Harry Bergeron
Harrison Bergeron
The Reading, and the So What?
Harrison Bergeron is political satire at its finest. Part of its intrigue is how it portrays a more collective society as opposed to the fierce individualism we treasure in our country. It is a facsimile in some ways to the Nazi Germany whose philosophy was to develop a superior race, physically and intellectually while “disposing” of the “less than desirable” and presupposing that the government was more adequate to raise a regimented future generation than the individualized family unit.
Interestingly enough, it is that same duplicitous thinking in Harrison Bergeron that allows for intelligence and free thought at the administrative level equal and above the “Handicapper General” level, which is not readily identified. This might insinuate the existence of a secret government, if Diana Moon Glampers is only the enforcer. Many satirical spoofs throughout my lifetime would be examples of “social control” to include some earlier films such as :
Zombie movies
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Stepford Wives
Farenheit 451
and Planet of the Apes.
These were just a few that came to mind when I first read Harry Bergeron. A “Real-World” event was the fairly recent burning of Harry Potter books in Alamogordo where a small religious group gathered to burn the newest book out, showing their displeasure over a book series which they felt potentially might lead their youth into witchcraft and the occult.
Our society has some ridiculous and over-burdensome laws, which might lead one to believe it was a systematic government effort to control society with a desire to gain power. But I also see a swing of the social norm pendulum the other way where it is individual organized special interest groups, who have financed and spawned legislation which might be considered a damper on individual freedom of thought and action.
In our society, part of the reason for a multitude of inane laws and controls is not always a move by the government for control, but an economic and social push for societal norms by strong special interest groups and organizations. Law such as “Meagan’s Law” would not have met with such quick success and implementation if there had not already been a social norm in place that abducting and killing children is not ok.
Same sex marriages and partner benefits have not moved quickly as there is a decided rift in social norms, but advancement for gay issues has definitely pushed and seen a shift in societal norms and acceptance particularly in the past 10 years.
Some feel that belief systems and not specific laws predict and channel behavior. So, if laws appear over or under restrictive to a societal majority, they usually do not last. The majority will make sure those laws and controls are reversed or revised to more closely mirror accepted societal norms. As a society that espouses strong individualism, maybe the best we can hope to achieve is a modicum of moderation within those control the majority feels are necessary.
Owwww! --- What is that bizarre ringing noise in my ears?
Internet Resources
For those of you interested in storylines and movies of this nature the following are excerpts from a review page on the movie Farenheit 451 and another on the movie of Harry Bergeron, which is adapted as a slightly different version than the written original compete with links.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/ - Farenheit 451 Movie (1970’s)
http://www.blackhatstation.com/Film/jun97.htm - Harrison Bergeron Movie
Farenheit 451
Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag's world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the radio on "Seashell Radio" sets attached to their ears.
Knowledge versus Ignorance - Montag, Faber, and Beatty's struggle revolves around the tension between knowledge and ignorance. The fireman's duty is to destroy knowledge and promote ignorance in order to equalize the population and promote sameness. Montag's encounters with three characters—the old woman, Clarisse, and Faber—ignite in him the spark of doubt about this approach. His resultant search for knowledge destroys the unquestioning ignorance he used to share with nearly everyone else, and he battles the basic beliefs of his society
People don't like to feel inferior to those who have read more than they have. But the novel implies that the most important factor leading to censorship is the objections of special-interest groups and "minorities" to things in books that offend them. Bradbury is careful to refrain from referring specifically to racial minorities—Beatty mentions dog lovers and cat lovers, for instance. The reader can only try to infer which special-interest groups he really has in mind
As the Afterword to Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates, Bradbury is extremely sensitive to any attempts to restrict his free speech; for instance, he objects strongly to letters he has received suggesting that he revise his treatment of female or black characters. He sees such interventions as essentially hostile and intolerant—as the first step on the road to book burning.
Other Internet Resources
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_control
Definition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia of Social Control – quite in-depth and interesting.
http://www.reviewjournal.ocm/lvrj_home/1998/Feb-19-Thu-1998/opinion/6955544.html
Interesting opinion submitted to a Las Vegas publication/periodical by Robert Bencivenga that parallels a golfers legal battle with Harrison Bergeron.
U>http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/CURRIC/soc/crime/s_contro.htm
A really short – “Overview of Social Control Theories
http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-00/1-00loeschper-e.htm
Crime and Social Control as Fields of Qualitative Research in the Social Sciences
Gabi Löschper
Abstract: Crime and social control are fields of qualitative research in the social sciences, where behavior is not inherently deviant or criminal, but rather, deviance is a matter of interpretation and judgment. "Crime" is constructed and negotiated in social discourses and processes of social interaction in and with institutions of social control. Therefore only qualitative inquiries of "crime" make sense. This paper reports examples of qualitative studies (from ethnography, hermeneutical sociology of knowledge, ethnomethodology/conversation analysis, discourse analysis and narrative analysis) especially of deviant subcultures, reporting conflicts to the police, police inquiries and interrogations and criminal court procedures.
The Reading, and the So What?
Harrison Bergeron is political satire at its finest. Part of its intrigue is how it portrays a more collective society as opposed to the fierce individualism we treasure in our country. It is a facsimile in some ways to the Nazi Germany whose philosophy was to develop a superior race, physically and intellectually while “disposing” of the “less than desirable” and presupposing that the government was more adequate to raise a regimented future generation than the individualized family unit.
Interestingly enough, it is that same duplicitous thinking in Harrison Bergeron that allows for intelligence and free thought at the administrative level equal and above the “Handicapper General” level, which is not readily identified. This might insinuate the existence of a secret government, if Diana Moon Glampers is only the enforcer. Many satirical spoofs throughout my lifetime would be examples of “social control” to include some earlier films such as :
Zombie movies
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Stepford Wives
Farenheit 451
and Planet of the Apes.
These were just a few that came to mind when I first read Harry Bergeron. A “Real-World” event was the fairly recent burning of Harry Potter books in Alamogordo where a small religious group gathered to burn the newest book out, showing their displeasure over a book series which they felt potentially might lead their youth into witchcraft and the occult.
Our society has some ridiculous and over-burdensome laws, which might lead one to believe it was a systematic government effort to control society with a desire to gain power. But I also see a swing of the social norm pendulum the other way where it is individual organized special interest groups, who have financed and spawned legislation which might be considered a damper on individual freedom of thought and action.
In our society, part of the reason for a multitude of inane laws and controls is not always a move by the government for control, but an economic and social push for societal norms by strong special interest groups and organizations. Law such as “Meagan’s Law” would not have met with such quick success and implementation if there had not already been a social norm in place that abducting and killing children is not ok.
Same sex marriages and partner benefits have not moved quickly as there is a decided rift in social norms, but advancement for gay issues has definitely pushed and seen a shift in societal norms and acceptance particularly in the past 10 years.
Some feel that belief systems and not specific laws predict and channel behavior. So, if laws appear over or under restrictive to a societal majority, they usually do not last. The majority will make sure those laws and controls are reversed or revised to more closely mirror accepted societal norms. As a society that espouses strong individualism, maybe the best we can hope to achieve is a modicum of moderation within those control the majority feels are necessary.
Owwww! --- What is that bizarre ringing noise in my ears?
Internet Resources
For those of you interested in storylines and movies of this nature the following are excerpts from a review page on the movie Farenheit 451 and another on the movie of Harry Bergeron, which is adapted as a slightly different version than the written original compete with links.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/451/ - Farenheit 451 Movie (1970’s)
http://www.blackhatstation.com/Film/jun97.htm - Harrison Bergeron Movie
Farenheit 451
Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag's world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the radio on "Seashell Radio" sets attached to their ears.
Knowledge versus Ignorance - Montag, Faber, and Beatty's struggle revolves around the tension between knowledge and ignorance. The fireman's duty is to destroy knowledge and promote ignorance in order to equalize the population and promote sameness. Montag's encounters with three characters—the old woman, Clarisse, and Faber—ignite in him the spark of doubt about this approach. His resultant search for knowledge destroys the unquestioning ignorance he used to share with nearly everyone else, and he battles the basic beliefs of his society
People don't like to feel inferior to those who have read more than they have. But the novel implies that the most important factor leading to censorship is the objections of special-interest groups and "minorities" to things in books that offend them. Bradbury is careful to refrain from referring specifically to racial minorities—Beatty mentions dog lovers and cat lovers, for instance. The reader can only try to infer which special-interest groups he really has in mind
As the Afterword to Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates, Bradbury is extremely sensitive to any attempts to restrict his free speech; for instance, he objects strongly to letters he has received suggesting that he revise his treatment of female or black characters. He sees such interventions as essentially hostile and intolerant—as the first step on the road to book burning.
Other Internet Resources
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_control
Definition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia of Social Control – quite in-depth and interesting.
http://www.reviewjournal.ocm/lvrj_home/1998/Feb-19-Thu-1998/opinion/6955544.html
Interesting opinion submitted to a Las Vegas publication/periodical by Robert Bencivenga that parallels a golfers legal battle with Harrison Bergeron.
U>http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/CURRIC/soc/crime/s_contro.htm
A really short – “Overview of Social Control Theories
http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-00/1-00loeschper-e.htm
Crime and Social Control as Fields of Qualitative Research in the Social Sciences
Gabi Löschper
Abstract: Crime and social control are fields of qualitative research in the social sciences, where behavior is not inherently deviant or criminal, but rather, deviance is a matter of interpretation and judgment. "Crime" is constructed and negotiated in social discourses and processes of social interaction in and with institutions of social control. Therefore only qualitative inquiries of "crime" make sense. This paper reports examples of qualitative studies (from ethnography, hermeneutical sociology of knowledge, ethnomethodology/conversation analysis, discourse analysis and narrative analysis) especially of deviant subcultures, reporting conflicts to the police, police inquiries and interrogations and criminal court procedures.
