[HPforGrownups] Re: Diversity in Literature & Media (WAS book differences)

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 40598

Naama said, in this vein of "why they added 'Black boy' to Dean Thomas'
description":

> I am however very much against the practice of changing a work of art
> to make it better fit a certain ideology or world view. I don't think
> this is what happened in this case, but since I understood that that
> was the main issue of debate, I had to throw in my two cents .. oops,
> I mean, of course, tuppence ;-).

Okay. I agree, they should not have added it, especially not capitalized. I
don't think there are Black people any more than there are White people. It
was clumsily done.

But I must throw to you my personal least-favorite literature change, from
the Just So Stories by Kipling, from "How the Leopard Got His Spots." After
the Ethiopian has changed his skin to black, and then dotted the leopard all
over with his fingertips (nicely explaining the little rosettes of dots),
and the leopard asks why the Ethiopian doesn't go for spots too, what
Kipling originally wrote was, "Plain black's best for a nigger." In every
single copy I have seen that was printed within, say, the last 20 years (at
least), this has been changed to remove "nigger."

This alteration offends me because it changes the words the author chose.
Those words came from an older culture and value system, but they are the
words he wrote. I object to changing them to pander to the sensibilities of
a modern audience.

In the spirit of Naama's comment,then--was it wrong to change HP, and right
to change Kipling? I'd say no.

Any takers on this? If so, move it over to Chatter, as we've moved from
directly HP-related to a broader issue and a different author.

--Amanda