Meanwhile, I posit that both are actually correct, as the ideologies they feared aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
Same here. I think Fareheit 451 actually has a nice blend on the concepts, even if it hits you a bit more heavily with the “Censorship!” end of the stick. Maybe Bradbury was closest of all?
*coughs* "Bradbury has stated that the novel is not about censorship, but a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature, which leads to a perception of knowledge as being composed of factoids, partial information devoid of context."
Though I do agree it's a good blend all things considered.
What Bradbury intended and what people get out of it are often different things. As it is, although Montag’s wife helps exemplify this “TV is evil” thing, the vast amount of attention paid to the Censorship issue tends to make it much clearer and more memorable. Hell, the “TV is Evil” aspect didn’t even feature much in Beatty’s “history lesson,” instead focusing on a bit of “Political Correctness Gone Mad.” If Bradbury truly intended
Farenheit 451’s primary theme to be anti-television, he failed.