And the pussification of America continues........

U

U20guy2

Super Anarchist
12,330
3
Guessing the teacher was tired of damaged desks and books etc. Possibly even catching heat from the Principal about the level of damaged property in his class. The stuff I've seen done to materials and desks in my parents class rooms and the flak they have had at times from the staff due to this? Good for him!!!

Trust me a teacher doesn't do that sort of thing till they are cornered and left with no other choice. I'd bet that kid has had plenty of issues and parent teacher meetings prior to this happening.

 
LostDaggerboard

LostDaggerboard

Super Anarchist
9,760
0
41.92194, - 71.55
GRUMPY said:
Yer buggered Boothy....

New edition of Mark Twain to remove racial slurs

  • By staff writers
  • From: NewsCore
  • January 04, 2011 10:03AM
A PUBLISHER is planning to release a new edition of two of Mark Twain's classic novels that replaces the racial slurs used throughout the books with less offensive language.

NewSouth Books will release a single volume containing both novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, overseen by Twain scholar Alan Gribben, Publisher's Weekly said. In both, the n-word is replaced with the word "slave" and the word "Injun" is removed.

"This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colourblind," said Mr Gribben, the head of the English department at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century."

My link
Click to expand...
As stupid as it sounds, it's necessary for some high schools, who have Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as standard curriculum material. I had two separate teachers in high school who "required" us to censor ourselves when we read out loud in the class, like substituting the word "nigger" or "negro" for "African" or any other racial/ethical slur, along with curse words as well. It sounds completely insane, considering that most high schoolers these days squeeze the word "fuck" into each sentence they use now and I went to a high school with a close black majority, so you heard those sort of derogatory terms all the time.

 
Regatta Dog

Regatta Dog

Super Anarchist
24,319
123
GRUMPY said:
Yer buggered Boothy....

New edition of Mark Twain to remove racial slurs

  • By staff writers
  • From: NewsCore
  • January 04, 2011 10:03AM
A PUBLISHER is planning to release a new edition of two of Mark Twain's classic novels that replaces the racial slurs used throughout the books with less offensive language.

NewSouth Books will release a single volume containing both novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, overseen by Twain scholar Alan Gribben, Publisher's Weekly said. In both, the n-word is replaced with the word "slave" and the word "Injun" is removed.

"This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colourblind," said Mr Gribben, the head of the English department at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century."

My link
Click to expand...
Exchanging the word "nigger" for "slave" changes the whole context of what Twain was getting at, IMO. "Nigger Jim" allows for respect as equals (taking into account common vernacular of the day where the story takes place) which Huck appears to have felt as the story unfolds. "Slave Jim" completely changes Twain's intent and drops Jim to a subservient level that I don't think he intended. Just ban the fucking book, god damned PC Nazis.

 
Throatwarbler-Mangrove

Throatwarbler-Mangrove

Super Anarchist
3,260
38
New England
GRUMPY said:
Yer buggered Boothy....

New edition of Mark Twain to remove racial slurs

  • By staff writers
  • From: NewsCore
  • January 04, 2011 10:03AM
A PUBLISHER is planning to release a new edition of two of Mark Twain's classic novels that replaces the racial slurs used throughout the books with less offensive language.

NewSouth Books will release a single volume containing both novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, overseen by Twain scholar Alan Gribben, Publisher's Weekly said. In both, the n-word is replaced with the word "slave" and the word "Injun" is removed.

"This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colourblind," said Mr Gribben, the head of the English department at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century."

My link
Click to expand...
That is over the top.

The "n-word" should never be used. With a few exceptions. Teaching/criticizing/analyzing/discussing Twain is one of those exceptions. Bowdlerizing Twain is as inexcusable as bowdlerizing Shakespeare or Salinger.

The irony in this controversy - as was pointed out by my 10th grade English teacher, many years ago - is that Jim is the first black character in American literature who is portrayed as sympathetic, self-reliant and multidimensional. We were given an essay question to contrast Jim with Huck's biological father ("damn gummint"). And she emphasized the turning point in the plot where Huck decides that he'd rather go to hell than betray his friend Jim. All of this very "liberal" sentiment in the context of post-Reconstruction America.

By the time kids get to 10th grade (14 or 15 yo), they should be mature enough to have a serious discussion about hateful words. Any teacher who can't lead that discussion with sensitivity and authority shouldn't be teaching.

 
W

whitehall

Anarchist
839
19
"This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colourblind," said Mr Gribben, the head of the English department at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century."
Click to expand...
Reminds me of the day my elderly, now deceased grandmother introduced me to her "colored housekeeper", in Memphis TN 30+ years ago...

The housekeeper dropped in several times per week to clean (paid), plus anytime she was in the neighborhood... just to check in on her elderly "white folks". Roughly daily.

When we sat down to eat dinner, the "colored housekeeper" sat down to eat with us. As normal.

When my grandmother died, her "colored housekeeper" was as distraught at the funeral as the extended family combined. There was no confusion. She lost one of her dearest friends.

My grandmother left her entire estate to her "colored housekeeper". Not a huge estate, just 100% of everything she had, plus a final thank you note. I believe my step-grandfather (widowed and later married to my grandmother, i.e. with his own separate family, estate, etc) did likewise nearly a decade later, long after he had moved to a nursing home and no longer employed their "colored housekeeper".

Obviously, my grandparents were racists, as was the housekeeper. Shame, when you think about it. Had they only removed "colored housekeeper" and "white folks" from their respective vocabularies, they might have gotten along pretty well with each other.

 
Mark K

Mark K

Super Anarchist
47,621
1,868
Regatta Dog said:
GRUMPY said:
Yer buggered Boothy....

New edition of Mark Twain to remove racial slurs

  • By staff writers
  • From: NewsCore
  • January 04, 2011 10:03AM
A PUBLISHER is planning to release a new edition of two of Mark Twain's classic novels that replaces the racial slurs used throughout the books with less offensive language.

NewSouth Books will release a single volume containing both novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, overseen by Twain scholar Alan Gribben, Publisher's Weekly said. In both, the n-word is replaced with the word "slave" and the word "Injun" is removed.

"This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colourblind," said Mr Gribben, the head of the English department at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama. "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century."

My link
Click to expand...
Exchanging the word "nigger" for "slave" changes the whole context of what Twain was getting at, IMO. "Nigger Jim" allows for respect as equals (taking into account common vernacular of the day where the story takes place) which Huck appears to have felt as the story unfolds. "Slave Jim" completely changes Twain's intent and drops Jim to a subservient level that I don't think he intended. Just ban the fucking book, god damned PC Nazis.
Click to expand...
Twain wouldn't have used that word if he were writing that book today. We don't want a bunch of dead honkies on our hands, now do we?

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/word-association/29157/

 
G

GRUMPY

Banned
25,026
2
Balikpapan, Indonesia
The n word or "injun"?

That made me smirk. N word....noooo. Injun.....yeh cool (in the article itself)

And the beauty of Twain is the telling of history, the times and the prejudices. To embellish it with PC crap will devalue the story IMO. But what the heck, we re write real history, we're only talking about some BS novels here aren't we.....

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mark K

Mark K

Super Anarchist
47,621
1,868
GRUMPY said:
The n word or "injun"?

That made me smirk. N word....noooo. Injun.....yeh cool (in the article itself)

And the beauty of Twain is the telling of history, the times and the prejudices. To embellish it with PC crap will devalue the story IMO. But what the heck, we re write real history, we're only talking about some BS novels here aren't we.....
Click to expand...
I'm quite certain Twain would have used a different term if he were writing the book today. It's a fighting word now, it wasn't then.

 
G

GRUMPY

Banned
25,026
2
Balikpapan, Indonesia
It's bending the history of it Mark. That's how people talked in those times.

What are they going to do with "To Kill a mockingbird"? Are we going to re write everything that may cause offence?

 
Mark K

Mark K

Super Anarchist
47,621
1,868
GRUMPY said:
It's bending the history of it Mark. That's how people talked in those times.

What are they going to do with "To Kill a mockingbird"? Are we going to re write everything that may cause offence?
Click to expand...
Nope, just the kids book version. It's a fighting word now. Used to be you didn't dare translate the bible from Latin. They updated big chunks of language there as well. Shakespeare has been messed with a bunch too. Times change. It's not essential to the story at all, in fact it's disruptive now in a way that the author never intended it to be, so no big deal. IMO.

 
G

GRUMPY

Banned
25,026
2
Balikpapan, Indonesia
Mark K said:
GRUMPY said:
Agree, he would not have use either term today. Wouldn't be the sme book either.
Click to expand...
How does it change the story? Nobody is going to think Jim is white.
Click to expand...
The books reflect his real life memories of those times. If he were to write the book today they would be different memories, thus different books.

Wiki quote

The fictional character's name may have derived from a real-life Tom Sawyer with whom Twain was acquainted in San Francisco, California, while Twain was employed as a reporter at the San Francisco Call.[1] The character himself is an amalgamation of three boys Twain knew while growing up.[2]

 
cpq3

cpq3

Super Anarchist
3,050
0
Australia
In SA style it never ends...

Rewrite all the books, change history, change everything and everything will be alright. NOT. The amount of crap thrown around here about racism must mean everybody here is perfect. Be honest and say your not, then more fool you.

 
Ajax

Ajax

Super Anarchist
14,999
3,285
Edgewater, MD
El Mariachi said:
Unfortunately C, there's people in this world that can see racism in a piece of white toast......
Click to expand...
Whoa, hold on there EM. Why's it gotta be WHITE toast? You should be open and accepting of breads of all different colors and flavors.

You're a "bread-ist". :lol:

 
Inattentive Observer

Inattentive Observer

Super Anarchist
1,501
2
Lansdowne PA USA
GRUMPY said:
It's bending the history of it Mark. That's how people talked in those times.

What are they going to do with "To Kill a mockingbird"? Are we going to re write everything that may cause offence?
Click to expand...

At a school where I taught paramedicine, an English teacher was "encouraged" to leave at the end of a semester because all of the black students in one of his classes threatened en masse to sue the school because he used "To Kill A Mockingbird" as part of the course curriculum.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Latest posts





Top