Dumbing down of America or showing sensitivity?

[discreetgent]

PC run amuck?

New edition of Huckleberry Finn which substitutes the word *edited by staff-derogatory racial remarks DED* with slave

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/books/05huck.html?hp

[I B Hankering]

I guess you can add it to the list of things you must debunk for your children when they “come of age.”
1) There is no Santa Claus,
2) there is no Tooth Fairy, and
3) people who lived in the 19th century actually had shameful customs and used vulgar words.

"He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future." -- George Orwell

[Raphael]

Censors have always been there & always been the bane of literature. And when they don't outright ban literature, they misrepresent its contents.

Thus the christianized Ovids of the Middle Age (The author of The Art of Love made to seem moral) - and thus the democratized Nietzsche and Voltaire of Modern Times - Voltaire and Nietzsche made to seem like good, moralistic, humanitarian little jerks - and therefore the opposite of what they really were.

I heard in France (which used to be at the forefront of resistance to PC but, as usual, is now trying to catch up with the USA) there was a movement to edit smokers out of movie classics.

One party wants to edit sex out of life, the other wants to ban race and tobacco. Talent will always be smeared as subversive, by the mediocrities, and freedom trashed.

[charlestudor2005]

Yeah, I saw this briefly yesterday.

It sucks, big time. (I could throw out a disparaging epithet, but it would probably be censored out.)

One person wrote into HLN (and I'm paraphrasing, but agree with the thought), "C'mon, censoring Mark Twain??? Who's next? Shakespeare?"

[guest010613]

Ol' Sam was making a point, which is obviously lost on those who wish to change his words. I don't know if he's laughing, crying or cussing about it, but I am sure he is not surprised.

At least I have a copy, print not electronic, and it cannot be changed!

[Can I Play Too???]

Idk that they were synonyms. Shows how much I know about great Amercian Classic literature. [/sarcasm]

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by topguntex

At least I have a copy, print not electronic, and it cannot be changed!

+1

[nevergaveitathought]

its part of the mindset that thinks certain people are too stupid to be able to read literature for literature's sake and to be able to handle the truth of how things were

we know better, we will protect you, we will make it all right for you, we are superior

what is it called? oh yeah..the bigotry of low expectations

[atlcomedy]

So the question I have to ask is was happens when bright, young Suzie walks into class and tells her mates that she Googled the book and the (gasp) original text was different...they used (gasp) the "N-Word" (gasp).

I hope some scared, PC teacher/administrator/school board doesn't suspend her for telling the truth...:giveu p:

[Laurentius]

THIS is why my offspring never attended public school and still don't.

[WTF]

My take is they were trying to get more folks to read the book.

[charlestudor2005]

Originally Posted by Laurentius

THIS is why my offspring never attended public school and still don't.

Actually, it was a move by the book publisher (at the urging of an Auburn U. professor). Of course, since Auburn is a public school, your rule probably applies to it, too.

[Laurentius]

Originally Posted by charlestudor2005

Actually, it was a move by the book publisher (at the urging of an Auburn U. professor). Of course, since Auburn is a public school, your rule probably applies to it, too.

Yeah, I dig your point. But, you know, these are the sorts of things they assign in public schools these days.

Everything has to be PC to be approved in the curriculum, etc.

Well -- screw that. I am not interested in creating people whose first and foremost priority is the destruction of their capacity to even contemplate a politically incorrect thought.

[charlestudor2005]

Originally Posted by Laurentius

Yeah, I dig your point. But, you know, these are the sorts of things they assign in public schools these days.

Everything has to be PC to be approved in the curriculum, etc.

Well -- screw that. I am not interested in creating people whose first and foremost priority is the destruction of their capacity to even contemplate a politically incorrect thought.

If you think it's bad in NH, you should live in TX like me where the content of textbooks is determined for the whole country. And things that I consider to be important US history and US priorities and beliefs have been totally erased from the books. Gotta work overtime to teach my daughter what she should learn at school.

[..]

Originally Posted by atlcomedy

So the question I have to ask is was happens when bright, young Suzie walks into class and tells her mates that she Googled the book and the (gasp) original text was different...they used (gasp) the "N-Word" (gasp).

That's why the FCC net neutrality proposal includes the term "lawful content" -- to protect young Suzie from the badness and madness of the horrible internet.

But if young Suzie is smart she will soon learn, throughout history absolute censorship didn't work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us_ecCzXpdw&fmt=18