Because being a they/them isn’t special enough nowadays, it’s one step further to making them extra special"She/they"....er, what? Am I the only one who is completely befuddled by this? Female pronouns but only sometimes?
Does Roald Dahl (from the grave) consent to his intellectual property being tampered with?!I saw something equally ridiculous earlier on. All Roald Dahls books are now being changed by the publisher so that words such as "fat", "crazy" and "ugly" are being completely removed from all his books.
But the best one is the Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; they're now gender neutral
The world has gone absolutely mad
Someone in my team has just put she/they on their signature…"She/they"....er, what? Am I the only one who is completely befuddled by this? Female pronouns but only sometimes?
I’d imagine the original books will still be in print though. Certainly all the RD ebooks on my kids library app are still all originals (I’ve just checked). Whoever has decided to edit these books is already facing major backlash. I saw David Baddiel condemning it the other day. All authors should be quaking in their (gender non specific) boots in case they put a foot (word) wrong 🫠Does Roald Dahl (from the grave) consent to his intellectual property being tampered with?!
If I were a parent right now i’d be buying second hand versions of the original classic kids books, so that I could have a selection of proper kids books for them to read rather than these 1894 redcated/censored doctored versions.
George already been transed. Along with every other formidable historic woman. Because women cannot be formidable, apparently. And anyone who cannot see the inherent sexism, misogyny and patriarchal thinking in that is bloody insane.So I'm Jewish, and I loved reading Enid Blyton's books when I was growing up in the 1990s. I definitely picked up on the sexism, classism, snobby Englishness, and downright racism in the books. Brown people were always either dirty, ridiculously superstitious or childish, etc etc
Yes, it bothered me. I knew it was wrong, and thought that it was stupid and cringy when I was reading the books. I also remember wishing it wasn't in the stories because I knew deep down that the Famous Five would judge me or not want to hang out with me. I still loved and love the books. They're fun and exciting, and the atmosphere is wonderful.
Where does this leave us? I would personally argue to leave the books as they are. Most children who are raised right will pick up on the racism and conclude it's stupid on their own, just like I did. Those whose bigotry is reinforced by the books have bigger problems, most likely racist parents and environments.
And I wish there were more adventure books in the style of Enid Blyton that are more, eh, truly "inclusive". Where girls do dangerous stuff, where brown, Black and Asian people are just part of the group without it being super obvious or constantly discussed.
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Also, I'm curious why the TRAs haven't yet picked up on George, "the girl who wants to be a boy". Wouldn't she be a poster child for the entire trans kids thing? I'm surprised there are no debates raging on about her.
Can you imagine if this craziness continues for years and when JK dies!?Writers should be incensed by this. That anyone can change their published works after death - it’s an outrage. They are taking ownership of copyrighted material away from their originators and changing words. Burning books. How fascist of them…
Wendy is a Terf - of course she is. She’s the voice of reason.
ETA - I think this was in 2014/2015
I agree. I was shocked to read in the Guardian online that Philip Pullman has said he agrees, and that Dahl should just be let go of, to allow for new modern writers to take the space.Writers should be incensed by this. That anyone can change their published works after death - it’s an outrage. They are taking ownership of copyrighted material away from their originators and changing words. Burning books. How fascist of them…
So do we need to use a frying them to cook in so as not to cause offence? Have we just gone through a themdemic? What about the children’s character, is he now Peter Them? Madnesshmmm
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