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Started by _, January 06, 2011, 10:55:30 PM

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Amaya

To my mind, the words that we use as writers are carefully chosen, and to go in and change them, ESPECIALLY to sanitize them, is wrong on so very many levels...

I actually disagree with "political correctness" for the most part, as it tends to lead to complacency, in which we think we are more "good" and "understanding" than we actually are.  Instead of constantly inventing more and more polite words for people, it is better to ask them what they wish to be called, but anyway...

I agree with the point brought up in the article that keeping the words - objectionable though they might be - in the book not only keeps the integrity of the message the book is trying to bring to us, but also provides teachers with a very good opportunity to discuss what those words mean in the context of the time in which the book was written.  To this end, however, it is important that the teachers be properly taught themselves about how to discuss this with their students, and the age of the students should be chosen so that they will be old enough to properly discuss and to really understand what's being discussed.

Anyway, in conclusion, I would say I can understand the reasoning but I find it faulty and ultimately unsupportable.  The truth is always a better choice, because in the end, people will find out they've been lied to

Kayrìlien

There's no reason to change the wording of a book to suit contemporary euphemistic squeamishness. Children in this country don't read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because of its modern-day appeal, they read it because it's an easily-accessible view of what the country was like 180 years ago. Yes, 180 years ago, people used words that are now considered to be offensive. We've grown, as a society, since then. That doesn't mean the past didn't exist.

Something tells me that the only people interested in removing the words n***** and injun from the book are greedy publishers who are simply trying to sell their version of the book to school districts that have previously banned it. (Also a stupid idea. Banning books. It's up there with burning them as one of the most idiotic things someone can do.)

If you want your children to learn about only the sanitized parts of history that are consistent with modern-day standards of political correctness, then pick a different work of fiction. Or write one of your own. It's not like Huckleberry Finn was a real person. He's simply a character. Like Hamlet and Scheherazade and Jeremy Hilary Boob, PhD.

Cookie to anyone that recognizes that third name, BTW.

Kayrìlien

Kì'eyawn

Quote from: Kayrìlien on January 07, 2011, 12:59:02 AM
... and Jeremy Hilary Boob, PhD.

Cookie to anyone that recognizes that third name, BTW.

=D

Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo!  So little time, so much to know!

I grew up watching that movie.  That might explain a few things, actually...

eo Eywa oe 'ia

Fra'uri tìyawnur oe täpivìng nìwotx...