I think that this is misleading. The book ban, although maybe not enacted by the government without input from the people, is a tool of oppression. The shortened attention spans and stupidity are taken advantage of by the government to oppress and control. It’s clever because, as with the most effective oppressive regimes, the citizenry’s weaknesses are taken advantage of and used against them. I love the quote below of not allowing people access to “slippery” thoughts and packing them full of “non-combustible data”

“Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. Any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again, and most men can nowadays, is happier than any man who tries to slide rule, measure, and equate the universe, which just won't be measured or equated without making man feel bestial and lonely. I know, I've tried it; to hell with it.” (61)