Poll: Mark Twain censored. New copies of Huckleberry Finn to replace usage of the 'n-word'

[The Grim Ace]

And now a quote misattributed to Mark Twain but still very true: "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. "

The word being removed is one few use casually anymore and one most people never encounter a reason to use it on a monthly basis. The word had a purpose and a reason to be in that story and removing it because of modern sensibilities is revolting political correctness at its worst. High schools will teach this book less and less for that very reason of political correctness and it is just as horrible a thing to do as censoring the text in the first place.

 

[Warachia]

I guess this is some kind of misguided attempt to appeal to the hyper-sensitive and politically correct of the US in order to scrape together some easy cash.

Edit: Nicely one-sided poll, here. 45 "no" to 0 "yes". I'm impressed, Escapist.

Check it out now, 1.6% yes (11 votes) to 660+ no's. This really cheered me up.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Um... what? It's how they talked. Clemens wasn't advocating slavery, he was severely against it in Huck Finn when he's trying to get Jim to safety. Well, can we censor the word out of rap music too? Yeah, instead of using that word, let's use slave, that sounds pretty good. *sarcasm And after that let's take all the cursing and drug references out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Catcher in the Rye. Let's take the old english speak from Shakespeare to make it more modern, yo. Let's take any mention of World War I at out All Quiet On the Western Front, and let's just burn 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, because lord knows those books are predicting the future. God, political correctness is ruining this country's culture.

Here you go, before anyone else does it. Sorry, it was the best quality there was.

You are right on so many levels.....also one of the best family guy clips!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Let's hope that Mark Twain's spirit gets wind of this and then jumps down from heaven, back into his body and takes bloody vengence on the morons who think this is a good idea.

Not as unlikely as you might think. Mark Twain wrote a novel after his death, via ouija board.

I wish I was making that up.

 

[crazyfoxdemon]

Sigh... There are few time when I accept censoring.. This is NOT one of those times.. This is a great work of literature... To censor it, no matter the reason, is down right wrong...

I mean, what next? Censoring based on religion? Maybe they should censor the Bible because it angers people who don't believe in Jesus; that would go REAL well with everyone *sarcasm*. Or what about censoring 'Of Mice and Men' because of Lennie's mental handicaps? Or how about 'Harry Potter' because of witchcraft (sadly, this has already been tried).

This country just needs to grow up; and take a GIANT step backward and look at these things with some perspective.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So, Jar Jar Binks is now just Slave Binks then?

 

[xdom125x]

I don't like the n-word and I think that is half the point of it being used in the book. It is a word that offends and it is representing a time that was offensive.
(just my opinion)

 

[ReservoirAngel]

There's something to be said for historical context coming into play. That's how people spoke back then, and frankly I think it's stupid for some random publisher to decide to make the book more 'acceptable' by editing it.

It might only be a minor difference, but that book's an absolute classic. Editing it now just seems like trying to control everything to the point where they're even trying to censor history.

What's next? Removing the appearence of recreational drug use from 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'?

 

[Harley Q]

Right, I'm off to steal a printing press, who's with me!?

 

[Latinidiot]

That's bad. That's like... I can't think of anything to compare it with.

 

[adderseal]

What! My lynch mob buddies and I dropped our nooses in disbelief when we saw this!
But seriously. Social context anyone? What a fucking joke. PC can go piss up a rope and hang itself on the tree of retardation.

 

[Reed Spacer]

Mark Twain is going to bust out of his grave and murder them all to death while shouting, "CENSOR THIS YOU B*TCHES".

Then he'll write a hilariously awesome book about it.

Yeah; don't mess with Zombie Twain. He will cut you.

And then eat your brain.

 

[Numb1lp]

Then it isn't Huckleberry Finn, and they have no right to call it so.

 

[alexanderO]

As author's write their novels, they have their choice of words to use and this may have a reason behind. Mark Twain's classic novel Huckleberry Finn is on the hot seat right now. The forthcoming new edition has many people up in arms. NewSouth Books is publishing the book with particular words omitted - words that numerous discover offensive. The book was actually a missive towards racism, and it used vocabulary that was common at the time. Let's hope that payday loans were not used to fund the censorship of a great novel.