Just my .02
I added a poll choice for Gone with The Wind as an epic and written in the context of southern history, sensibilities and dialogue in the old South. Why not start tearing an epic novel to pieces beginning by removing the word "darkies." And soon enough, someone will start removing pictures of lynch mobs in research books and chronicles. After that, add a few lies about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, which some already deny happened. We can keep going, under the guise that everything is offensive or outdated or unproven for some reason. Nonsense as far as I'm concerned. But the danger is that we can omit, change and retell until we've whitewashed history and manipulated thinking. Twain didn't intend for his books to offend, they were written in his day and, to me, they portray a pretty good picture of history and classic literature of the 1800's.
I'm sick and tired of oversensitivity to the point that nearly everything is becoming unacceptable. I don't think you get rid of racism or hate by covering it up through revision, you get rid of it by keeping the past and the changes over time up front as fact and well documented. How many times did my Jewish friends' parents always say "never forget." And they did that by contributing to books, educational materials, speeches and testimonies and making every effort to provide facts and awareness as survivors of mass manipulation and genocide. They believed that, without awareness, the Holocaust could happen again.
I'm going to read Huck Finn again and Tom Sawyer right after that.
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