Posted by Ed Kiser on December 31, 2005 at 14:48:56 from 205.188.116.6 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Bowlderising AR (was Political Correctness was AR v HL) posted by Charles on December 30, 2005 at 12:13:46:
In these Ransome stories, the offensive expression in question is used in only a very few places. Not that this is an excuse for it usage in any amount, but perhaps can be accepted as a sign of the times as these stories give us a glimpse of another time and another place.
As for a "sign of the times", consider the works of an American author, Mark Twain, who wrote of the times of the decade or so before the American Civil War which began in 1860. At that time, slavery was an accepted institution in parts of the USA. As a consequence of that time, he was a rather frequent user of the "n-word", even to the extent that in the book, "Huck Finn", you will find that word in 202 lines, with some lines having multiple uses. To "clean up" that work would greatly alter the word image of those times. We cannot change the events of history, we can only obscure the information about those times to the point that the so called history becomes an imaginary folk tale.
With these glimpses into our past, perhaps we can better appreciate the changes that have been made, and see with a better understanding that while progress has occurred, there is still yet room for more improvement of certain concepts whose origins are rooted into our cultural past and have become so completely outdated.
What a loss it would be to condemn these books because this infamous word is to be found in a very few places. There are those that might say because of that word, certain ones of his writings would be "banned" from public school libraries, and thus deny the pleasures of so much beauty, of so much to be learned, of so much true value, from our youth.
Let us not throw out the baby with the bath water.
Ed Kiser, South Florida