The danger of sanitizing Huck Finn is not in political correctness run amok. The danger is the possibility that this effort will play into the deliberate efforts by certain members of the former majority to delegitimize and co-opt slavery.
The danger of sanitizing Huck Finn is not in political correctness run amok. The danger is the possibility that this effort will play into the deliberate efforts by certain members of the former majority to delegitimize and co-opt slavery.
What do I mean by delegitimizing? I mean the deliberate efforts to downplay the horrors and inhumanity of slavery; to convince people that it either wasn't very prevalent, or that being a slave really wasn't as bad as it sounds. Some act as though slavery was little more than a business relationship; a mutually-beneficial contract where everyone wins.
We need look no further than the Texas textbook debacle. One of the chief demands was to change from "slavery" to "triangular trade". The emphasis, they feel, should be on the development of trade routes. They point out that human beings were only in the cargo hold for one part of the trip, and the ships brought back many other things like sugar and tobacco. In other words, they feel the slavery discussion should not be an honest assessment of brutality and dehumanization, but instead a celebration of backhauling.
This effort works in tandem with the efforts of many in the former majority to co-opt slavery. The pendulum has shifted, they argue, and the American culture and power structure have shifted with it. They are not always in power any more. Their beliefs do not always rule the day. They no longer have all the advantages. Yes, they say, they are modern-day slaves.
If you can vote, you are not a slave. Just because you voted for the other guy, and the guy who won happens to be black, that doesn't make you a slave. Being forced to endure mandatory health care does not make you a slave. Paying income taxes doesn't make you a slave.
Let's not forget the inhumanity of slavery. Let's not forget that slavery -- REAL slavery -- still exists around the world, including right here in the United States. Removing an offensive word won't change that, in the past or the present. But it could help people pretend it never existed. After all, where is the hatred in the word "slave"? Where is the degrading, dehumanizing sentiment in the word "slave"? Isn't the master/slave relationship the way of the world? A simple economic hierarchy of employer and employee? A social contract for the betterment of all, where everyone knows their place?
Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.