How do they not know?

While reading Fahrenheit 451, I have noticed the way that people don't realize what's going on in their society. I often wondered how they could let things get that bad. I think that the government is able to make people so afraid of questioning authority or breaking the rules, that people don't even bother anymore. It seems that they have cruel and unusual punishments for people who don't follow the rules of society. They have brainwashed people to a certain extent, because no one thinks for themselves, and no one is curious about anything other than TVs and 'seashells'. Clarisse is the only person that has acted different than everyone else in the whole book, and look at what happened to her. She disappeared somewhere??

I think the most effective method the government utilizes to make people unaware of their corrupted society is fear. Even Professor Faber was afraid to cooperate with Montag, because if they get caught, they would be in a lot of trouble. Mildred displays her fear of the government when she says," He'll come in, and burn us and the books!"

While I was reading Luke's Blog on 'How do they not know?' , he came up with another idea I hadn't thought of. He said that the government controls people's thoughts with technology, and this is another explanation of why people don't know what's wrong with their society. The government teaches them to believe that it's normal.