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

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

how could a man with a doctorate think that censoring huck fin is a good thing?

One of the first things you learn when you get into any kind of academia (starving PhD student here) is that the ability to get a doctorate in a tiny little niche of an academic subject in no way precludes being really, really fucking stupid in a lot of other areas of life.

 

[Urh]

get over it people there are no "Magic Words"

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

 

[Tartarga]

What bothers me about this is they decided to replace the n word with slave. That still seems kind of offensive don't you think.

 

[brtshstel]

It's a shame, considering that nobody is allowed to be offended these days. Fuck this world. I'm still clinging to my hsrdcover version printed in 1967.

[sarcastic exaggeration]Because you know one day they are going to come around and try to "cleanse literature" by burning all the old books with "offensive language." It's like Fahrenheit 451 is coming full circle.[/sarcastic exaggeration]

 

[bobknowsall]

If the censors took the time to read the bloody novel, they'd probably reconsider.

I never thought I'd say this, but this is political correctness gone loopy.

 

[Cheesus333]

Next they'll come for Of Mice and Men. And it will make no fucking sense.

You can pretend it didn't happen all you like, People In Charge Of These Things, but it did. There was slavery. During and after, lots of people were very racist, and writers of the time acknowledged this.

Who the fuck are they to alter and edit someone's life work, anyway?

 

[anthony87]

Ah here, who the hell went and voted "yes"?

 

[Flishiz]

I would say in any other circumstance that removing the word would be better, but any form of art or literature is characterized by how the entirety of its natural work is placed in the time and space it was created, and subsequently what we as people learn from it with time. Take Shakespeare. If the "official" works were changed in any way that had significance to our time and culture, then much of the gestalt of his work would be lost. The same goes for Twain. I know that "******" isn't a nice word, and I don't particularly like it, but it's not like when I watch The Godfather and hear them throw around words like "mick" "mwop" and even "******,"I think it should be changed for the comfort of the viewer. That's why we have art of disemboweled people burning in hell. Perhaps the disgusting is more teaching than the pleasant.

 

[Arehexes]

Ok I missed the news reports on this but I have a question, how many of the people complaining about the whole "****** jim" thing was black? If most of the complaining side wishing to change it to slave was black it won't be as much of a shock. Not if it's a bunch of white people i'll be pissed because it would be like them changing history to mark out what they did (kinda like how texas is trying to change history books to highlight people they want more and leave out important founders of america).

 

[assassinslover]

I already have a huge problem with censorship, especially in this country. I read another book (I don't remember which one) that used the term when I was in 7th grade, and all my teacher asked was that we didn't say it out load if we were asked to read, because it was a "bad word." Simple enough. There is absolutely no need for such bullshit. It's history, it was part of culture and racism/discrimination is still a problem today in some places. People aren't going to LEARN anything if America keeps pulling shit like this. Ever heard that phrase about those who don't know history being doomed to repeat it? Yeah, wise-n up, America.

 

[Dorian6]

What the fuck?!

You can't just edit one of the greatest pieces of classic American literature because it makes you uncomfortable!

What about the author's intent? Samuel Clemens was not a racist, he used the word in his book because people actually talked like that at the time.

Are we gonna start denying that slavery was ever a thing, just because it was a terrible chapter in our history that we don't like to talk about? If we start to deny parts of the past that we don't like, the next generation is going to grow up with a horribly skewed vision of American history.

What's next? The Native Americans gave up their land willingly to the Europeans because we were super nice to them? The United States were the first country to form a democracy and showed the rest of the world about freedom? You can't turn the past into a Disney movie just because it paints us in a negative light!

 

[jpoon]

Damn thats idiotic. I will never support censorship, fucking thin skinned pussies can go cry to themselves because I'm just going to ignore it and be as abrasive and unpolitically correct as I've ever been!

 

[lacktheknack]

Oh, get used to it. Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Niggers" was forcefully changed to "Ten Little Indians", before finally being relegated to "And Then There Were None". Even better? The game changed it again to "Ten Sailor Boys". What on earth will the next version be if the sailors complain?

 

[Arehexes]

get over it people there are no "Magic Words"

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Thanks a lot man you just caused my left lung to go to Mars and opened a portal to the 1940's where zombie warbats are flooding my room

 

[Lord Xtheth]

Regardless of how derogatory the "n-word" might be to anyone, Censorship is wrong. Huck Finn is a peice of ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, every word in it is CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED. Changing the content is akin to an act of vandalism in my mind.
Yes, I agree that it IS a racial slur, but this is rediculous. I hope whoever got the rights to this copy loses every cent they invested in printing it.

 

[malestrithe]

I am opposed to this, but I do have to say about fucking time someone tried this ploy. Huckeberry Finn was censored by everyone from pretty much the beginning of its existence. The earliest attempts to censor the book was because people, especially northerners, did not like how it painted the pres civil war South in a positive light. Then in the early 20th century, the complaint was the language was not proper. Then it became that it made white people out to be the bad guys in the 1950s. Then it was the negative portrayal of blacks in the 60s and 70s. Only recently it became that the n-word is in there.

If only the Newberry awards were out when huck fin was written. By contractual obligation more than anything else, any book with the Newberry award on its cover must remain unaltered. the earliest known version of Doctor Doolittle is incredibly racist, so is Peter Pan.

Wait nevermind. Twain never intended for children to read the books.

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

get over it people there are no "Magic Words"

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

N'sethira, cl'u'bum sut, ful'gah'farah

Now, stop trying to out-warlock the rest of us

 

[brodie21]

and... my faith in humanity just went down a couple more notches