Comments on: Inserting Modern Standards into Classic Literature — Cool?

By: Steven K. Bramlett

Steven K. Bramlett — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:43:06 +0000

I face this same problem at the East Point Historical Society. Maybe in your case but certainly in mine, I have found it very interesting that most complaints (99.9%) concerning race related issues with our collection comes from liberally motivate whites. In Saying “Liberally motivate whites” That is not meant as an insult but it is what it is, that is who it is and who is presenting the concern.

Some people over examine, place fears on what an object or work might mean to someone else. Seriously, we are presenting a history, we are showing you what the people and their time was like, we didn’t write it and because we present it doesn’t mean that we agree. Shooting the messenger. It is a thorn but it is also a teacher.

By: Elephants in Atlanta — Then and Now | Celebrity Requests | The Wren's Nest Blog | The Wren's Nest Blog

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:02:53 +0000

[...] being insensitive or un-PC — also known as “a person who lived 100 years ago.” As usual, our argument remains: present judgement should be reserved for present [...]

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:56:31 +0000

This is an interesting question, and I think it depends on the audience and medium. If you’re presenting to children and you have the opportunity to explain that social norms were different in the past, through a written forward or an in-person explanation, I would say keep the history. But if a quick synopsis is all you could do, and the goal is to get the point of the stories across to an audience unfamiliar with the nuances of the day, then I wouldn’t include the distracting racial elements of the story.

I’m grateful to have a long commute on a shuttle home to think about your blog question.

That last part is a lie, I’m not grateful at all, in fact, I now am car sick thanks to you.

By: William Scott Downs

William Scott Downs — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:40:12 +0000

Are you kidding me? There is simply NO JUSTIFICATION for censorship of this kind. Racial sensitivity is out of control – any educated person should be able to understand historical contexts and I believe that it’s absolutely critical that we see things as they really were, not as we would have them.

I was downright angry when Hal Holbrook (as Mark Twain) changed the original text in his stage show in order to dumb-it-down.

Leave literature alone.

By: Marshall Thomas

Marshall Thomas — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:46:28 +0000

His-Story is the way that person tells the story. Unless you walk in that man’s shoes it is impossible to be judge,jury, and God. Let it be.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:17:39 +0000

Yes.