I am indebted to Keith Olbermann for the title.
Huckleberry Finn is one of the classics of American literature, by one of America's greatest writers: Mark Twain.
But it has a bad word in it. A lot. The N word.
No, not nonsense. Nigger.
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Now, a company is going to well.... edit ... the book. They're going to take out the word "nigger" and substitute the word "slave". Because "nigger" might upset some people (while, apparently "slave" will not).
WHAT THE HUCK?
Huckleberry Finn darn well ought to upset people. Literature is supposed to do that. It's supposed to challenge you; to make you think; to make you ask questions. That's upsetting. Then, you right yourself, you get up, and when you're standing again, you look at the world a little differently, a little more powerfully, with a little clearer focus.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn takes place in the antebellum south. In the antebellum south, White people called Black people "niggers". They also held them as slaves. Now, which is more offensive?
Well, I'll stray a bit and pick on my own ethnic group - the Jews. We've certainly had our troubles (AND NO, I am NOT comparing our trouble to those of Blacks. We've both been victims and I'm leaving it at that). We've been called by various derogatory terms over the years. And, of course, people have tried to exterminate us; most famously, Hitler. And, while I am sure Hitler and the Nazis used many derogatory terms for the Jews and all the other "undesirables" they wanted to exterminate, they mostly used the term "juden" which simply means "Jew".
I'd rather be a living kike then a dead Jew.
I am, in the present day, happy to use the terms that people would like to be used. I would never use the N-word for Black people, nor do I call Jews kikes, nor any of the other ethnic groups by any of the terms used to derogate them. But the main thing is not what you call people, but how you treat them.
Blacks in the antebellum south were (get ready for a shock) treated very badly.
We should then look at WHY a company would want to change the words in Huckleberry Finn. Who are they serving? Not the author, certainly. Nor the book. They are trying to avoid upset. They are trying to avoid controversy. These are ludicrous aims. If you read about how Blacks have been and continue to be treated in this country, and you aren't upset, then you just aren't paying attention.