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Censoring The Unsavory:
We Are Banning And Revising Classic Books
Roaring Rivers
Torrents, currents, and ripples by Christyl Rivers, PhD
Literature lights the way, but not by piles of burning books
Everything changes, and that’s good.
But we have weird tendencies to try far too hard to impose standards upon others about what they can say, do, read, explore, and even support.
Classic novels being banned are attempting to be more culturally sensitive. That is a good thing, but who opens the gate? Who slams the gate shut? This is always and forever the question.
Some books being banned, and /or revised, include Huckleberry Finn, mysteries by Agatha Christie, children’s books by Roald Dahl, and Science fiction classics by Ursula K. Le Guin, and Margaret Atwood.
Even very beloved Dr. Zeus’s books have been challenged.
I love this. I hate this.
We should always be wary of book burners, just as we remain wary of the language we once expected, and have now out-grown.