Erasing The Past

By now, most folks have, I'm sure, heard of the censoring of Roald Dahl's books in the name of Sensitivity.  Apparently a bunch of Under-30 woke hipsters got their panties in a bunch because Dahl used words like "fat" or "ugly" to describe people in his books.  Dahl wrote such classics as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda, and now some amongst us are super saddy waddy that Dahl wrote meanie weenie things.

Let's get out of the way that Dahl was apparently a horrible person.  He made some pretty anti-Semitic statements at times.  Being as it may, that doesn't justify an ex post facto adjustment to his work just so some people can feel better about themselves.  This goes to the core of both free speech and integrity of our work.  It's one of the reasons I've been telling people to get more of their books in hard copy because the wokesters among us will try to change them after the fact and hope we either don't notice, or go along because we don't want to make waves.

Buuuuuuullllllshit.

This will not stand.  It's this kind of taking over of language and censoring of our past that will lead to tyranny.  I'm not being hyperbolic - tyranny.  A George Orwell quote from 1984, which was supposed to be a cautionary tale rather than a how-to book, seems apt here - "Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."

Totally missing that Dahl's books were about how shitty the world can be and that kids can find comfort in ways to overcome it through works of fiction that impart wisdom, if the words therein upset you so much, don't read the fucking book.  Books previously written are not there to validate you, and it's not your place to rewrite them because you can't get the fencepost out of your ass.  Moreover, think how this extends into the future - what you find banal today may be found offensive 50 years from now, so is any work safe?

In fairness, Puffin Books, a subsidiary of Penguin, has partially backed down, saying it will now also offer the unedited versions, but I view this as a delaying tactic meant to allow the storm to blow over, at which point I have little doubt they'll try to keep thi stuff up.  That's why vigilance and pressure are key, exhausting though it may be.  When we alter the past to suit the present, we doom humanity to a fictionalized version of itself.

The saddest part is all the people defending this nonsense.  Some have tried saying that those words hurt feelings(and we all know that books are never ever supposed to hurt your feelings), or that it's just a few words, so it's not a big deal.  Don't let them get away with that shit.  It is absolutely a big deal, and it we allow this, they'll continue to reduce everything to only the versions they think are appropriate.  Remember, they aren't reading them and skipping over the parts they dislike - they're demanding you don't even get the chance to decide that for yourself.  It's morally abhorrent, and civilization itself is at stake if we refuse to stand up to the would-be tyrants.