(no subject)

Lee Berman18 Jan 2011, 02:50

1 quoted line

Gwern Branwen: >> Conrad's Heart of Darkness I love the book. I hate the racism. And I think you can have it both ways in the realm of fiction and art. There's no contradiction there."

Made me think of Huckleberry Finn and how there is a strong movement to require schools to carry a version which finds a less offensive term than "nigger" (the N-word) which is repeated over 100 times in the story. To me that move would suck the life out of the book. It was a book about slavery written in a time when slavery was a living memory for most people. Nothing hammers that home more than free and liberal use of the N-word which is exactly what Mark Twain intended. I guess I can't exactly hate racism..how can I hate what is an integral part of my own species? Or perhaps it is the broader human reflex of xenophobia which is the integral part. Either way, I think we will forever be..cursed?...with the tendency to divide into groups and fight. Heh, when I used to work in prison, the inmates managed to divide themselves not by race, not by gang affiliation but by home telephone area code and fight over that. Heck I've even known people to fight over fictional interpretations ;- ).

Mo Holkar18 Jan 2011, 09:44

↳ in reply to Lee Berman

2 quoted lines

At 02:50 18/01/2011, Lee wrote: I guess I can't exactly hate racism..how can I hate what is an integral part of my own species?

Hate the sin, love the sinner... Mo # ~ # ~ # WolfeWiki -- a wiki about Gene Wolfe http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/

Jeff Wilson18 Jan 2011, 14:20

↳ in reply to Mo Holkar

4 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

On 1/18/2011 3:44 AM, Mo Holkar wrote: At 02:50 18/01/2011, Lee wrote:

I guess I can't exactly hate racism..how can I hate what is an integral part of my own species?

Hate the sin, love the sinner...

QFT; the instinctive tribalism in the human animal is not an excuse for the practice of racism, any more than instinctive elimination is an excuse for peeing on the wall when nature calls.

Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana < http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >

Gerry Quinn18 Jan 2011, 21:14

↳ in reply to Lee Berman

3 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

From: "Lee Berman" <severiansola at hotmail.com>

Gwern Branwen: >> Conrad's Heart of Darkness I love the book. I hate the racism. And I think you can have it both ways in the realm of fiction and art. There's no contradiction there."

Made me think of Huckleberry Finn and how there is a strong movement to require schools to carry a version which finds a less offensive term than "nigger" (the N-word) which is repeated over 100 times in the story. To me that move would suck the life out of the book. It was a book about slavery written in a time when slavery was a living memory for most people. Nothing hammers that home more than free and liberal use of the N-word which is exactly what Mark Twain intended.

I read about this recently. My biggest issue with it was the publisher's intention of replacing "nigger" with "slave" which is hardly synonymous. Replacing it with "African American" would sound wrong even to the most tin-eared PC warrior, but what's wrong with "Black"? - Gerry Quinn

Jeff Wilson19 Jan 2011, 05:32

↳ in reply to Gerry Quinn

8 quoted lines · 1–3 deep

On 1/18/2011 3:14 PM, Gerry Quinn wrote: From: "Lee Berman" <severiansola at hotmail.com>

Gwern Branwen: >> Conrad's Heart of Darkness I love the book. I hate the racism. And I think you can have it both ways in the realm of fiction and art. There's no contradiction there."

Made me think of Huckleberry Finn and how there is a strong movement to require schools to carry a version which finds a less offensive term than "nigger" (the N-word) which is repeated over 100 times in the story. To me that move would suck the life out of the book. It was a book about slavery written in a time when slavery was a living memory for most people. Nothing hammers that home more than free and liberal use of the N-word which is exactly what Mark Twain intended.

I read about this recently. My biggest issue with it was the publisher's intention of replacing "nigger" with "slave" which is hardly synonymous. Replacing it with "African American" would sound wrong even to the most tin-eared PC warrior, but what's wrong with "Black"?

Doesn't have a diminutive or familiar suffix.

Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana < http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >