Political Correctness
Three items that I wanna bring up, two of which have been in the news lately, another I personally have noticed.
- Goodnight Moon, the classic children's book that's been around for 50 or 60 years, is digitally altered in its new release because the photo of the late artist has him holding a cigarette. The new photo is the same as the old, except now he's just holding two fingers in the air. The family of Clement Hurd "reluctantly allowed them to do it," and there's a website called Goodnight Reality that's putting up a poll or petition trying to stop the altering of history.
Because, you know, everyone had it read to them as kids and now EVERY ONE OF THEM is smoking because of it. Ugh.
- The White House "Holiday Tree" has been changed back to the Christmas Tree. Hear hear. If they can have a menorah they can have a Christmas Tree.
- This one's not a "news article," per se, but it's a radio commercial that's airing locally that's bugging me. It's a car ad with a grandpa reading to his kid. I'm paraphrasing, but here we go:
Grandpa: But I heard him exclaim 'ere he drove out of sight, Happy Honda Days to all, and to all a good night!
Kid: But, Grandpa, I thought he says "Happy Holidays" to all!
The part of this commercial that irritates me is not the "Honda Days" part. It's a commercial, it's allowed, it's been done since before Coca Cola stuck Santa in the red & white.
But the kid corrects him and says "Happy Holidays to all." When they start editing a poem that's been around since 1822 to make it politically sanitized... between that and the cigarette, nothing's safe anymore.
What's next? Are editions of Huckleberry Finn edited to remove the racial stereotypes? Will future biographies about FDR eliminate his famous cigarette & holder? Will the Farrah Fawcett poster be re-released sans pointy?
History's not perfect, history's not politically correct. But it is history, and it shouldn't be changed because it offends someone today.
That is all.
- Goodnight Moon, the classic children's book that's been around for 50 or 60 years, is digitally altered in its new release because the photo of the late artist has him holding a cigarette. The new photo is the same as the old, except now he's just holding two fingers in the air. The family of Clement Hurd "reluctantly allowed them to do it," and there's a website called Goodnight Reality that's putting up a poll or petition trying to stop the altering of history.
Because, you know, everyone had it read to them as kids and now EVERY ONE OF THEM is smoking because of it. Ugh.
- The White House "Holiday Tree" has been changed back to the Christmas Tree. Hear hear. If they can have a menorah they can have a Christmas Tree.
- This one's not a "news article," per se, but it's a radio commercial that's airing locally that's bugging me. It's a car ad with a grandpa reading to his kid. I'm paraphrasing, but here we go:
Grandpa: But I heard him exclaim 'ere he drove out of sight, Happy Honda Days to all, and to all a good night!
Kid: But, Grandpa, I thought he says "Happy Holidays" to all!
The part of this commercial that irritates me is not the "Honda Days" part. It's a commercial, it's allowed, it's been done since before Coca Cola stuck Santa in the red & white.
But the kid corrects him and says "Happy Holidays to all." When they start editing a poem that's been around since 1822 to make it politically sanitized... between that and the cigarette, nothing's safe anymore.
What's next? Are editions of Huckleberry Finn edited to remove the racial stereotypes? Will future biographies about FDR eliminate his famous cigarette & holder? Will the Farrah Fawcett poster be re-released sans pointy?
History's not perfect, history's not politically correct. But it is history, and it shouldn't be changed because it offends someone today.
That is all.
posted by Bill at 9:52 AM
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