Ray Bradbury's take on censorship and inclusivism

[zandperl]

I just reread Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (first read in high school). The edition I had included two afterwords, one of which discusses some letters he received from readers in this and other books of his. A number of these letters, he says, criticize his treatment (or lack thereof) of blacks and women. Bradbury harshly rebuts that this is

Comments

[calzephyr77]

Yup, it's like when Americans write about Canadians - they do a lot of research, but they can never really get us right or just can't tap into the national vibe :-D It's not offensive to me, but it just comes off as a caricature.

I think I'm a little more sensitive to things that seemed like forced diversity from years of taking in American media that hasn't been reflective of Canada's population and sense of multiculturalism (East Asians and Chinese people are the top two visible minorities here). Multiculturalism in American media has always had this taint of obligation to it. It wasn't an organic growth and growing up I sensed it wasn't the will of the people at the time. I recently watched a Free to Be, You and Me clip on YouTube and I tried to think of how groundbreaking it must have been to have white and black kids dancing together in the 70s, but I can't truly feel it, just as I can't quite appreciate that Mom couldn't get a credit card because she was a single woman.

if you're writing about the future, what's to say that people of your own ethnicity will be the same as we are today, so why should a different ethnicity be any harder than your own;

Society changes very slowly over time although that might not be true anymore. I'll get back to you in 20 years :-D

Looking at the past through the present is always a problem. Looking at the future through the present hasn't always worked either but it's probably the better option as you say. You should really submit this idea or story to IO9 - I'm sure you would get lots of responses.