TST 2/24/23 - Big Friendly Censor w. Greg

A few years ago some Dr Seuss books were outright discontinued because of supposedly ‘insensitive’ imagery. But before we can be enraged it is critical to take an objective look at what’s happening here. The same people who get upset about professional activists are the same people who find it their duty to be offended almost daily in the name of Christ. The same people upset over book rewrites hold tight to the most edited book in history, the Bible. Although these examples cannot be entirely conflated they are important to recognize. When we talk about censorship - banning, burning, or rewriting - there is some additional context. In ancient Rome officials were elected every five years to audit, investigate and offer needed solutions to the proper function of government. These censors derive their name from the original meaning of the word censor - to scrutinize or revise. The practice was continued into the late 18th-century with States like Pennsylvania which elected censors every seven years. In truly representative Republican government with limited democracy and guarantees to the preservation of unalienable rights, people reserve the censorial power. That power is for government, though, not culture. Censors today are called ‘sensitivity readers’. Whereas Dr Seuss got the full banned treatment, Roald Dahl books are being targeted for rewrite because of ‘insensitive’ words. Words like ‘fat’ for Augustus Gloop and ‘Oompa Loompa’ in Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ are being replaced with ‘enormous’ and ‘small men’. ‘Cloud Men’ in his ‘James and the Giant Peach’ are now ‘Cloud People’ and Miss Spider’s head is no longer ‘black’, while the ‘lovely pink’ skin of the Earthworm is now ‘lovely smooth’ skin. Mrs. Trunchbull’s face is no longer ‘great horsey’ in ‘Matilda’, it’s just a ‘face’. In Dahl’s 1983 book ’The Witches’, a sentence has even been aded to suggest that witches wear wigs for many reasons and not just because they may be bald. It reads: ‘There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.’ In 2018 the British Royal Mint rejected a proposal to mark the 100th anniversary of Dahl’s birth with a commemorative coin. The idea was rejected on the grounds that he was “associated with anti-Semitism and not regarded as an author of the highest reputation.” What is association but conviction in the court of manipulated public opinion? Mobs demanding elusive and arbitrary justice. Karl Marx was a known racist and anti-semite but who is campaigning to ban his destructive works?This is all despite the fact that Dahl’s books are meant to teach kids valuable lessons like not be a glutton and standing up for yourself. Since Roald Dahl died in 1990 he is, of course, unable to stand up for his own work and so Puffin, the publisher, hired sensitivity readers to beta-test the rewrites. Due to public backlash, Puffin decided to offer the new version and classic version. Penguin announced they would published the classic version. One may wonder if this is just a sales tactic. Other book series like Harry Potter stand strong despite the author, J.K. Rowling becoming victim to a mob which says they are able to separate art from the artist in her case - they must really enjoy their childhood heroes and not understand hypocrisy. Those calling for a banning of Potter are at least consistent while the rest hold an insane double standard. Imagine these standards being applied to history, science, genetics, math, etc. Perhaps they already have been. If books aren’t banned outright they are partly censored and rewritten. Meanwhile top pop songs, social media, and modern children’s books are filled with sex, porn, perversity, obscenity, hatred for parents, etc.Language itself is being reduced with every abbreviation, hashtag, and grunt that gets the average person...