Science Fiction and "American Values"

There is an interesting post examining the FBI's files on Ray Bradbury over at muckrock.com. According to the files produced following an FOI request, the response to which has been posted in full, the FBI investigated Bradbury in the last 1950s as a suspected communist sympathizer due to his membership of the Screen Writer's Guild and his vocal opposition to McCarthyism.

Regarding science fiction writers as a whole, one informant stated that:

Communists have found fertile opportunities for development; for spreading distrust and lack of confidence in American institutions in the area of science fiction writing ... a number of science fiction writers have created illusions with regard to the impossibility of continuing world affairs in an organized manner now or in the future through the medium of futuristic stories concerned with the potentialities of science.

And that

individuals such as RAY BRADBURY are in a position to spread poison concerning political institutions in general and American institutions in particular. ... the general aim of these science fiction writers is to frighten the people into a state of paralysis or psychological incompetence bordering on hysteria which would make it very possible to conduct a Third World War in which the American people would seriously believe could not be won since their morale had been seriously destroyed.

Bradbury personally is noted as having related that he uses "This medium (science fiction) to try to bring to light some of the current fallacies in human values today." On top of that, his Martian Chronicles, were viewed as being anti-capitalist as they "were connected by the theme that earthmen are despoilers and not developers."

Let no one ever doubt the power of science fiction!