As I lay in bed last night, trying to fall asleep to the soothing sounds of SNL, I was first made aware of the efforts by a large publishing company to edit (destroy) the extraordinary piece of literature, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From what I read this morning, the publishers have decided to remove the 219 usages of the word nigger in an effort to make the book more 'palatable' for modern audiences. Frankly I don't understand that on any level. It begs the questions: Why are we comfortable with rewriting history?....Why are we willing to desecrate art merely because we disagree with its contents?.....Why do we choose to condescend to our children because it is easier than discussing a difficult subject? And most importantly, why would anyone want to make the subject of slavery more palatable? Slavery is inherently offensive. It was a terrible part of our nation's history from which far too many people died (both firsthand and as a part of the the fight). But it is our history, nonetheless, and it is dangerous to make believe differently. I don't ever want to think of the injustices of our past -slavery or otherwise- as anything less than despicable. As the saying goes, 'Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it'. What will be the fate of those who willingly and voluntarily eliminate history?
And is anyone else stupefied by the people who claim to be proponents of free speech yet are willing to dissect famous literature because they find it offensive? Freedom of speech is all well and good when you are creating art the likes of a crucifix in a jar of urine, or when you are glorifying a Cop Killer in song, or when you go Bowling for Columbine. But dare someone use a derogatory term about a black, a Jew, a gay, a woman, and all hell breaks loose. You can't have it both ways people. In order for our individual freedoms to persist we must take the good with the bad.
Let's put aside for the moment the fact that Mark Twain was a satirist and there is a great chance that he chose his words to depict the ridiculousness of the racial inequities of the time. Let's instead make the choice (another liberal buzz word that gets distorted) to use pieces of literature with potentially questionable content as a part of our greater education. If I find something offensive I want to remember WHY I find it offensive so that I can be an advocate for the opposite. I am not willing to erase the bitterness of the past. Just ask a Jewish friend about how palatable that horseradish is at their next Seder.
I grow weary of the mindset that drives us to sugar coat everything. Much too much has been sanitized in the name of political correctness and protection of one's feelings. Just as we have learned that too cleanly an environment can actually make us sicker, we should understand that this type of censorship only stands to make us weaker as a nation. And I can guarantee that when my daughter reads Huck Finn she will have the opportunity for the words Nigger Jim to leave a bad taste in her mouth.
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