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Feb. 8, 2013
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Jewish World Review
Jan. 12, 2011 / 7 Shevat, 5771
Twain vs. the Totalitarians
By
Arnold Ahlert
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
How deadly is the virus known as Political Correctness? So deadly that even those fighting against it are infected by it. There is no other conclusion one can reach after reading the numerous columns criticizing the decision by publisher NewSouth Books to "cleanse" Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" of offensive language.
Every columnist I've read but one (The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto) felt compelled to substitute "N-word" for "nigger" when referencing what was to be excised from the text (fyi, "injun" was also eliminated). In other words, NewSouth's critics are guilty of precisely the same kind of censorship for which they are taking the publisher to task, doubtlessly for the same reason: to keep anyone from being "offended."
And who is offended? Certainly not the legions of younger black Americans for whom the word nigger is a part of their everyday speech patterns. Certainly not a recording industry which has made millions in profits promoting a genre of music in which the use of the word is enshrined, not only in lyrical content, but the names of some recording acts as well.
Let's be clear on what "editing" one of the quintessential novels of American literature is: an Orwellian exercise. The exact same effort 1984's main character, Winston Smith, was engaged in at his job in the Ministry of Truth, where he was tasked with erasing certain events and characters from history. NewSouth, along with its critics-turned-unwitting-enablers are attempting to make nigger an "un-word," much like Smith's effort to make those who opposed the totalitarian government of that novel "un-persons."
Bottom line: political correctness is a totalitarian concept. Beneath the veneer of "tolerance," "fairness," "social justice," "multiculturalism" and a host of other epithets used to obscure its true meaning, political correctness is nothing more than the ugly attempt to suppress--or in this case, totally eliminate--that which a certain segment of society finds "offensive." It is that segment of society, overwhelmingly progressive and overwhelmingly elitist, which seeks to literally re-make the human condition into that which they consider "enlightened." Make that part of the human condition. As the aforementioned exemption for black American youths and music execs indicate, "rehabilitation" is not an equal opportunity ambition.
English professor and Mark Twain scholar Alan Gribbon is leading the effort for NewSouth. Here's how he rationalizes it: "This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind. "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century," he said. "After a number of talks, I was sought out by local teachers, and to a person they said we would love to teach this novel, and Huckleberry Finn, but we feel we can't do it anymore. In the new classroom, it's really not acceptable."
Not acceptable? To whom? Those who consider suppression "for our own good" perfectly acceptable. Those who toil away in the "new classroom" where censorship is used as a means of enforcing the political correctness, which has apparently become an integral part of providing a "21st century" education.
One thing they're definitely not teaching, if they use this particular edition of the book, is Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain wrote that book exactly the way it was, not the way some myopic professor and his PC sycophants envision it. If they had an ounce of integrity they'd remove Mr. Twain's name from the book they are publishing. Unfortunately such honesty would expose political correctness for the fraudulent and bankrupt ideology it truly is. Yet it is an ideology so pervasive that even some of its critics are falling prey.
The word is "nigger." No one says you have to use it or like it. But the attempt to re-write history in order to protect the "offended"--even as a blatant double-standard with regard to the word is tacitly maintained--is far worse.
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Previously:
01/10/11: Politically Correct Passports?
01/05/11: Showdown at the Fiscal Corral
01/03/11: Reading the Constitution Aloud is a Good Start
12/30/10: Getting Our Moral Mojo Back
12/27/10: PC Airport Safety is an Oxymoron
12/23/10: Getting America Back On Track
12/20/10: A Collectivist Coalition of Convenience
12/15/10: The President Who Wasn't There
12/13/10: Tech-No!
12/08/10: A Lethal Military, Inclusive or Not
12/06/10: The Unexpected Consequences of Progressivism
12/01/10: Leakers and Losers
11/29/10: We Won, Part One
11/22/10: Keep Your Hands Off My Constitution
11/17/10: Grope and Change
11/14/10: Taking Back Our Country, One School At a Time
11/11/10: Checks (and Balances), Please
11/08/10: Curtain Up, Progressives Down
11/04/10: Last Chance, Republicans
11/01/10: By Their Own Words Shall Ye Know Them
10/28/10: Progressive Determination to Undermine American Elections
10/25/10: Shock, but more importantly, action: De-Unionize Public Schools now
10/20/10: Multiculturalism? Check, Please
10/18/10: Healthcare: Alice in Wonderland vs. The Constitution
10/11/10: Vote for Restoring the Rule of Law in November
10/11/10: Dems: Running From Clarity
10/07/10: Hypersensitive Hogwash
10/04/10: Comprehensive Con Artists
09/29/10: Why Dems Are Going Down in November
09/27/10: The Unholiest of Unholy Alliances
09/22/10: Two Words for Republicans to Remember: I Won
09/20/10: Purging Me First Politicians
09/17/10: No More Lesser of Two Evils
09/15/10: Recovery Arms Race
09/13/10: Bigots in the Majority --- Again?
09/09/10: Giving Voters Something to Vote For
09/07/10: Irresponsible Dems, Incomprehensible Bills
09/02/10: War Weary Americans vs. Implacable Islamists
08/31/10: A Dream Debased
08/25/10: American Bigots Versus Media Propagandists
08/23/10: Recovery Bummer
08/19/10: An Unholy Alliance of Radicals
08/16/10: You've Lost America, Mr. President
08/13/10: The Twin Towers of Progressive Disconnect
08/11/10: A Far Better National Discussion
08/09/10: It's Only One Dead Nun
08/06/10: Incremental Tyranny
08/04/10: Ground Zero Mosque: Context Counts
08/02/10: The Arizona Ruling: a Gift for November
07/29/10: The United Cities of America
07/26/10: JournoList: Coordinated Ideological Bankruptcy
07/20/10: Go For Broke Or Get Out of the Way
07/14/10: You're a Liberal/Progressive if You Believe…
07/12/10: $33-an-hour--For Sleeping On the Job
07/08/10: Extortionist Government
07/06/10: Commerce Clause Totalitarians
07/01/10: Another Public School Travesty in MA
06/30/10: Calling YOUR Bluff, Mr. President
06/28/10: A Trifecta of Progressive Corruption
06/23/10: Plug the Darn Hole --- In Our Border
06/21/10: Our Empty-Suit-in-Chief
06/16/10: Betraying Our Children
06/14/10: Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt?
06/07/10: Politically Correct Warfare
06/01/10: Bill Maher's Black President
05/25/10: A Mosque At Ground Zero
05/23/10: Libs Stand Tall --- For Mexico
05/19/10: The 'Unintended Consequences' of Liberalism
05/17/10: 'Los' Suns: Stuck on Stupido
05/12/10: Union Audacity: Yes We Will!
05/10/10: Greeks, Leaks and and Double-Speak
05/05/10: Twelve Million Illegals --- or Thirty?
05/02/10: Republicans: Playing Not to Lose Doesn't Cut It
04/28/10: Arizona: Progressivism's Waterloo?
04/26/10: Son of Amnesty
04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns
04/20/10: Bashing Christians Or Gays?
04/15/10: Personal Integri-tea
04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls
04/08/10: (Tea) Party On
04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity
04/02/10: Two For the Road
03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism
03/24/10: The Art of War
03/22/10: I Want My Country Back
03/18/10: A Perpetual Process
03/17/10: American Exhibitionists
03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity
03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot
02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road
02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy
01/27/10: Roe-ing and Wade-ing Back to Reason
01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down
01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots
01/19/10: The Next Tea Party?
01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport
01/11/10: Secrets and Lies
01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry or Rejecting Bullying?
01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread
01/04/10: Our Wonderama Bureaucracy
12/30/09: A Day Off
12/28/09: Dangerous Myths
12/25/09: I, Me, Mine
12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas
12/21/09: My Opinon
12/18/09: The Party of Repeal
12/15/09: Privileged Exemption
11/30/09: Settled Science and Unsettled Children
11/30/09: American Sharia Law
11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century
11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers
11/01/09: Opting Out of Insanity?
10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required
10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR
10/21/09: Just Asking
10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality
10/14/09: News you can use …
10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness
10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency
09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness
09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized
09/08/09: Truthers and Consequences
09/01/09: A Paper Trail Challenge for the Mainstream Media
08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality
08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program
© 2010, Arnold Ahlert
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