This is a tough call. The word in question is a repulsive word and other books have been banned from school libraries for offensive language.
And while we’re at it, let’s fix the Old Testament to get rid of that nasty anti-gay rhetoric.
Mark Twain is spinning in his grave......
Oh, that's so much better! :-/ I'm sure if I went up to my buddy Nate tomorrow and said "Hey slave, how's it going?" he'd be sooo relieved I didn't use "the N word" ...
Here's a thought - leave the text as it was originally written. It is an artistic, creative work. The author no-doubt intended to evoke certain imagery. Do these fools imagine themselves the equals or even better writers than the author? They think they can evoke the same emotions without the "offensive" words? Hey, how about you libtard fools give the rest of us a little credit - I think we can appreciate a work and take it in context without you having to sugar-coat it and dumb it down for us. Oh, that's right, the elitists are practicing discrimination and prejudice against us "regular folk" - but don't try to tell them that...
Why stop there? I think it’s time to paint over that demeaning gown that Mona Lisa is wearing and put her in a professional business suit. And none of that idiotic smile crap either. We need a good angry feminist frown.
</sarc>
Slave please!!!
Why change it to slave, and not Nagin?
Nagin please!
When I read The Life and Times of Fredrick Douglas, one passage about speaking to a group of his supporters has always stayed with me. After speaking to a group of abolitionists, he considered the evening a great success, because at the end of his talk he believed they were convinced he was equally human with them. Those who saw the TV show Roots can remember the president of the black college being asked to sing by his benefactor to convince the woman she was with about how valuable these people were because of their wonderful voices. Even the strongest supporters of blacks questioned whether they were as fully human as themselves.
Now comes Mark Twain in1876, just a few years after the decline of the KKK, saying that even “poor white trash” like Huck Finn can figure out that “Nigger Jim” is just like him. Twain washes away the entire pretense built up from etiquette, education, wealth, etc. that people generally use to form their opinions of themselves and others. Because of his precise choice of words, what remains on that raft is two people who can look directly into each others’ eye.
In his final indictment Twain through Huck Finn tells the reader that the accoutrements of civilization prevent one from being human and recognizing the humanity in others. I guess I find that lesson timeless.
“Mark Twain wrote that “the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter.””
That’s not what he said - that would have hardly been memorable. Here’s what he said.
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
What I find funny is that the blacks are erasing their own history. They are too blind to see what their ancestors have overcome. Words offend them now. What sissies. They are changing a white man's words. Blacks have more power now than they ever had before. What in the blazes are they whining about now?
On my recent cruise in the Med, I visited the new library of Alexandria in Egypt. Amazing place. They have a monthly essay contest on classic books. Found it interesting that September’s was Huck Finn! So much commentary, so little time.
It creates confusion too. Twain sometimes used the word “slave.” Now one can’t tell where that happened. Also in that era, free Negros were sometimes called n*ggers because of the racial biases of the time. I think many a Negro of that time would turn over in his grave at this new lack of candidness about his situation. To forget history is to be doomed to repeat it.
Will they “ET” all the guns out of Blazing Saddles next?
We read this in high school and the teachers used it to open a discussion on how society had changed in the last hundred years. It was a good teaching tool.
I guess they are also removing this word from the works of Lorraine Hansberry, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison... right?
I don’t think Mark Twain would mind a book burning of these Marxist revisionist books.
To me the expression “the N word” is repulsive, indicating we’ve regressed to kindergarten.