YOU CAN’T SAY THAT IN A MAJOR LITERARY WORK

ITEM: Mark Twain scholar Alan Gribben is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a combined volume of The Adventures Od Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer with the word “nigger” replaced with the word “slave”.

Gribben’s argument is that so many schools refuse to put Huckleberry Finn on reading lists because of that one word (and many parents try to have it banned for the same reason), and that it’s a shame that students will never get to read a great book just because of that one word.

As you might guess, I’m against the idea, partly because I oppose censorship, and partly because I especially oppose censorship that sanitizes/whitewashes/rewrites history.

On the other hand, Gribben does raise an interesting point here:

The book isn't scheduled to be published until February, at a mere 7,500 copies, but Gribben has already received a flood of hateful e-mail accusing him of desecrating the novels. He said the e-mails prove the word makes people uncomfortable.

"Not one of them mentions the word. They dance around it," he said.

The same could be said for pretty much every media outlet and blog that ran this story, I've noticed.

So, you know, touché and crap. 

PRODUCTION NOTE: Apologies to anyone offended by my not resorting to "the n-word", but as I've said here and in the past, I don't believe in banning words wholesale. The word itself is not the problem – it's the context and intent that gives it power. 

Unspeakable,

This is dF

LAST WOMAN STANDING

Good morning. It’s Monday. Here’s hoping yr weekend went something like Raquel Welch’s.



Knocked out loaded,

This is dF

THE SUN ALSO RISES

I have a policy of not posting every incidence of someone on cable news or talk radio saying something inane because if I did, you’d have a zillion posts to read and I’d never get anything done.

I mean, so what if Michael Medved thinks lesbian sex is morally better than guy-on-guy sex because butt sex is “an act of aggression – inflicting more pain than pleasure for at least one of the parties”? You don’t need me to tell you that he has no idea what he’s talking about (provided you don't already agree with him), or that his experience (if any) is limited to the one time he tried it without lubricant.

However, sometimes I’ll make exceptions for things like, oh, this:



Which came about when O’Reilly was interviewing David Silverman, one of those gawdamn atheists that are bent on destroying America with their anti-Jesus billboards claiming that religion is a “scam”.

Prompting this exchange:

"I'll tell you why [religion is] not a scam," he said. "In my opinion -- alright? Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that. You can't explain why the tide goes in."

Silverman looked befuddled. "Tide goes in, tide goes ... out?" he asked.

"See, the water, the tide-- it comes in and it goes out, Mr. Silverman," O'Reilly repeated. "It always goes in, then it goes out."

"Maybe it's Thor up on Mount Olympus who's making the tides go in and out," Silverman retorted.

"No-no-no!" the host objected. "You can't explain that. You can't explain it."

"A myth and religion are the same thing," Silverman said. "It doesn't matter that I can't explain it. It doesn't mean that an invisible magic man in the sky is doing it."

To which any rational person (or 5th grade student) would respond: “It’s the MOON, you f***ing idjits!”

Even if you take into account that (1) O’Reilly may be under orders to NEVER agree with a basic liberal tenet (i.e. that science can explain ANYTHING), no matter how stupid it makes him sound, and (2) Silverman may have been so stunned by such a profoundly ignorant statement that his brain was scrambling to process it (hey, it’s happened to me) and when yr on the air yr under pressure to keep the conversation flowing, it’s hard to believe two grown men could get away with this ... even on cable television.

And while technically Silverman may have been right in saying, “It doesn’t matter if I can’t explain it,” it DOES matter when you CAN explain it, but don’t.

Unsolved mysteries,

This is dF