Comparing texts from different contexts has improved our understanding of intertextual ideas, continuing to engage with modern audiences. Stories revolving around science fiction have remained timeless by discussing the various dangers of technology. Ray Bradbury's short story, The Pedestrian (1951) describes the harmful effects of technology on human interaction regarding consumerism and television, while Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron discusses how potential rebellion occurs under the oppression of freedom, in reference to the civil rights movement. Furthermore, despite a different context, Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium (2002) explores both of these ideas by alluding to the disasters of 9/11 and the First Chechen War, thus demonstrating how common ideas have linked texts from different times. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In The Pedestrian, Bradbury condemns over-reliance on technology as it leads to the loss of human connection. This reflects the rise of consumerism in the 1950s which led to over 60% of American households owning a television and developed the belief that society would be pacified by technology. Mr. Leonard Mead takes his night walk in a city where humans are hypnotized by television and is arrested by an automated car. His initial isolation is established through auditory imagery and metaphor in "there were whispers and murmurs where a window in a tomb-like building was still open", revealing a faint presence of humans, forever confined in their houses. Humanity's over-reliance on technology is shown by the metaphor where it was "no different than walking in a cemetery", to create the feeling that humans have been "pacified" by television. Bradbury points out that this will only lead to a loss of human connection, where the tactile image of the car's interior in "smelled too clean and harsh" at the time of Mead's arrest, indicates a lack of human presence and therefore of interaction. Furthermore, the personification of the car in "The car hesitated..." At the Psychiatric Center for Regressive Tendencies, provides justification for Mead's arrest by describing human connection as a psychiatric illness in a world dominated by technology. Therefore, Bradbury emphasizes to readers how addiction to technology can lead to a lack of human interactions. Despite a change in context, Wimmer in Equilibrium criticizes how creating a forced utopia by abandoning human emotions results in a loss of human connection. It reflects America's Patriot Act of 2001, which suppressed individual privacy through extreme surveillance of communications in fear of post-9/11 attacks. John Preston is a victim of a future where human emotions are suppressed to prevent war. The opening montage of historical war footage provides justification for subjugating emotions, and the Father's voiceover that "at the cost of the highs of human emotion, we have suppressed its abysmal lows", reveals that human feeling has been neglected for maintain "peace". So, while The Pedestrian explores humanity's addiction to television in reference to consumerism, Equilibrium considers humanity's addiction to Prozium in reference to the Americas Patriot Act. Ultimately Wimmer points out that denying the right to human emotions through Prozium can lead to to a loss of human connection, where Preston's distinction of "John" from his son highlights one.