So there’s a fairly big story in the news right now about a new edition of Mark Twain’s classic story “Huckleberry Finn” coming out. The reason it is such big news is that this edition is completely censored. The editor replaces every instance of the word “nigger” with the word “slave” and every “injun” with “Indian”, thereby avoiding offensive racial slurs; furthermore, it is being packaged with a new edition of “Tom Sawyer” which has been censored in the same way.
Now, I understand why the editor is doing this. This kind of language is completely unacceptable in this day and age; many schools refuse to use the book anymore because of it. I personally despise this kind of language and feel like smacking anyone who uses such terms. But this book was written in 1884, when such language was commonplace. Twain wasn’t condoning such language; rather, he was simply writing in the dialect of the day. The problem with this, and with countless other works, is that we don’t want to admit that we once thought or talked that way. We like to gloss over the darker parts of our history so that we still look good. But we cannot deny that these events happened, as doing so is far too dangerous.
Look at your own life. I guarantee that there are things in your past you are ashamed of and do not talk about. We all make mistakes and we all do stupid things, and believe me, I am sure as hell no exception to that. I have done some truly stupid shit in my life, but I don’t try to make myself believe that I didn’t. The fact is if you and I hadn’t made those mistakes, you and I wouldn’t be the people we are today. The same logic can be applied to every country, and even the entire world. For example, if we hadn’t dropped the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed well over 100,000 innocent people, the United States might not even exist today. You might never have been born. It may have been a horrible thing to do, but it ended the bloodiest war in all of human history; who knows how much longer it might have gone on had we not dropped the bomb. Now, for the record, I am a pacifist and despise all war, but I will gladly admit that we would not be where we are today were it not for the countless wars humanity has raged through the centuries. I accept this as fact, and learn from the mistakes made in the past.
Bringing this back to the topic at hand, this is not the first instance of controversial censoring, but it may be one of the most egregious. Many parents fight to have books like this banned from schools due to their subject matter (I am particularly disturbed by the fact that they consider “To Kill a Mockingbird” too offensive for schools.). Disney and Warner Bros. both have old short cartoons that they do not show due to their subject matter being extremely racist or controversial. The two best known are “Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips”, where Bugs Bunny spends the entire cartoon killing “Japs” and “Der Fuehrer’s Face”, where Donald Duck dreams he is a Nazi and is working in an ammunition factory. Today, these cartoons could never be made. But these were both made during World War II. That was how we viewed our enemies at that time. The same is true of many, if not all, of the books that parents are working so hard to ban. They feel that the content is too offensive or abrasive for their children to be exposed to (my favorite was the group that tried to ban Dr. Seuss for being too unrealistic).
Now, I am not a parent, but I certainly understand that we need to be careful of what we expose our children to, seeing as certain things presented too early could do a great deal of harm. But by pretending that racism, bigotry and hatred don’t exist today, aren’t we giving them an unrealistic and distorted view of the world anyway?
The best example I can offer of this is my own life. My brothers and I had a very sheltered upbringing, as our parents wished to protect us from harm; this is the job of a parent. But when I was finally exposed to the real world, I had a very rude awakening. Because I was sheltered from the coldness and cruelty this world is so full of, the beginnings of my adult life were very tumultuous, largely in part to my own naiveté and immaturity; my view of the world helped keep me from growing up. But because my parents also taught me how to learn from past mistakes and how to adapt to present circumstances, I have been able to eke out a fairly decent life, and I have also learned that the world is only as cold and cruel as we make it.
But this is about more than what may or may not damage a child’s view of the world; this is also about learning about and from our past. The lessons of history are vital on so many levels; not only is it intriguing to learn about where we come from, we also need to learn the lessons of the past so that we can ensure that mistakes will not be repeated. For example, when you’re first learning to ride a bike, you will likely fall several times. But after a half dozen or so scraped knees, you finally learn what you’re doing wrong and how to fix it. By using this same view on history, we can avoid repeating the atrocities we have committed in the past. Read “Huckleberry Finn” with this approach and it takes on a whole new context. It shows you the racism and views that permeated the country in the 19th century; by understanding this, we can make sure that we don’t act that way again.
I understand that many people are reluctant to expose children to this for fear that they could start using the language themselves or fear that it may damage them, but we can’t live by those fears (I would also like to note that parents need to stop putting all the blame for their screwed up kids on external stimuli; however, that is a debate for another day). You only need to look at what our world is today to see what being controlled by fear can do. We need to face that fear head on, and we need to face our past, no matter how ugly or horrific. We can’t just gloss over the bad things and pretend they didn’t happen. After all, we are what we are because of everything that has happened; besides, do we really want to teach our children that if something is bad or shameful, they can just twist or distort it so that it isn’t bad anymore? This is tantamount to running away when things get tough. If we want our children to be able to deal with things no matter how arduous or horrifying the situation may be, then we NEED to let them be exposed to the nightmares of our past. Learning to persevere is arguably one of the most important lessons a person can learn, and I speak from experience.
This is about so much more than freedom of speech. This is about the lessons we teach to the next generation. This is about making us deal with our eccentricities and insecurities. This is about making us deal with those actions we took that appall us. I implore you all: do not let this and other classic works be censored just so they can be more palatable. The artist creates the work so that they can express a point, and to censor it is to change that point entirely. Let these works be seen as they are meant to be seen. Let our children learn the horrors that we have and continue to inflict upon one another. Let our children learn about the past so that they can make the future the bright and wonderful place we all dream of.
A child can handle and understand so much more than we give them credit for; I believe in them is the true potential of the human race. Don’t destroy that potential by making all the choices for them.
