Fahrenheit 451 Case Study

3. 2 How does censorship and self-censorship reinforce each other as demonstrated in Fahrenheit 451 and China? 3. 2. 1 Goals of censorship and self-censorship Censorship is the forced establishment of orthodoxy through controlling the ideas and knowledge circulated in a society.
In China, freedom of expression is guaranteed for its citizens in the Constitution of People’s Republic of China. However, the constitutional right is severely limited by secondary legislation and the court, because of its lack of independence, cannot enforce the constitutional right of free speech, leaving unlimited discretion to the executive. Subjectivity and grey areas in China’s Regulations of Administration of Publishing allows the government to censor
In China, this orthodoxy is nationalism, devotion towards the Communist Party and Marxism. In Fahrenheit 451, it is the belief in a society without controversy or deviating opinions. This results in the second phenomenon, which is the interpersonal support for deviant opinions, and consequently the tendency for people to openly express such opinions spirals downwards. Expressing an unpopular, unorthodox opinion brings instability to one’s own life due to social rejection, or it may cause a ripple through society and arouse unrest. The stricter censorship is enforced, the more apparent it is that silence shapes a society’s public opinion. Hence, censorship results in self-censorship, and self-censorship enables the arbitrary power of censorship by spreading
Similarly, its constitution that gives citizens the freedom of expression is hindered from its goal and twisted to pursue social and political stability. China’s censorship policies are a direct refutation to freedom of expression. China’s Press Freedom Index has been decreasing from 2002 to 2016, with the most recent in 2016 reaching one of the lowest rankings at 176th out of 180 countries. Even as China enters an era of liberal-mindedness, there are some parts of ‘traditional censorship that are change resistant in the PRC’ (Tan 2015). The stubborn, forceful and extensive nature of China’s censorship policies enables its effectiveness. Literary works, textbooks, and blogs continue to be highly censored by the Central Propaganda Department and self-censored by publishers and authors, limiting the education and ideas citizens are exposed to. Opposition is not considered as an option by the general public, who remain in a peaceful but ignorant silence. Hence, censorship is mostly effective in