[econjack]

It’s a sad day when political correctness trumps classic literature.

[HerrBlucher]

Oh brother! Next up, Showboat.

Mark Twain is rolling his eyes in his grave.

[muawiyah]

Without those words the conversations of the racists and slaveowners will seem so much milder and civilized.

Why do these people want to improve the image of such folk? Are they terminally stupid or what!

[Cisco Nix]

It’s time to burn the books!

[Figment]

Just ban it altogether. To butcher it removes the true meaning of the story’s. This is from Australia? They’re the most un pc people you will ever meet

[BenLurkin]

Dystopia has arrived.

1984 plus Fahrenheit 451

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Just what the world needs—”African-American Jim” and “Native-American Joe!”

[DBrow]

I did not see the movie, but I heard that in the Demi Moore version of Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne runs away with Dimmsdale.

Also, a remake of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has Jim crossing the river into freedom.

This was the job of Winston Smith in “1984”, to go back into the archives and re-write them to match the current needs and beliefs of INGSOC. In Fahrenheit 451, books (and anything in print) were illegal, the TV and radio statements of the government could never be refuted using references, only memory.

And due to copyright issues, Free Republic can no longer archive the original versions of news stories (but individuals can archive them as long as they don’t put the article online).

I’m in a dark mood, I hope I am not seeing where this is all going.

[BuckeyeTexan]

The older we grow the greater becomes our wonder at how much ignorance one can contain without bursting one's clothes. ~ Mark Twain's Speeches, 1910

[Palladin]

SACRILEGE!!!

[StAntKnee]

Just re-read both books.

Actually it’s a move that will put both wonderful stories into circulation again and that’s not so bad for kids, especially boys. The originals will still be there for adults.

Something’s going to have to be done about “gay,” too. For the same reason. And Jim calling the boys “honey.”

[AU72]

George Carlin’s 7 words you can never say publicly are now part of the language. Replaced by other words.

[Liberty Valance]

"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." ~ Mark Twain ~

[ReverendJames]

Then it’s not Mark Twain. It’s some PC (insert word). We’ll have to go to Canada to buy an original print version.

[struggle]

Keep the offensiveness of it or MArk Twain will rise up as a zombie and kill some editors.

I suggest cutting the last 1/3 out of Huck Finn so that the novel actually is interesting.

[Billthedrill]

Bowdlerizing a work like that means you don't really understand it. One might as well have Jim speaking in iambic pentameter so no one will be offended by his uneducated speech. It's supposed to be rough, brutal, and offensive, because that's what Twain was trying to describe. The entire point of the novel is encapsulated when Huck ceases to regard Jim as a sub-human and recognizes him as a friend. Twain allows Jim enough silliness to make him as human as the other characters. To manage all of that in the voice of an adolescent boy is high art, and it isn't improved by Disney-izing it. IMHO.

[Maceman]

Wonder what they’ll do to the very arguably anti-semitic “Merchant of Venice.”

[ReneeLynn]

Is this going to apply to rap music?

[Vince Ferrer]

Like Shakespeare, Twain is better in the original Klingon anyway.

[Ditto]

Those "slurs" were the beginning of the civil rights movement. Twain opposed slavery and hated the Jim Crow world that came after. He used Huck, Jim and the language of his age to show how brutal it could be and to show how 'Niggers' like Jim were Gods children too, just as Huck was. It was a powerful and influential book and to change the language is to destroy Twain's work.

Editing Twain's words is no different than editing King's speeches -- but that is probably on the PC police agenda as we speak. After all, King did use the word 'Negro' a lot.

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"All right, then, I'll go to hell!" -- Huck Finn