♫anna♫
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Aug 18 2017 - Always In Our Hearts
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Post by ♫anna♫ on Jan 5, 2011 0:00:16 GMT
New Edition Of 'Huckleberry Finn' Will Eliminate Offensive Wordswww.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/01/04/132652272/new-edition-of-huckleberry-finn-will-eliminate-offensive-wordsSaying they want to publish a version that won't be banned from some schools because of its language, two scholars are editing Mark Twain's classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to eliminate uses of the "N" word and replace it with "slave," Publishers Weekly writes. The edition, from NewSouth Books, will also shorten an offensive reference to Native Americans. As PW says, "for decades, [Huckleberry Finn] has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional reading lists, or banned outright, appearing again and again on lists of the nation's most challenged books, and all for its repeated use of a single, singularly offensive word." One of the scholars, Alan Gribben of Auburn University, tells PW that "this is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind. ... Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century." (The edited Huck Finn will be included in a volume with Tom Sawyer.) News of the new edition of Huck Finn has sparked quite a bit of comment on Twitter, where "Huckleberry Finn" is a trending topic as this moment. So far, the consensus of the crowd seems to be that it's not a good idea. One interesting comment from that thread: "Learning the 'N' word from Huckleberry Finn taught me not to use it bc it was improper, so.. why the change?" The new edition, PW says, is due to be published by February. Huckleberry Finn was first published in 1884.
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Jan 5, 2011 0:22:13 GMT
I hate this sort of revisionism.
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Post by jollyroger on Jan 5, 2011 9:39:37 GMT
I am shocked that American schools would change a classic. My niece is studying Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and the language has not been changed, infact to do so alters a major avenue of study within the text.
I absolutely love these books and the wonderful 1970s TV version.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jan 5, 2011 11:58:37 GMT
it just shows that the abjectly stupid who choose to be worthless are at it again. it's sad that there are those who are so pathetic
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♫anna♫
Global Moderator
Aug 18 2017 - Always In Our Hearts
The Federal Reserve Act is the Betrayal of the American Revolution!
e x a l t | s m i t e
karma:
Posts: 11,769
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Post by ♫anna♫ on Jan 5, 2011 15:15:23 GMT
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Post by june on Jan 5, 2011 17:10:54 GMT
I am for works of art being left as they are, as are most black organisations. Surely the point of teaching a text is to discuss it!
However, when they changed the title of the agatha christie book it caused little fuss, but that was a title not the body of the text.
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Post by aubrey on Jan 5, 2011 18:03:35 GMT
I've read a Billy Bunter book where all examples of racist language had been changed. The point is, for these stories, the characters who use that kind of language are not the heroes - Billy Bunter does (if you don't know, Bunter is not the hero), but he gets kicked every time.
They cut out the racist stuff, but left in the (pretty unfunny) jokes (joke actually) about the deaf boy, Dutton. Hmm - not thought it through.
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Post by aubrey on Jan 5, 2011 18:09:30 GMT
Why Cujo, for Christ's sake? Why [Flowers for Algernon?
At the time that the film of The Wizard of Oz was a big hit, the book, by Frank L Baum, was banned from many US libraries.
There is no logic to censorship.
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Post by jollyroger on Jan 5, 2011 22:54:45 GMT
Why Cujo, for Christ's sake? Why [ Flowers for Algernon?At the time that the film of The Wizard of Oz was a big hit, the book, by Frank L Baum, was banned from many US libraries. There is no logic to censorship. I know - Cujo?? WTF, do dogs object? brave New World, Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men and 1984 are almost required reading in British Unis, and james and the Giant Peach lmfao!!! Lord of the Flies is amazing! To Kill a Mocking Bird is an American Classic, WTF is wrong with people
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Post by sadie1263 on Jan 5, 2011 23:19:37 GMT
That's as ridiculous as Cartoon Network refusing to run Speedy Gonzales cartoons.......trying to be politically correct........wild guess what is one of the top cartoons in Mexico................
Always been one of my favorite cartoons......I have to buy the cartoons now......otherwise my grandchildren will never see them.........but I guess I'm one of those idiot Mexicans that don't know I should be offended by them.
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Post by jollyroger on Jan 6, 2011 9:04:19 GMT
Sadie - you make me laugh
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Post by jean on Jan 6, 2011 13:58:51 GMT
"At the age of 12 in 1963, we were forced to read Huckleberry Finn at our East London school, out loud and to the class. It's not a short book, and it took a number of weeks to get through.
As a black boy undergoing the average bullying, ie beatings and name callng, which we endured on a daily basis, the constant use of the 'n' word in that book was a humiliation too far, and I got to dread english lessons. It was as though the teachers were joining in our ostrichisation. No attempt was ever made to explain the history or context of the language, not that it would have made any difference to a class room of kids sniggering (excuse the pun) at every mention of the word and confirming to themselves the justification of its use.
To learn that its not taught any more is of great relief. To learn that some want it brought back in its original form is shocking and causes me a great deal of pain, as it did all those years ago. Please don't bring it back. There are better and more worthy books for children. If they wish to read it themselves, that's one thing, but this is not for the classroom. I would not wish the same feelings on anyone else that I, and I am sure many other black children, experienced thanks to Huckleberry Finn. And don't begin to tell me how great a writer Mark Twain was, as thanks to that experience I have never bothered to read anything else by him and never will, such is the indignation and sadness I still feel today.
Please, never return this book to the classroom, unless yes, it is polished up and the racist references are removed. Thank you. Les R"www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbradio4/F2766774?thread=7974971&post=104830512#p104830512
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Post by sadie1263 on Jan 6, 2011 15:50:08 GMT
Sadie - you make me laugh Yeah....well just think of all those coyotes out there that don't know any better also...........poor misguided creatures. You know....I don't think they show Pepe Le Pew cartoons anymore either because of offending the French......is that even possible?
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Post by beez0811 on Jan 6, 2011 17:46:10 GMT
That's crap! That's the way it was back then. It wasn't very nice, but come on!
They've banned the old Disney WWII cartoons.
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Post by aubrey on Jan 7, 2011 18:18:04 GMT
I never liked Speedy Gonzales. Pepe Le Pew is a god, though. And Foghorn Leghorn.
Jean - that is a really crap way of learning the book, though, isn't it? Listening to a load of kids reading it all the way through?
I see that kid's point: but surely learning about slavery at all would have some of the same problems?
The three most anti slavery books I have read have all used that word liberally (they are Huckleberry Finn, Fevre Dream by George RR Martin, and Flash for Freedom by George MacDonald Frazer; of the three, I think that Huckleberry is maybe the worst, as Jim is quite passive and waits to be rescued (as far as I remember: I could be wrong), though making the recognition that he is a human being was maybe a big enough jump for one book; Fevre dream is more about a man coming to understand that slavery is wrong, and the main slave character in the Flashman book is so resourceful and brave that Flashman thinks that she won't ever settle for the work the abolitionists have got lined up for her: in fact, Flashman is the only truly non-racist white character in the book.
I don't mind books being abridged for children. That has always happened (bloody annoying if you accidentally buy one, though). The trouble with this is if this edition became the real book.
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Post by aubrey on Jan 7, 2011 18:18:51 GMT
There is a site of banned cartoons somewhere. I'll try to find it.
Didn't want to upset the Nazis, did we?
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Post by beez0811 on Jan 7, 2011 22:38:00 GMT
Liberal Disney or they didn't think kids would understand. I didn't when my parents bought a few Donald Duck VHS tapes for me to watch when I was much younger. Now I understand The Spirit of '43 and many other banned WWII cartoons. I told my mom to hold on to that tape. It could be worth something since it has a banned cartoon on it.
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♫anna♫
Global Moderator
Aug 18 2017 - Always In Our Hearts
The Federal Reserve Act is the Betrayal of the American Revolution!
e x a l t | s m i t e
karma:
Posts: 11,769
|
Post by ♫anna♫ on Jan 8, 2011 6:30:05 GMT
Why Cujo, for Christ's sake? Why [ Flowers for Algernon?At the time that the film of The Wizard of Oz was a big hit, the book, by Frank L Baum, was banned from many US libraries. There is no logic to censorship. I read the short story "Flowers for Algernon", which i recommend. I'm not familiar with the book or the film entitled "Charly". I only read that the censors don't like the love affair and sexuality, etc. in the book. The Swedes ban Star Wars for violence, but have no problem with attempts to describe or understand sexuality.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2011 8:03:52 GMT
There are some strange inclusions there. Jack London's Call of the Wild? What on earth is there in that book to merit a ban?
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Post by jean on Jan 8, 2011 9:53:57 GMT
Jean - that is a really crap way of learning the book, though, isn't it? Listening to a load of kids reading it all the way through? I see that kid's point: but surely learning about slavery at all would have some of the same problems? No I don't think it would at all, aubrey. It's the vocabulary legitimised and easily available for playground insult that's dangerous there. There are some contexts where you could start a good class discussion about racism by showing someone using racist language, but there are others where you'd never get beyond the language. I've been in both situations. I would never want to ban the book - but choices are made all the time about what books to read in school, and you'll probably find HF isn't read much in British schools at all. But then, Mark Twain is not the Great British Writer.Reading in class may not be the best way to get kids reading - but sometimes it's the only one.
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