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

[Ghengis John]

What?!? No! It's a reflection of the people and attitudes of the day. Might I add, the story is about both the debasement of the black race and Tom's realization that they are people too. That said, the word has an important story context.

I'm just so sick and tired of the the political correctness and ass kissing in American society. Grow a fucking pair and get over it.

Hey, it's not like we all wanted this. Probably 99% of the people opposed here are americans.

 

[Ajna]

What?!? No! It's a reflection of the people and attitudes of the day. Might I add, the story is about both the debasement of the black race and Tom's realization that they are people too. That said, the word has an important story context.

I'm just so sick and tired of the the political correctness and ass kissing in American society. Grow a fucking pair and get over it.

Hey, it's not like we all wanted this. Probably 99% of the people opposed here are americans.

Their profile says they live in the US. It's sentiment I hold myself, and I'm American as well. Our country does need to get over themselves.

 

[Retardinator]

When did I say that made it alright? I only said it was just one publisher. I mean, it wasn't required that all copies be printed with the replaced words.

I wasn't saying it was alright, I was more or less saying that it was just one

Sorry, must've read into it wrong. Didn't mean to accuse you.
The point still stands, though. It's never only one publisher.

 

[Phoenix14]

Well I mean the footnotes specify when it's used colloquially. In some cases using "slave" in stead of "******" might be more offensive...

 

[Zinkraptor]

Anyone who's actually read Huck Finn knows this is completely stupid.

The fact that a lot of the characters were racist as hell was kind of the -point-. Huck moving past his racism and starting to see Jim as a person was a huge turning point for the story.

Luckily, it seems like most people agree with this opinion, so I doubt this version of the book will do all that well. Or maybe I'm just being hopelessly optimistic. Hard to say.

 

[Sjakie]

censorship in any form is not a good thing. this descision is insane, like, frothing at the brains insane. Not just cause of the censorship, bad enough as it is, but because of the reason given.

I mean, ****** is downright offensive now, it has always been used as a derogratory insult, but to just forget about it? to cover it up and pretend it never existed at all? Then, what do we take from it? how can we learn from history if we blank out all the bits that disagree with our sensibilities?

Knowing the word won't make you a racist, though knowing and understanding racisim might help stop it.

Well, anyways, changing the word just strikes me as stupid. You might as well go through all the harry potter books and change the word 'wizard' to 'priest', 'magic' to 'faith in god' and 'spell' to 'miricle', ya know, to prevent children believing magic might be real or anything.

gah, that metaphor was strained.

You, dear sir or madam, just saved me a lot of typing.

could have done without the harry potter analogy/metaphor, though.

 

[Zinkraptor]

What bothers me most about this censorship is that the book and story itself isn't racist. It's more ANTI-racist than anything.

I mean, I could understand maybe changing it if the author was racist and the intent was racism, but that's NOT the case. The frequent use of the the word "******" helps establish just how racist the time was. Remove that, and the entire point of the book is obscured.

It just gahsdiofjasiofjdoisjdfioj

That is all.

 

[Dr.Sean]

If I have to read the new copies of Huckleberry Finn for school, I will take a pen and put the words back in.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Well then, I'm glad the that US, especially Alabama (what with its rich history of pro-African American/White race relations) is being morally right now. Perhaps next we'll eliminate the Slave trade and say they wanted to come over. Or that the Native people just handed their land over out of the goodness of their hearts.

It's not quite to that point, but good luck finding a history class below the college level that goes into any detail about the Trail of Tears, or in some places even mentions it by name or that it happened in the first place.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

The US is becoming a bigger pussy by the second! Fuck this shit, Im moving to Australia bitches!

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

No, bad idea. This isn't so much censorship as it is trying to pretend that racism never happened. It did, and if you really want children to understand, teach them the book later in life when they are capable of being told about racism and understanding it in a more adult fashion.

Cutting words out of books just because they're offensive is a slippery slope. If you don't think children can handle any part of a text, then don't teach them the text until you think they can.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Sucks as hell, that it does.

On a more humurous note, we need Dr. Robotnik to make the case for us.

 

[Saltyk]

I'm just preaching to the choir, but I hate censorship. Especially, of a classic. Besides, if I had to read that shitty book, so should the next generation. And as it was written.

What's next? Holy texts in modern speech? Overdubbing classic movies like Singing in the Rain? Forcing musicians to rewrite a song so as not to offend some fringe group? Where does this end? The work should be allowed to remain as it was originally intended. The original vision of the artist.

Spoiler

I am actually aware that the Bible, if not others, has been written in modern day speech. I understand that the Bible is a difficult read, but I'm not comfortable with the concept. In my mind, part of the lofty ideal and concept of the Bible would be lost.
(I'm not a Christian, but some things don't need to be modernized)

Also, Disturbed had to rewrite the song Prayer because some religious fanatics, who weren't even listening to the songs were offended by one line. "Heaven just isn't hot enough/Burn me alive inside." So they recalled all the CDs and re-released it as "Heaven just isn't hard enough/Burn me alive inside." Why did they even care? This is the kind of stuff that bothers me.

 

[Gahars]

This is censorship, plain and simple.

The whole point of the book was to satire and defame the negative aspects of American culture, one of the biggest being the enslavement and maltreatment of an entire race of people. The whole point of the "n word" in the book is to demonstrate this, not just to sound "edgy" or "politically incorrect" or whatever these people think its supposed to be.

If you take it out, you are taking a lot of the punch of the message of the book, rendering it almost moot. Stop trying to protect the kids and whatnot, kids are smarter than this. You are insulting their intelligence, and the collective intellect of society, through acts like these.

Whoever is behind this, gtfo. We don't need you.

 

[Gahars]

The US is becoming a bigger pussy by the second! Fuck this shit, Im moving to Australia bitches!

To avoid censorship, you're moving to a country notorious for censoring video games? I think you need to rethink your logic there.

 

[Shock and Awe]

If I were black I would be offended by the censorship far more than I would ever think about being offended by a 19 century author using the word to make racists look bad. I would be thinking,

"Just because I'm black means I cannot understand cultural relativism, and obvious usage in a way that makes the users look bad? Fuck you guys and shallow mindedness, I'm going to contemplate quantum physics"

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Your harsh words against our child protection protocol has been noted and the firemen have been sent to your houses.

-Big Brother

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

The US is becoming a bigger pussy by the second! Fuck this shit, Im moving to Australia bitches!

They are worse off.

Move to Signapore.

 

[Odbarc]

The book was terrible to begin with. They should just ban the entire book.

 

[KoSTHB]

who says slave isn't as or even more offensive as ******, if the whole point of this censorship is not to bring up painful memories of slavery by changing word, why on earth would you change to slave!!! to think the two are the same is just wrong, i rather be called a ****** than a slave and to say they mean the same means anytime i'm ever called a ****** they also meant slave.