“Dashed into his father’s toolshed” was changed to “dashed into the toolshed.”.Weasel and six kids” was changed to “his family.” “We eat little boys and girls” changed to “we eat little children.”.“Get your mother or father” was changed to “get your family.”.The edits deemphasized families, parenthood and sex differences. But it’s less understandable why the publisher’s edits go beyond instances of race and cruelty. While I don’t agree with editing an author’s work after they’ve died, it’s at least understandable why a publisher would want to remove certain racial stereotypes from his works. Equally troubling, we’re allowing ourselves to be led in that direction because we mistakenly think a noble goal of “inclusion” requires it.Ī subtle but distressing example is the recent controversy over Roald Dahl’s books, stemming from a publisher’s decision to posthumously edit racist material from his books. We don’t have anything like that degree of aversion today, but I’m alarmed at how determinedly we’re being pushed in that direction. Any mention of mothers and fathers, babies and birth, families and love repulsed and horrified them. The people were socially conditioned to hate and fear the past, in which intact biological families, loving family relationships and meaningful monogamous sex prevented individuals from being totally selfish and totally controlled. The government didn’t simply ban these words, but considered them obscene, or at best, ridiculous, which is even more effective than a ban. In the novel, published in 1932, they loathed and shunned words like mother, father and family. Thankfully, most of the government’s methods are impossible, but one keeps coming to mind because it’s disturbingly familiar. The classic novel “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley depicts a dystopian society with a tyrannical government that controls people through biological, psychological and social conditioning.
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