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November 4, 2006
School Bans Mark Twain Classic
Like the Islam of the Taliban, which demanded the destruction of ancient Buddhist statues because nothing outside of itself can be permitted to exist, or even to have existed, political correctness is a totalitarian ideology. Bit by bit it will erase everything noble about our culture and leave in its place a damp blob of sanctimonious guilt.
The latest example of this tragic process occurred in Taylor, Michigan, where the Mark Twain classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned from high school classes after a parent of the only black kid in the class complained that the language of the 19th-century book does not conform to contemporary standards of multicultural inclusion.
Explained Lynette Sutton, assistant superintendent for secondary instruction:
We want to be sensitive to how the children feel.
When the authorities take something away from you, you usually hear it's for the sake of the children. But here it's the children themselves who are being robbed — of their own culture. Will they grow up in a world that has forgotten Mark Twain ever existed? Or will a 1984-style approach be taken, and great works of literature be rewritten by committees of bureaucrats to reflect the current requirements of political correctness?
If our culture is to be passed on to the future, we might have to start memorizing books, as in Fahrenheit 451. Otherwise our great works could go the way of the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan.
On a tip from Wiggins.
Posted by Van Helsing at November 4, 2006 9:29 AM
Comments
The greatest work ever written has already been rewritten to fit
political correctness and multi-cultural tastes. One has to search
far and wide to find a bible that adheres to the Massorah and that
isn't already done to death with commentary.
Sorry that Twain might get canceled...he was an insightful and artful writer, and very much less sorry that some idolatrous statues were blown up by the single-browed neanderthals. At least in Christendom, there's room for cultural appreciation. Oh yeah, I forgot, the teacher's union worships itself and no other.
Posted by: Jael at November 4, 2006 1:57 PM
Wow, people are actually getting upset over a BOOK?
In the old Soviet Union, they showed their poets the proper respect. They locked them up in prison. You see, the Russians believed that literature could actually have an influence on a person's life.
Off topic here: did Ray Bradbury ever get a settlement from Michael Moore, since the title Fahrenheit 911 was obviously a ripoff of Fahrenheit 451? This is no joke. I remember seeing Bradbury on TV talking about this.
Posted by: phil at November 5, 2006 4:41 AM
(spoilers!)
As someone who's read Huck Finn many times over, I have to say there's other alternatives than not reading it. They could have skipped the "offensive" parts, or substituted other words in the place of the N word, like just saying "Jim" instead of "the N...".
The main theme of the book is too bold to simply overlook. Huck's teachings, down to his very religious beliefs, tell him it's wrong to help a slave, and the climax of the book has Huck deciding he would rather go to Hell than send his friend back to slavery. It's very powerful, and speaks on many levels to many social subjects.
Mark Twain was progressive in his beliefs. Shame today's progressives don't understand that.
Posted by: NudeGayWhalesForJesus at November 7, 2006 1:30 PM
