New Huckleberry Finn edition censors offensive words

Conservatives would trade all the tax cuts in the world to be able to freely use the n word with a hard r without consequence.

 

bOoK bUrNiNg

 

Is this the future?

 

Publish the book the way it's written. Also point out how common the offensive term was. Use it as a teaching tool, since the whole message was one of inclusion and respect.

 

What about Johnny Ringo?
@Os Trigonum

 

You sure this wasn’t a Pappa John’s training video ?

 

The issue of "Huckleberry Finn" and the name of one of the major characters has been an issue for decades and this isn't the first time that edited versions have been used.

I fully agree that as a work of literature Huckleberry Finn should be preserved in it's originality, that said using it as a teaching tool it does need to be taught with context about the time it was written and understanding what Twain was getting at.

 

That would be consistent with the notion that there is no context in which use of that word is appropriate.

But if we erase that word from history, won’t there eventually come a time when we forget why it was so offensive in the first place?

 

That is a possibility but there are plenty of words that have lost their meaning whether offensive and otherwise. How many people get full meaning of the Shakespeare or Chaucer these days?

 

That's a risk we're willing to take.

 

I read Tom Sawyer aloud to my kids awhile back. I read it as it was written and explained to them about the context and why it was written that way and why I was reading it that way even though they should never themselves use slurs like this. They weren't having it. I had to do word replacement on the fly or they wouldn't listen. They still liked the book though.

On subject, I think it's alright to have a censored version out there in the marketplace for readers who want it, so long as there are also uncensored versions. I'm not too keen on the word replacement strategy, though, attributing to Twain words he didn't write. I would rather they just ****** whatever word they don't want to print and let the reader figure it from context.

 

I think you believe that. SMH

 

This is what people don't get. If you bleach history you lose the ability to learn from it.

 

Which is why they are probably going to have a forward explaining the changes. Does it take anything away from the book? No. Can you still find millions of copies that has the original text? Yes. Is this just another dumb argument in the echo chamber of people comparing this to book burning? Of course.

 

Hopefully this leads to more huckleberry-flavored drinks and treats.

#freemyhuckleberry

 

Agreed. That's more dangerous than whatever is deemed to be offensive.