Comment on Amazon is changing what is written in books

racemaniac@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• Cataphract@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Have you, as a foreigner, been caught up by the American political-polarization bug^tm^!? Here are a few warning signs that you may be affected.

  • Do you find yourself often injecting “left-wing” or “right-wing” into titles?
  • Do you have a perceived notion that anything negative being said must involve a certain political party?
  • Do you feel the need to bring Trump up in a post that has nothing to do with him?
  • Do you find yourself in the comments blaming “sides” without having read the article or watched the video?
  • Have you found yourself demanding answers or change that’s addressed in the post? (he literally brings up Dahl as his first example)

  If you suspect that you or a loved one suffer from this syndrome, please turn off the devices and go outside.

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• Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  A punchier example would be And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - the best selling murder mystery of all time - which was first published as Ten Little Niggers

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  • racemaniac@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Is indeed a fine example. Keeps raising the same questions: is it ok to rewrite books? We’re supposed to be outraged when maga does it, but it’s ok if we do it?

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    • Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I mean it’s not an easy question to answer is it? How is my ideological position that ‘nigger’ is not acceptable and removing it makes the book suitable for modern readers any different from someone else’s ideological position that, e.g., ‘transgender’ is not acceptable and removing it makes whatever book suitable for modern readers?

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      • racemaniac@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Indeed, that’s why i hate it that so many people here are raging about this while it’s something both sides are doing…

        I get all the Trump & conservatives hate, but sometimes this community is raging over something that’s just done by both sides… So being outraged about it is pretty hypocritical…

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• Luffy879@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The controversy you pointed out is about someone who was writing factually false information and feeding hate against people who should be covered under the freedom of speech.

  If I follow your argumentation, that being that you should allow people write false information feeding hate against specific people just living their life in peace, you should be against censoring Hate speech against Lgbtqia+ people too, or the better question would be: where do you draw the line? At Jews? At queer people?

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  • racemaniac@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I have honestly no clue what you’re trying to say???

    If you read the wiki page i linked, it’s about changing his books after his death, so not things about when he was still alive? Is also not about a ban? Did you even read the wiki? It literally starts with "Puffin Books, the children’s imprint of the British publisher Penguin Books, expurgated various works by British author Roald Dahl in 2023, sparking controversy. "

    And you’re talking about hate against races, but the wiki talks about removing the word queer (which used to just be a synonym for strange), removing all kinds of gendered language (not sons & daughters, but children, etc…). So rewriting the books to fit your narrative.

    My argumentation is simple: the right wing can’t change books, but the leftwing can? Both sides seem to be trying to rewrite history, that’s all. Whether what’s in the books is acceptable or not, who cares. If the book is no longer appropriate, don’t read it but complaining about the other side rewriting books seems hypocritical. That’s all. You can just not recommend books to readers and suggest more modern alternatives that are more appropriate, or read the old works taking in mind the era they were written in.

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    • NightmareQueenJune@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I am with you on this one. I do think it would be appropriate to have a disclaimer in the beginning, saying that these words used to have a different meaning, and that in the context of the time they were written they meant different things than today.
      There is a German book where this is done that uses the N word for people of color.
      This is the more appropriate way of handling this, because i am totally with you: we shouldn’t change what was written in books. If we start doing that, we destroy what authors have done, and in a sense we also edit history, because in this case we try to erase that these words were used in another context back in the days.

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      • racemaniac@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Indeed

        And that also bothers me about threads like this… both sides in the USA seem to be guilty of this, so to now call it propaganda & nazism when the right is doing it… It’s of course true, but the left wing is doing the exact same, so you can’t really be that outraged… You’re both doing the same thing :s

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    • amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      didn’t know JK Rowling is into Lemmy now

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      • racemaniac@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Ah yeah, going for the insult rather than engaging with a difficult talking point…

        I for sure hate trans people when i say it’s hypocritical to complain about the right wing changing books to fit what they view as correct, when the left wing is doing the exact same (strange… my point isn’t even about trans people it seems… how peculiar).

        I haven’t even said that i have a problem with more gender neutral language, i just gave it as en example of what it’s about since the parent post was all about hate speech, (and there was some issue with that too in his childrens books, but afaik hardly any).

        And i focused on that because OP made it sound as if just hate speech was being targetted, not rewriting old works to fit very left wing desires about how gender is mentioned.

        But the question remains: if the right does it, it’s Nazism, when the left does it, it’s… <???>

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