In society, when citizens are denied an education, they become unable to think for themselves, and as a result do not question authority. Therefore, in history, when several leaders "burned books," they were attempting to take away the peoples ' ability to study and question the ideas and decisions of those with authority. It is important to question the ideas and commands of people in positions of authority because they may be taking away the peoples ' rights.
For example, in the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Qinglong created a program, the Siku Quanshu, where citizens gave books to be included into an official library. However, another side of the program was introduced where "evil" books were banned and burned. For example, a famous encyclopedia, the Tiangong Kaiwu, was banned by the Qing court. Students would not have been able to research about certain topics that were included in the encyclopedia. In addition, authors of those "evil" books were questioned, tortured, and executed. Because of this immoral persecution of innocent authors, many were unable to express their true feelings and all readers were restricted. They were only able to read books their emperor approved, with limited sources of information. Thus, people were unable
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In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury tries to make readers notice how others are burning books without questioning the authority of their leaders. Today, one must realize through these current and historical events that such an episode could recur and that mankind must be aware. Without realizing that such immoral actions are continuing, the people of a society may continue to follow their leaders even if they are required to act immorally and irrationally, harming others at the whim of a fanatical