[Xenalyte]

It’s not a tough call at all. It’s censorship, is what it is.

[DBrow]

I think Bowdlerization is the term.

[vaudine]

"...its censorship."

Absolutely. The "N" word is offensive today, more so because we have been sensitized to it. Removing it from Twain's books will completely change the main characters. They are creatures of their day, and very lifelike--let them be. If some blacks want to keep their kids from reading Huck and Tom, that is their loss and their small mindedness.

Why not also take out all the unsavory references about Injun Jim--after all he was a "noble savage"--not.

Good grief!

vaudine

[Nowhere Man]

It’s not a tough call at all. It’s censorship, is what it is.

Agreed.

I like to watch RTV, the Retro TV channel where they play old TV shows. One of my favcorite old shows is, "The Bold Ones" (1969/74) where it features various stories divided into "The Doctors" who are on the cutting edge of medicine, "The Lawyers," "The Police" and "The Senator." One lawyer episode featured the law group where Burl Ives, Joe Campenella and James Farentino play lawyers who take tough cases. One case featured a young Black radical (this was 1970) where he was charged with killing a police detective who was part of a raid on the Black Pantherlike Headquarters. In reality, it was his father how accidently pushed the detective off the fire escape to his death while trying to warn his son about the raid. His father was a successful executive with a company. The son knew this but wanted to cover his father. The lawyers were trying to get him to tell the truth but he still wanted to protect his father. They went to trial and the young radical said to the judge and court several times about keeping the "'n-words' down" and he said the word out loud and all the way. He was eventually held in contempt and gagged. Later on, his father committed suicide be driving off the road but he left a note behind telling the truth and the young man was acquitted.

I'm also reminded of another TV show, "Star Trek," where Kirk & Co. encountered President Lincoln, actually an alien made likeness but he had no malice, for all purposes, he was Lincoln with his thoughts and actions. The beamed President Lincoln aboard the Enterprise and they gave him a tour where he saw Uhura on the bridge and he called her a "lovely nigress" and then apologized. Uhura did not take offense, "in the 23rd Century, we learned not to fear words."

I don't think any slurs should be tossed willy nilly or anything, but if it is part of the story where it sets the scene and is a part of it, I have no problem. Huck Finn was set 150+ years ago. "The Bold Ones" in 1970. I seem to think back that Michael Savage said, "your father in 1970 did not make as much money as you do but he was more free." It seems that it is true, what we can do in 1850/1966/1970, we cannot do in 2010/11.

Come to think of it, I doubt shows like "Chico and the Man" and "All in the Family" would not fly in today's PC crowd.

[1L]

Censorship requires a government banning something. This is just a rewrite by a private company. You still have the opportunity to buy or check out the original text.

While I would probably lean toward the original text, there are some books by Twain where he goes overboard with dialectic gibberish. Make it unreadable.

[ChiMark]

I hear these words and much worse among the celebrity of rappers and black comedians. This is called “diversity”
it’s oh so chi-chi.

Speech police applies only to conservatives.