Scary stuff

Hat tip to A Curious Jew, who just wrote a post about Textword

I have a new hobbeyhorse. this is worse than the pseudoscience of ID IMO. "sanitising" classic literature to remove references to God(s), sex, violence or anything that the zealots dislike/disagree with.


Julias Caeser, without any mention of gods, sex, or violence (How, you my ask?)

In what way is this Shakespeare? The universl language of human emotions, played accross the world, from masai mara villages to Bolshevik peoples theatres, and inner city Birmingham estates, is turned into an insipid play about some bloke who becomes king, is liked, then diliked and what? goes home? retires?

i assume he is not brutally murdered by his most trusted friends and advisors!



Now, fair enough if there are parents/schools who wish to shelter their children from the harsh realities of the world. If their beliefs are so strong as to allow them to hide from what is happening around them 7 pretend it has no impact on them, they should have that right. If they do not wish their children to read about any sex, or violence, or religion, then OK, I can accept that. I think it's quite important we teach them at least the biological proceses of sex, reproduction, human anatomy & physiology, and how we live, but that's a different argument. These people have the absolute right to say they do not want to teach their children Shakespeare. But to teach them a creation of thier own and CLAIM it is the "original text" is an abomination!

What next? Homer, sanitised to remove any reference to the gods? Beowulf minus the violence?

WHY?

Did I mention that nowhere on the book does it say "abridged" or "re-written by" or anything like that!

I'm off to Amazon right now to complain about their descriptions. And then I'm going to start doing some research as to where to go next. it's not often I remember that i am an English Graduate, but some things boil my blood!