Beatty says that the increase in population had something to do with the necessity of banning books:
Once, books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to be different. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows and mouths. Double, triple, quadruple population. Films and radios, magazines, books levelled down to a sort of paste pudding norm, do you follow me?
Also, according to Beatty, as technology became faster, books were cut shorter. Attention spans shrunk. Everything became condensed. This compression of thinking activities gives everyone more time to focus on work and leisure. With people thinking less profoundly, they are less likely to confront real sadness, loneliness, and so on. Beatty says that with less critical thinking there is less conflict and controversy. This lack of conflict makes for a complacent, numbed, but generally happy populace. The "smart" people of the world have always been the subject of abuse, so why not just make everyone equal and eliminate the stress on education. Beatty says, "And wasn't it this bright boy you selected for beatings and tortures after hours? Of course it was. We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal."
If certain books, printed material, and literature make certain people upset, why not just get rid of them all? This is the logic Beatty proposes to Montag and Mildred. Education just leads to sadness. Beatty adds, "Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy." (This conversation between Beatty, Montag, and Mildred occurs at the end of Part 1.)
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