (hedged) — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — No amount of TV scrubs love out of people; treating the characters as real dehumanizes others; there are no mindless drones; Hank is thankful for the book

  • ★★ In the description Hank worries that, since Bradbury seems to think humanity can be stripped from people, some will assume it has been; in his discussions with all sorts of people he hasn't found that possible. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says reading the characters as symbols is fine, but as real people they invite thinking of others as TV-brainwashed drones who are never people at all, which dehumanizes people we don't know. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Hank says Bradbury was absolutely right that a deluge of mindless entertainment has fallen on us, but it hasn't scrubbed us of our humanity; no human will live without love, despair, hope, friends or passion. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Hank says the book is a tool for examining yourself and your culture, but fears it is sometimes used to feel like one of the few enlightened ones above the mindless drones, because there are none. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Hank is thankful to the book for helping him examine himself and understand what he loves about life; he doesn't care how it does it, as long as it does. — 00:03:24

00:03:44 — Sign-off and merch plug: a shirt back on sale at DFTBA.com after being on TeeFury

  • ★ Hank says a shirt (heard as 'Nerdfighter Church') is for sale again, now on DFTBA.com, more than a year after it was on TeeFury. — 00:03:24 · DFTBA Records

Threads in this video

Replies to

BR2_4db38a65b0