Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
CNN, 2011;
According to Publishers Weekly, NewSouth Books’ upcoming edition of Mark Twain’s seminal novel “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” will remove all instances of the N-word — I’ll give you a hint, it’s not nonesuch — present in the text and replace it with slave.
h/t Charles Adler
Huck Finn is my favourite book of all time. I read it, probably about 15 times when I was a kid.
The use of the N word is integral to the book, and they shouldn’t bother to publish it without it.
It was, and is, in addition to being a great read, a very powerful statement about “judging a man by the content of his character, not the colour of his skin” as it was put years later by a certain Rev. King.
Quick! Someone tell 50 Cent!
http://www.lyricstime.com/50-cent-nigga-eminem-ft-50-cent-lyrics.html
So what happens if one wishes to write a book or make a movie about the injustices committed against black Americans in the past?
“Damn you, African-Americans! I’ll enslave you and hold you in contempt as is my post-colonial Caucasian folly!”
Nope. Doesn’t have the same ring to it.
You could be doing more harm than good.
The left pollutes anything it touches. From works of Art to Religion. Its all just props for their shallow controlling lives.
No appreciation for any other view point, or even the words they use.
Just rote humorless Marxism means anything to these constipated minds.
Even here they have to control out thoughts. I don’t know about you folks but I’m feed up with these Would be Infallible Idiots called elitists.
Time to clean the pool of the socialist sludge.
I know in Alberta we can’t wait.
JMO
“He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.” – George Orwell
Not just Huckleberry Finn or Roots, lets censor all the Rap and Hip Hop lyrics that use the”N-word” too.
What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
(for the record, I’m against censorship but if something is going to be done the application should be universal)
“lets censor all the Rap and Hip Hop lyrics that use the”N-word” too.”
Ummm… all rap music is censored on public airwaves, and it’s not just the n*bomb. There are literally tens if not hundreds of words that a rapper can not say on the radio that other artists can say. Here’s a short list off the top of my head: 9, brain, chicken head, cap, yay, bitch, shoot, kill, dope, chronic, retarded (let’s get it started), murder, pop, pimp, trunk, shot, aim, wet, pistol, semi, opened-up, ass, skeet, knee pads, skull, 44, hood rats, rounds, slang…
I’ve been witnessing the censorship of my music since I was 13. IMO, in America, young black men are the most censored of all.JMO
Kunta gets the Chris Rock exemption, just because racism isn’t racism when it is raced based racism.
All of that said, it’s been my observation that the Right is the most adamant supporters of censorship when it comes to speech they don’t like; namely, as my dad used to call it “nigger music”.
There are literally tens if not hundreds of words that a rapper can not say on the radio that other artists can say.
~Indiana Homez
Thanks Homez, I’ll take that into account the next time I listen to Huckleberry Finn on the radio.
Exactly what Revnant Dream said @ 4:13.
On PBS, a few nights ago I watched the lefto wackos version of the life of Robert E. Lee and the ‘new’ twist of the Civil War. Made Robert E. Lee out to be a savage white elitists who fought to maintain the institution of slavery – nothing else! At no time in that dirtymentary was there any mention that the war was about wealth redistribution (moving the $$ from the south to the north), and removal of states rights. The fact that Mr. Lincoln never mentioned the institution of slavery and the removal of, until the Battle of Gettysberg. It is all ‘spin, spin, spin’ and it is revolting.
The most distructive human condition IS slavery, maybe try to make the point that it is selling the soul that is the real sin and the owning of a soul is a close second. IMO.
The article mentions making the book more accessible in schools. Publishers have a long tradition of bowdlerizing books for schools, taking out those naughty sexual jokes in Shakespeare, for instance.
The problem is, this isn’t some throwaway bawdy joke. The word and the concepts behind it are essential to the story.
I’m sure the same people who did this would turn up their noses in supercilious disgust at the aforementioned Shakespeare edits. As Jesus would have said if asked, the bluenoses ye shall always have with you. The only thing that changes is the topics that must not be mentioned.
White people are not allowed because of the massive guilt complex. Blacks say it all the time. Generally men to men, joking with each other. Like motherf—-r. But then the tone can change when emphasizing a point or one is angry, hence the expletives become more serious.
I suppose anyone at school that is offended can leave the class… but why have they chosen to teach Twain’s works to sensitive youth, too young to understand that once people communicated like that on a regular basis, during slavery?
White people are not allowed because of the massive guilt complex. Blacks say it all the time. Generally men to men, joking with each other. Like motherf—-r. But then the tone can change when emphasizing a point or one is angry, hence the expletives become more serious.
I suppose anyone at school that is offended can leave the class… but why have they chosen to teach Twain’s works to sensitive youth, too young to understand that once people communicated like that on a regular basis, during slavery?
Just wondering,has anyone ever used the term “African-Canadian”? Or heard someone else use it? It seems rather awkward.
Can’t imagine reading Black Like Me or James Balwin’s Another Country without the N-word.
Can’t imagine reading Black Like Me or James Baldwin’s Another Country without the N-word.
I have not written on the internet for sometime now; I find the Western Standard a little flaky now. However the Huck Finn story interests me, because it so typical of people trying to rewrite history. When I was growing up in small town Ontario, I never saw a black person. Never really saw any people different from me. But when I read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, it for the first time exposed me to the evil of racism, and I learned from those simple works of fiction. Mark Twain tryed to show us the ingrained evil of racism, to try and sanitize that period, is disgusting. The next thing will be to show the nazis as misunderstood free thinkers. I have been all over the world in the military and I know evil when I see it. And changing history makes the old adage true; if you dont learn from history you are bound to repeat it.
Modern day equivalent to book burning.
I haven’t read Huckleberry Finn. I have read that they are going to replace “The N Word”, with the word “slave”. Given that the book was published in 1885, wouldn’t making that change make the book make no sense?
I wonder how Margaret Atwood will respond to government interference in literature?
I dislike affirmative action and political correctness and have at times expressed a rather low opinion of the abilities of black people in general. Nevertheless, having low expectations of a group of people is not the same as wanting to hurt them, and I find myself surprisingly sympathetic to the publisher’s presumably good intentions. It’s easy for a white person to focus on the censorship aspect of this affair, but put yourself in the shoes of a black child being asked to hear this book read in class. You may imagine that you would take it all in stride, confident and secure individual that you are, but if you were that black child, would you really be that serene?
I think publishing a sanitized version of Huck Finn is grotesque, but if I were on a school board, I also think I’d vote against including the book in the curriculum. If I seem inconsistent in any way, I plead guilty, but that’s my reaction off the cuff.
I guess William Faulkner will be next. He is in my opinion one of Americas greatest writers. Literature will lose it’s edge if you rewrite it to make it sound modern. Then again the left has already destroyed the literary departments in the universities and this is just another way to get the “dead white guys” out of the curriculum so they can put in more of their progressive crap in.
“Just wondering,has anyone ever used the term “African-Canadian”?”
No, but I have heard blacks in Africa refereed to as “African Americans living in Africa” by a Progressive. Talk about mental gymnastics eh?
I watched a segment about this on Keith Olberman yesterday and the Progressive position, much to my surprise, was that this was an inappropriate change to the book. The Progressive argument is that by calling someone a ‘slave’ you rob that person of their humanity. You are prone to forget that that person has family, friends and a life; that he is not defined by the fact he is enslaved. Apparently the PC thing to say regarding all slaves is for example, an enslaved African.
Oh well, even a garbage can gets a steak sometimes.
Let’s look at the background of this prohibited word. The Spanish word for ‘black’ is ‘negro’; the West African drawl slurs this to the “dreaded n-word”. The word only became used by whites when children learned much of their pronunciation from black nannies. The ‘Southern drawl’ has no English equivalent and is derived from Nigerian dialects (the thought of good old boys with a rifle in the back window of the pick-up truck speaking like African natives is somewhat amusing). So, the “n-word” is just as much a slurred word as “ain’t” or “y’all”, it just means “negro” and is a mere spelling of a corrupted word. Incidentally, I worked with black Americans who used this word with each other regularly but woe betide the “whitey” who used it. Precluding one part of society from using a word acceptable to another identifiable group smacks of racism to me – or the usual PC overkill.
The leftwing windbags blather on and on about the west’s shameful history via imperialism and slavery and then they rewrite the books that tell the story of said shameful behavior farking whackjobs are getting nuttier every year. What’s next are the Nanny Nation do-gooders going to go to our museums and coverup the naked fat chicks in Italian paintings????
Family Guy already determined the proper way to address this issue.
‘Thanks Homez, I’ll take that into account the next time I listen to Huckleberry Finn on the radio.’
I’m not sure I see the difference. That said, my point was that rappers can’t say many things that other people take for granted on the radio. The censors are all about the intent and the message, but not the actual words. This is why a rapper cannot say the number ’40’ on the radio, yet I’m sure I’ve heard rockers say ’26’ or ‘2-4’ on the radio. Can’t a nigga have a beer?
Later Oz, thanks for the chat.
Also, to support my argument, Amy Winehouse won ‘album of the year’ at the Grammys. So again, why can’t a nigga have a beer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1GMOvi39Y4
hell, now that I think about it, John Gormely gets twisted on air with his buddy Doctor Booze.
Joey @ 4:16 identifies the crux of the matter.
I can’t believe what I’m reading here. Why do so many here refer to the word being expunged – “nigger” – with the “N-Word” instead.
Does context not mean anything anymore ?
Its not the word that’s evil, its the hate behind the word that is
Wouldn’t substituting the work ‘Negro’ be the most appropriate. I mean so far as it’s appropriate to adulterate someone’s art.
Calling them slaves only make present day white folks feel badly for something someone else did to some black folks (none of whom are still here) long ago in a galaxy far away.
No real need for that. Isn’t this exercise primarily for the purpose of sparing the feelings of black Americans? Why not include all Americans … you know … the white folks too. Or are they just chopped liver in the feelings department.
My feelings are tough enough to leave the work as it is so the reader can know it wasn’t written by a Liberal in 1990.
Concerning the editing of certain words from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .
I pondered the hypocrisy of editing essential words and their impact to the work with respect to rap music.
The thought was, is it the color of the hand that pilots the pen that legitimizes the work?
And now the hypocrisy of Roots.
The lunacy contnues, read on!
Trial set for firing over use of ‘n’ word:
A federal jury will be asked to decide whether it is acceptable for an African American person, but not a white person, to use the “n” word in a workplace.
U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick has ruled that former Fox29 reporter-anchor Tom Burlington’s lawsuit against the station, claiming a double standard and alleging that he was the victim of racial discrimination, may go to trial. However, Surrick denied Burlington’s claim of a hostile work environment.
http://tinyurl.com/2cgvuw4
Can’t say “nigger”.
But I can be called an “infidel”.
Ahhhh. The miracle of “equality”.
Now where did I put my Infidel Crusader t-shirt? I’m late for afternoon mass.
I’ve read the book a couple of times and haven’t even noticed the word nigger used.
I suppose that’s because we say nigger in my house all the time and it holds no “special” meaning.
Some of the other commenter’s are bang on with their assessments that rap “artists” can use nigger in their art, but previously acceptable literary art is unacceptable (If written by a white man). This is discrimination on its own.
PS: One commenter said that the word nigger is a term of affection between Negro people. They also use the word nigger when they are angry at each other, which is a point often missed.
I was born a prairie farm boy just prior to the “Dirty Thirties”. We seemed to freely use what are now considered derogatory terms like the “n” word. An example was calling clumps of grass pushed up in the marshy part of the cattle pasture, “nigger heads”.
After rather stupid fall which broke my collar bone and bruised my kidneys, I was a patient in the local hospital. One of my wardmates was a young black man with a broken arm. I liked him instantly as I recall, and enjoyed his company. One day after chatting with him I must have used the dreaded “n” word though I was completely surprised when he dashed a glass of water in my face and he had to explain to me why. That experience was superb life lesson that I hope has moderated my spoken words ever since.
“Scout: Atticus, do you defend niggers?
Atticus Finch: [startled] Don’t say ‘nigger,’ Scout.
Scout: I didn’t say it… Cecil Jacobs did; that’s why I had to fight him.
Atticus Finch: [sternly] Scout, I don’t want you fightin’!
Scout: I had to, Atticus, he…
Atticus Finch: I don’t care what the reasons are: I forbid you to fight.”
Stupid idea, what PC word is next on the offended list?
Nicola – Can’t imagine reading anything by James Baldwin!
I was 7 when I read Huck Finn and handled it all OK. Actually I forgot nigger was used in the text. Can American kids under 7 even read nowadays? I’m assuming that a 7 year old is mature enough, but then if the average American high school graduate can’t read, then they are basically implying that adults aren’t mature enough to see the word nigger in context.
LOL looks like no one can write the n-word because Kate’s spam filter snags it
Eljay>
“LOL looks like no one can write the n-word because Kate’s spam filter snags it”
Yea, I found that out also, but couldn’t see the point.
Let’s test the filters a little with a few so called “derogatory words” for other races.
Spick
Slope
Cracker
Nipper
Kike
Whitey
Wet back
Jeeeew
If this makes it through, then we know that SDA filters are bias in favoring of the Nergo race over other races.
I wish the leftards cared about actual slaves in Arabia and the ME as much as they do rewriting history to make academia feel warm and fuzzy. Only six percent of Americans owned slaves what are the current stats via the ME and Arabs in Africa ala Sudan owing slaves???
“What’s next are the Nanny Nation do-gooders going to go to our museums and coverup the naked fat chicks in Italian paintings????”
Too late. Paintings of bare breasted native women in B.C.’s legislature were covered up several years ago. Despite gracing the walls for many, many decades, a complaint by (some) indignant indigenous folks got them covered up and then if I remember correctly, removed.
Kate, I’m really glad you posted on this topic.
What a mad world we live in.
To Kate and SDA readers, I think you will enjoy this fellows little rant on this topic:
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-536638
Go to link, and watch the video.
I recall some years back, asking the librarian at the Metro branch, if she had a Conrad collection that would include the Ni**er of the Narcissus? The young lady almost gagged, and managed to type it into her computer by saying The (clearing of throat)of the Narcissus. When it dawned on me what was going on, I found it a bit touching actually, as there might have been a young black child in the area (this was Burnaby, after all.)
Eljay/Knight99:
I can’t speak for Kate, but I can tell you that almost all the comments I’ve ever deleted for over-the-top racism and for using racial slur-words have come from first-time (and, inevitably, only time) pseudonymous “commenters” with IP addresses in downtown Toronto or Ottawa. And most of the time, it’s been when there’s an election going on, or a prorogation, or something, erm, heated.
Do I need to spell it out further?
You may imagine that you would take it all in stride, confident and secure individual that you are, but if you were that black child, would you really be that serene?
A good teacher could seize the opportunity to talk about the historical context and teach a bit about the manners and mores of 19th century America. The only thing most American kids know about the word now is that it is, mysteriously, completely taboo if you are not black but somehow mysteriously permissible to use if you are. Knowing why that is involves understanding about the word’s history in the US. It could make for a very good class discussion.
But, well, that would require a lot of work on the teacher’s part. Nah, let’s just bowdlerize* the past and distort a great work of art. Everyone’s more comfortable that way. And of course, that’s the purpose of education, right? To make sure everyone is comfortable; heck, not only comfortable, but stuffed to the gills with self-esteem.
/sarc
*bowdlerize, of course, comes from the name of the English censor who cleaned up Shakespeare to ensure that nice, right-thinking people would not be offended by all those double entendres uttered by Falstaff and Mercutio and Hamlet. Goes to show you that the prudes and their oh-so-delicate sensibilities are always with us – only the object of their prudery has changed.