The Hidden Motives Behind the Actions of Tyrants in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

When one has benefited society and has contributed to the welfare of the majority, society in return would perceive the benefactor as nothing less than the quintessence of goodness. However, in some cases, this could be a tyrant's masquerade of virtue and be an alibi for their actions to achieve their own personal desires. Albert Camus once said, "The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants." The actions a tyrant takes that seems to benefit society are a guise for their true motive, which may be to gain power and control over others. This concept is illustrated in Ray Bradbury's dystopian science-fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s dystopian science-fiction short story, "Harrison Bergeron"; both feature a society living under a guise of happiness, and others, the "tyrants," benefit from the effects of their actions on society.

Despite seeming like efforts to increase the overall happiness of society, the removal of books and literature in Montag's society is limiting the rights and freedoms of the majority, with a few people benefitting from it. People are led to believe that literature is harmful to society, which is evident when Mrs. Bowles said, "Poetry and tears, poetry and suicide and crying and awful feelings, poetry and sickness; all that mush!" The lack of the three necessities described by Faber, which is quality information, leisure to digest it, and the right to carry out actions, alongside having the general public accept the removal of books from society by giving it a negative connotation causes the general public to stay simple minded and have short attention ps like a child. Because these people are incapable of developing their minds to a higher level so that they can think and speak for themselves, they can be easily influenced by others, including the "tyrants" of society. For example, a presidential election determines its winner by the appearance of the candidate and whether he or she is with the Ins or with the Outs. Those in the Ins are ensured victory, and the voters receive a feeling of accomplishment for voting for them.

While a democracy still exists, there is no actual freedom of decision if the government determines the voter's choice and seals the fate of the election's outcome by simply assigning names to the electoral parties. Furthermore, those with higher positions within the government and fire department can be excused from the law by using the welfare of the public as an alibi. when the police kills Montag's scapegoat, a "queer duck" whom they have "charted for months," they are able to eliminate a potential thinker while managing to convince the viewers that it was actually Montag, and the police is praised as heroes. By allowing society to become simple minded with no safe potential for growth, the tyrants secure their influence over the people as well as their ability to act under the guise of benefiting the welfare of society, thereby creating a society where people believe they have rights and freedoms but in actuality are doing what the tvrants want them to do. In order to achieve an egalitarian society, the tyrants of the society that Harrison Bergeron lives in handicapped everybody until the skills and traits that make each individual unique are brought down to the lowest possible denominator.

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People are not free to express themselves and thereby cannot achieve their full potential. This allows those who are not handicapped, such as the Handicapper General, have power over those who are, but society is led to believe the world has achieved perfection and moved out of the dark ages because of the tyrants' contributions to society. The tyrants in the govemment of this society are able to secure their power by forcing others to trust them, and chances of rebellion are slim to none because people are unable to think for themselves for prolonged periods of time; those who have more intelligence than what is considered normal receive "a little mental handicap radio in [their] ear [...] to keep [them] from taking unfair advantage of their brains" while those who are considered normal do not even have enough intelligence to be capable of understanding the meaning of idioms such as "You can say that one again."

In the rare case that someone does repel, such as Harrison Bergeron, that person is arrested immediately, even if it was just a suspicion. The freedom of speech is limited, which is evident through the fact that "it was that clammy mouth that the I-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's [son], Harrison, away," and people are unable to acknowledge this loss of freedom as a drawback. After Harrison creates and carries out his plans to rebel, he is shot down by the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, who seems to lack any handicaps. She then threatens to kill the musicians if they didn't put their handicaps back on. Diana Moon Glampers, the tyrant, is able to kill and threaten to kill others with ease, and shortly afterwards, the people of society are unable to remember what has happened. The tyrants of this society are free to do as they please, and because of the handicaps they have placed upon society to supposedly create equality, the authority of the tyrants cannot be questioned nor challenged, and, to the general public, the tyrants would always appear as the heroes who brought mankind out of the dark ages.

What may seem to be the actions of a benefactor trying to benefit society may be a guise for another motive, and this can be the alibi that allows tyrants to succeed in what they're trying obtain. Whether it be gaining power through limiting intellectual growth or through handicapping the majority of society, tyrants have succeeded under the guise of benefiting society in both Fahrenheit 451 and "Harrison Bergeron." While a person may appear to be either benefiting or hindering society, mankind is capable of having ulterior motives in the actions they choose to take, and not everyone is who they seem to be.

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