Posted by Robert Dilley on January 13, 2001 at 20:16:23 from 205.189.37.81:
In Reply to: Re: faggots etc posted by Robert Thompson on January 13, 2001 at 14:38:17:
We have had a thread on Political Correctness in the past, but there are enough new readers to make it worth revisiting, I think (just don't read further if you disagree). I still read out loud to my family most evenings (at their insistence, I should explain) and I do feel uncomfortable when terms like "nigger" come up ("faggot" I changed because of the giggles that ensued, not out of my sensitivity -- "gay", of course, is another one that can cause unintended mirth). That is a case of me making a personal decision not to read out a particular word as written (I would have Pete say "black people" rather than "niggers"). I am not sure I would like to see books being bowdlerised at each printing to remove words that current PC trends deem unfit. How far do you go? Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Niggers" has already been mentioned. That was modified first to "Ten Little Indians" (the poem inside was also changed) and then, even more safely, to "And Then There Were None". The poem, however, remained, and I wonder how long before some Indian-rights activist in Canada or the US objects to that. What do we do about Conrad's "Nigger of the Narcissus"? "The High-Melanin Content male Homo sapiens of the Narcissus" somehow doesn't work so well. Some of Hugh Lofting's Dr Doolittle stories have been sanitised because it was thought that his depiction of Africans was demeaning. Will we see a PC version of The Merchant of Venice where Shylock gives interest-free loans and takes Antonio's pledge in tofu rather than flesh?
What I am arguing for is to leave things as they are, and to have literature read in the context of its time. Those of us with children presumably explain (as also mentioned in a recent entry) that Port and Starboard going off on their own with little or un-known adults was pretty silly even then and downright dangerous now -- would anyone suggest re-writing it so that Mrs McGinty goes along with them? I am less concerned about minor points (such as Pete's "niggers"). I suppose that might be revised without in any way affecting the story -- but, once you start, where do you stop?
A parallel point: I have noticed how, in stories of 50 or so years ago, everyone smokes. This is often usually incidental to the action; something they all did automatically. Should we go through and edit out that undesirable practice? (Pipe-smoking is a running sub-theme in The Lord of the Rings: I wait with interest to see how that is dealt with in the film being made).
Anyone else think these ideas worth commenting on?