They did it with Enid Blyton books as well – changed the character names from things like Dick and Fanny 🙈
> In The Witches, a paragraph explaining that witches are bald beneath their wigs ends with the new line: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”
Sounds like fun to read
I wonder what qualifies someone to become a ‘sensitivity reader’, to make decisions on what to censor in books.
I’m ‘accused’ of being one of those bleeding heart bloody liberals many a time but this is one for those rare situations that I struggle to perhaps get on that side of things.
Can someone put my mind at ease and tell me why this is a good thing?
Is there really much difference in being referred to as enormous rather than fat?
Part of what makes Dahl so funny and entertaining is his bluntness. I urge people to buy the original books, they are wonderful. I don’t agree with this sort of tinkering.
As a big reader I would generally prefer for a warning to be added to make people aware of the time period these were written and then leave the book as it with maybe a few changes for the most egregious of things like swapping out the n word etc. I feel it is important to have conversations with kids about why certain things are unacceptable today and these older books can help with teaching that.
However, I do understand that some children are too young to fully understand and therefore having a book that is edited can be helpful in the same way we have easy reader adaptions of books. So I think these should be an alternative version for younger readers who maybe can’t access the critical thinking aspect yet.
Edit: as an aside the removal of the word ugly to describe Mrs Twit but leaving beastly in place is hilarious. Beastly has connotations and they are not positive so that seems futile.
If you read a book written 50 years ago and get offended by the content so much that it had to be changed for your tiny fragile mind, you’re the problem.
Not everything has to make you upset. Live your fucking life.
Some of the changes are just plain bizarre, such as removing the word ‘black’ from a description of an inanimate object, or changing the Badger’s son from Fantastic Mr Fox from being explicitly male to a gender unspecified badger cub. A little sad to see the word queer being scrubbed from being used in its original meaning, too.
Leave them be and just don’t read them if you have a problem
Funny thing is, I couldn’t imagine an author who would hate this more than Dahl.
Of all the authors you could do this to, Roald Dahl seems one of the worst. You’re taking away what makes the books special.
I actually think it should be illegal to do this without the author’s consent. It’s an attack on the dignity of the artist, art, and culture as a whole.
[removed]
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped”.
I know it gets memed a lot, but this is literally what happens in 1984. Change the past to fit with the narrative of the present.
The pendulum surely is close to the left side by now, hopefully it doesn’t swing too hard back like we got last time
Deemed offensive by whom? Sanctimonious fuglies I wouldn’t waste a whiz-popper on. These people are a joke. That they get paid to butcher someone else’s work is beyond parody. Fahrenheit 451 dystopia.
This is lame. We need to read books and understand them in the context of their time. That requires e.g. parental input, teaching and learning, you know, a little effort. Changing books is lazy and removes important opportunities to learn. Which books are going to be changed next?
So now we’ve crossed the line of placating to the feelings of some preconceived person that is perpetually offended by everything, now to a point where it is ruining the work itself.
This seems like a good spot to pause, take a look around and consider whether the current bout of infantilization has went too far.
Book burning next?
This is giving votes to the right for free.
I hope this costs Puffin a lot of money and nobody buys these new versions.
>“You mean Prince Pondicherry?” said Grandpa Joe, and he began chuckling with laughter. “Completely dotty, said Grandpa George. “But very rich,” said Grandma Georgina “You mean Prince Puducherry?” said Grandpa Joe, and he began chuckling with laughter
>“Prince Pondicherry wrote a letter to Mr Willy Wonka” “Prince Puducherry wrote a letter to Mr Willy Wonka”
Funny they’ve gone to all that trouble to change the Indian place name, for a made up character. I went there a few years back and all the locals call it ‘Pondy’.
Maybe they can get a sensitivity reader in to reeducate them.
Someone needs to get on the blower to Twinings about ‘Ceylon Tea’.
>“Okay, girls”
>“Okay, folks”
Lol. Yeah, George W. Bush as the narrator. They should have gone peak troll wokery with “folx”
We genuinely are experiencing the worst generation of humans that earth has been blessed with 😂
I get they are children’s books, but we shouldn’t rewrite texts to make them seem more applicable to current day politics.
I mean the Bible and several religious texts have remained untampered with and there’s some pretty bleak stuff in them.
Moreover, the appropriate way to disseminate these messages is my identifying where language may be offense and explaining why its bad.
A lot of people don’t use offensive language knowing the connotations of the words when they are young. It is important that we recognise what the words mean, and highlight why they shouldn’t be used and the harm they cause rather than completely redacting them
Edit: using the bible as a example was fucking stupid
I think a lot of people, including here in the comments always miss the point with things like this and end up with the idea that this is something to do with “the left”, or a reflection of how society has shifted, or that we are generally okay with censorship etc. Someone hit close to the truth by saying they don’t understand this as they would just not read books that contain offensive ideas. That is exactly the problem for the publisher. They want to make money, they don’t want people put off by bad language and so they make poorly judged attempts like this. This also has the bonus of creating a second version of the book that people who already own the originals might be persuaded to buy, especially schools etc.
It’s nothing to do with the left or censorship, it’s entirely a cynical attempt by a publisher to generate more revenue.
I really hate history and art being modified just for the sake of modern sensibilities.
>The word “fat” has been cut from every new edition of relevant books
Because there far too few thin people around for modern kids to understand what fat is?
Christ this is boring. Kids love deemed taboo and “gross” things. Adored Horrible Histories!
I’m somewhat amazed that his family allowed this. Just don’t reprint the books if they’re offensive.
What next?
“And verily did Jesus did write a stern memo to the money lenders pointing out their greed and cheek trying to make money out of religion, and if they didn’t watch out, he might have to write a SECOND stern memo, and maybe a Fifth memo or , or Gosh Darn it, he may one day throw their tables on the ground – hopefully not causing too much damage- of which he would happily pay for if any damage were caused- and give them a ruddy good talking to- if they were not too emotionally distressed, so!, so! Those cheeky money lenders had better watch out! Or else! Grrrrr!”
The whole point of Gloop is to highlight that he was a fat, greedy little cunt. Ridiculous.
FFS is this really necessary? We all grew up with the original books. Why could we handle it, but kids these days can’t?! (Hint: they can)
> hired sensitivity readers
The guidance teacher never told me about this career option.
Great, more shit no one actually asked for which will anger the anti-woke mob.
“It’s political correctness gone mad”, and that’s for fucking sure.
This is pathetic.
“Puffin has hired sensitivity readers to rewrite chunks of the author’s text to make sure the books “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”, resulting in extensive changes across Dahl’s work.
Edits have been made to descriptions of characters’ physical appearance. The word “fat” has been cut from every new edition of relevant books, while the word “ugly” has also been culled”
These sorts of changes will, if anything, prevent children’s enjoyment of the books as they make them more boring and sanitised. All in the name of ‘inclusivity’.
I do worry sometimes about people and how they cope in the real world
This is pathetic, is this another doing of woke liberals? Who decides these things?
I’m sick of this .U.S. style censorship by emotionally fragile, “progressives” who seem to think everything is: racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic regardless of the actual content, (which typically the vast majority of the, “concerned” hasn’t actually seen). It benefits no one especially the, “victims” and children it’s supposed to be protecting, (more like mollycoddling).
They create issues so they can be seen to, “solve” them. Who keeps enabling this nonsense? Why is there no resistance to it?
1984 and Fahrenheit 451 combined.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped””, 1984 by George Orwell.
Too far. This is cultural vandalism, rather dystopian, and, honestly, a bit authoritarian.
I’m never ***buying*** anything from Puffin again.
And yet r/unitedkingdom says the culture war isn’t real.
Removing the descriptive term “fat” doesn’t stop someone from being fat.
I hate this. Censorship of the past is dangerous and is extremely unlikely to stop once started. You give an idea more power when you try hide it anyway. Dumb. Not sure why the Dahl estate is allowing it, although I suppose it is free publicity.
Here’s an idea:
If someone finds the line “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat” offensive, or dislikes Ms Trunchball being called a “female”, maybe they just shouldn’t read the fucking thing.
Hmmm:
‘Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company made the changes in conjunction with Inclusive Minds, which its spokesperson describes as “a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion and accessibility in children’s literature”.’
Inclusive Minds. What an ironic name for a bunch of people who seem hell-bent on displaying the mindset that anything outside their own narrow mindset is unacceptable!
Authoritarism in all of its forms is a cancer on humanity.
46 comments
They did it with Enid Blyton books as well – changed the character names from things like Dick and Fanny 🙈
> In The Witches, a paragraph explaining that witches are bald beneath their wigs ends with the new line: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”
Sounds like fun to read
I wonder what qualifies someone to become a ‘sensitivity reader’, to make decisions on what to censor in books.
I’m ‘accused’ of being one of those bleeding heart bloody liberals many a time but this is one for those rare situations that I struggle to perhaps get on that side of things.
Can someone put my mind at ease and tell me why this is a good thing?
Is there really much difference in being referred to as enormous rather than fat?
Part of what makes Dahl so funny and entertaining is his bluntness. I urge people to buy the original books, they are wonderful. I don’t agree with this sort of tinkering.
As a big reader I would generally prefer for a warning to be added to make people aware of the time period these were written and then leave the book as it with maybe a few changes for the most egregious of things like swapping out the n word etc. I feel it is important to have conversations with kids about why certain things are unacceptable today and these older books can help with teaching that.
However, I do understand that some children are too young to fully understand and therefore having a book that is edited can be helpful in the same way we have easy reader adaptions of books. So I think these should be an alternative version for younger readers who maybe can’t access the critical thinking aspect yet.
Edit: as an aside the removal of the word ugly to describe Mrs Twit but leaving beastly in place is hilarious. Beastly has connotations and they are not positive so that seems futile.
If you read a book written 50 years ago and get offended by the content so much that it had to be changed for your tiny fragile mind, you’re the problem.
Not everything has to make you upset. Live your fucking life.
Full list of changes can be found here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1154tr5/comment/j8znxo2/
Some of the changes are just plain bizarre, such as removing the word ‘black’ from a description of an inanimate object, or changing the Badger’s son from Fantastic Mr Fox from being explicitly male to a gender unspecified badger cub. A little sad to see the word queer being scrubbed from being used in its original meaning, too.
Leave them be and just don’t read them if you have a problem
Funny thing is, I couldn’t imagine an author who would hate this more than Dahl.
Of all the authors you could do this to, Roald Dahl seems one of the worst. You’re taking away what makes the books special.
I actually think it should be illegal to do this without the author’s consent. It’s an attack on the dignity of the artist, art, and culture as a whole.
[removed]
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped”.
I know it gets memed a lot, but this is literally what happens in 1984. Change the past to fit with the narrative of the present.
The pendulum surely is close to the left side by now, hopefully it doesn’t swing too hard back like we got last time
Deemed offensive by whom? Sanctimonious fuglies I wouldn’t waste a whiz-popper on. These people are a joke. That they get paid to butcher someone else’s work is beyond parody. Fahrenheit 451 dystopia.
This is lame. We need to read books and understand them in the context of their time. That requires e.g. parental input, teaching and learning, you know, a little effort. Changing books is lazy and removes important opportunities to learn. Which books are going to be changed next?
So now we’ve crossed the line of placating to the feelings of some preconceived person that is perpetually offended by everything, now to a point where it is ruining the work itself.
This seems like a good spot to pause, take a look around and consider whether the current bout of infantilization has went too far.
Book burning next?
This is giving votes to the right for free.
I hope this costs Puffin a lot of money and nobody buys these new versions.
>“You mean Prince Pondicherry?” said Grandpa Joe, and he began chuckling with laughter. “Completely dotty, said Grandpa George. “But very rich,” said Grandma Georgina “You mean Prince Puducherry?” said Grandpa Joe, and he began chuckling with laughter
>“Prince Pondicherry wrote a letter to Mr Willy Wonka” “Prince Puducherry wrote a letter to Mr Willy Wonka”
Funny they’ve gone to all that trouble to change the Indian place name, for a made up character. I went there a few years back and all the locals call it ‘Pondy’.
Maybe they can get a sensitivity reader in to reeducate them.
Someone needs to get on the blower to Twinings about ‘Ceylon Tea’.
>“Okay, girls”
>“Okay, folks”
Lol. Yeah, George W. Bush as the narrator. They should have gone peak troll wokery with “folx”
We genuinely are experiencing the worst generation of humans that earth has been blessed with 😂
I get they are children’s books, but we shouldn’t rewrite texts to make them seem more applicable to current day politics.
I mean the Bible and several religious texts have remained untampered with and there’s some pretty bleak stuff in them.
Moreover, the appropriate way to disseminate these messages is my identifying where language may be offense and explaining why its bad.
A lot of people don’t use offensive language knowing the connotations of the words when they are young. It is important that we recognise what the words mean, and highlight why they shouldn’t be used and the harm they cause rather than completely redacting them
Edit: using the bible as a example was fucking stupid
I think a lot of people, including here in the comments always miss the point with things like this and end up with the idea that this is something to do with “the left”, or a reflection of how society has shifted, or that we are generally okay with censorship etc. Someone hit close to the truth by saying they don’t understand this as they would just not read books that contain offensive ideas. That is exactly the problem for the publisher. They want to make money, they don’t want people put off by bad language and so they make poorly judged attempts like this. This also has the bonus of creating a second version of the book that people who already own the originals might be persuaded to buy, especially schools etc.
It’s nothing to do with the left or censorship, it’s entirely a cynical attempt by a publisher to generate more revenue.
I really hate history and art being modified just for the sake of modern sensibilities.
>The word “fat” has been cut from every new edition of relevant books
Because there far too few thin people around for modern kids to understand what fat is?
Christ this is boring. Kids love deemed taboo and “gross” things. Adored Horrible Histories!
I’m somewhat amazed that his family allowed this. Just don’t reprint the books if they’re offensive.
What next?
“And verily did Jesus did write a stern memo to the money lenders pointing out their greed and cheek trying to make money out of religion, and if they didn’t watch out, he might have to write a SECOND stern memo, and maybe a Fifth memo or , or Gosh Darn it, he may one day throw their tables on the ground – hopefully not causing too much damage- of which he would happily pay for if any damage were caused- and give them a ruddy good talking to- if they were not too emotionally distressed, so!, so! Those cheeky money lenders had better watch out! Or else! Grrrrr!”
The whole point of Gloop is to highlight that he was a fat, greedy little cunt. Ridiculous.
FFS is this really necessary? We all grew up with the original books. Why could we handle it, but kids these days can’t?! (Hint: they can)
> hired sensitivity readers
The guidance teacher never told me about this career option.
Great, more shit no one actually asked for which will anger the anti-woke mob.
“It’s political correctness gone mad”, and that’s for fucking sure.
This is pathetic.
“Puffin has hired sensitivity readers to rewrite chunks of the author’s text to make sure the books “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”, resulting in extensive changes across Dahl’s work.
Edits have been made to descriptions of characters’ physical appearance. The word “fat” has been cut from every new edition of relevant books, while the word “ugly” has also been culled”
These sorts of changes will, if anything, prevent children’s enjoyment of the books as they make them more boring and sanitised. All in the name of ‘inclusivity’.
I do worry sometimes about people and how they cope in the real world
This is pathetic, is this another doing of woke liberals? Who decides these things?
I’m sick of this .U.S. style censorship by emotionally fragile, “progressives” who seem to think everything is: racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic regardless of the actual content, (which typically the vast majority of the, “concerned” hasn’t actually seen). It benefits no one especially the, “victims” and children it’s supposed to be protecting, (more like mollycoddling).
They create issues so they can be seen to, “solve” them. Who keeps enabling this nonsense? Why is there no resistance to it?
1984 and Fahrenheit 451 combined.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped””, 1984 by George Orwell.
Too far. This is cultural vandalism, rather dystopian, and, honestly, a bit authoritarian.
I’m never ***buying*** anything from Puffin again.
And yet r/unitedkingdom says the culture war isn’t real.
Removing the descriptive term “fat” doesn’t stop someone from being fat.
I hate this. Censorship of the past is dangerous and is extremely unlikely to stop once started. You give an idea more power when you try hide it anyway. Dumb. Not sure why the Dahl estate is allowing it, although I suppose it is free publicity.
Here’s an idea:
If someone finds the line “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat” offensive, or dislikes Ms Trunchball being called a “female”, maybe they just shouldn’t read the fucking thing.
Hmmm:
‘Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company made the changes in conjunction with Inclusive Minds, which its spokesperson describes as “a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion and accessibility in children’s literature”.’
Inclusive Minds. What an ironic name for a bunch of people who seem hell-bent on displaying the mindset that anything outside their own narrow mindset is unacceptable!
Authoritarism in all of its forms is a cancer on humanity.