Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Political Correctness Will Destroy History

What is wrong with leaving well enough alone with things that do no harm but are accurate reflections of who we were and are?

When I read that a new edition of Huckleberry Finn will not have the words Nigger nor Injun in it I was disgusted beyond words. How dare anyone rewrite great literature! It's akin to painting clothing on, say Venus Anadyomene by Titan which, by the way, dates back to 1525.

Venus Anadyomene
It's a malady creeping across our  culture and it's dangerous.  Just last spring a group in Texas won a battle to put a conservative slant on the content of their textbooks.  Parents dictate to schools which novels their children are allowed to read using the  most lame of excuses.  This is no way to teach.  More importantly it is no way to learn!

I remember the book  Little Black Sambo?  Do you?  And the restaurant that bore the name Sambo's?  The original book was about an East Indian boy, not a black, but somewhere along the way it was decided it was hurtful to black children and the name was changed to Little Brave Sambo.

As for the restaurant, the owners picked up on the theme thinking it fun using a combination of their names.  So much for fun.

Let's move on to the names of sports teams.  No longer can you use Squaw, nor Redskin among others.  Now we have rough and tumble mascots like the Banana Slugs and Fighting Blue Hens. There are teams that will strike fear into the hearts of their opponents.

It goes on to the world stage.  If Ahmajinedad had his way there was no holocaust. Actually there is a British Bishop who holds the same belief.

It makes me wonder what is and what is not true.  More and more we have to read dozens of periodicals and listen to a broad spectrum of news shows and punditry to get even a feeble grasp of what actually is.

As the trend grows there will be more and more doubt.  Soon people will no longer question.  They'll accept whatever sound bite they happen to hear.  It's already happening in politics and why partisanship is so prevalent.

That much, at least for the present time, I'm willing to sort through.  But don't mess with the classics; what books tell us.  They are our only link to the past.  Before people were inclined to  impose their own views before truth.

 Without that we can but live from day to day with no sense of who we were, who we are and who we're likely to become.  Those are treasures about to be lost and there will be no treasure hunters to seek them out because they won't know they exist.





3 comments:

Word Tosser said...

When I heard they wanted to change Mark Twains words I was and still am furious!!! How dare they! The man wrote it as he saw it... no one, but no one has the right to change the authors words but himself.... being Mr. Twain is no longer among us, I truly hope his relatives sue the Publishers if they try. ....
If you don't like the language in the book, don't read the dang book. I am so sick and tired of this.. but this was the last straw..

marlu said...

Well said! Wish I could express myself as well as you do.

Space Lady said...

I'd like to say, "Unbelievable!" But, obviously, it is a reality.