In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, one character, Mildred, has fallen into a depressive denial of reality, and is portrayed as grossly out of touch with her surroundings. She is a warning to the reader against passivity, complacence, delusion, and dependence.

One of the most striking images in the novel is one of Mildred sitting in her parlour surrounded by her "family". The scene is chilling because she is actually alone, and the room's three walls are extremely large television screens, broadcasting a simulated family. The actors even pause and look into the camera, allowing Mildred and countless other viewers to speak to the screens, furthering the illusion of participation.

Fahrenheit 451 is a work of speculative fiction written in 1951. The novel explores a fascist government which the general populace has voluntarily set up out of a desire for guidance, authority, and reassurance. It shows a people giving up their freedoms in exchange for the warm, fuzzy security of the dictatorship (come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like the Patriot Act passed recently by one certain real-life nation).

Speculative fiction writing like this, Brave New World, 1984, and contemporary films like Equilibrium, The Matrix, and The Thirteenth Floor are valuable because their "speculation" is an extrapolation of a society's current policies, state of mind, and behaviour.

The older of such texts are particularly fascinating because the reader can compare the story to his or her own environment and self. And when one does this with Fahrenheit 451, one may notice that there is at least one very strong similarity.

Recently my wife and I spent a gift certificate at a nice restaurant, and I grew frustrated with having to continually fight against being distracted by the televisions mounted on the walls.

Now pause. Were you just confused by the idea of there being televisions in a restaurant, or did you not notice anything noteworthy? Are there many people in our culture who think it's fine to have televisions sets aimed at patrons of a quality restaurant?

Personally, if I wanted to watch TV over dinner, I'd stay home and eat leftovers. At a nice restaurant, I want to focus on the good food, my company, and the ambiance.

These days there are enormous televion/billboards looming over city streets, broadcasting video at motorists. (A dangerous set-up, no?) There are televisions in bars, malls, planes, and many other strange places. What does this say about us? Are we turning into a culture of Mildreds? If television eases our solitude away from home, will we later want back those who usually kept us company?

I know that television allows us to escape our dreary working lives by providing attractive fantasies. Literature has been doing that for countless centuries. But is there a point at which we should draw the line, and say "We now have enough fantasy, and any more will be dangerous"? Already the planet's most TV-drenched nation has the most gun violence and is the world's most individualistic, least social welfare-oriented country.

Television is powerful. Most of its power is being used to instill in viewers one idea: buying things is good and makes us happy. Also, in 1983, fifty corporations controlled almost all American news media. In 2000, it was six corporations.

Nobody is forcing us to own televisions. But how many people have tried going without television for a week or a month? Why not read Bradbury's book, and compare yourself to Mildred. time between 24 and Survivor.