The Antisocial Socialist

So I find myself agreeing with the free-speech absolutists and the Tories about Puffin Books' rewrite of Roald Dahl's books, which is odd company to be in. Though, I want to point out that this is not an "Ironic! It's the left doing Bowlderization, not the right. The left are the real scolds, etc." This isn't a left thing, this is a capitalist thing, because Puffin is in the business of selling books, and it's harder (though not impossible) to sell racist, sexist, and fatphobic books in the Year Of Our Lord 2023. At least to children. As it should be.

Unpopular opinion: Roald Dahl's books are fundamentally cruel. I've seen the rewrites and they don't actually change that—they just soften some of the language and representation in them. But the appeal of them, let's be honest here, is their cruelty.

It's like if you edited Lovecraft and took the racism out. Sure, there are some cool things in Lovecraft that we all love, but the fear of the Other is baked in. Taking that out is misrepresenting the books. It's better to riff off of his stuff or to write something new than go back and try to rehabilitate them.

Dahl's writing is vicious and sadistic, and that's why I loved those books as a kid. They're not healthy and wholesome. They're an outlet for the worst urges that children have.

I think if you want your kid to grow up to be a loving, wholesome, kind person, you give them something else to read, not Bowlderized Dahl. Or you sit down with them and explain what's wrong with them. But you don't rewrite them to be nice.

ETA: Never mind, I found the best solution. 

If you are going to burn a book, any book, the way I see it, you've got three options.

1) You steal it. If you are a religious nutjob, you will probably not do this.

2) You take it out from the library. You should not do this because librarians know where you live, and they are not people to be trifled with.

3) You buy it. This is really your only practical option for mass burnings*.

Except, then, you are upping the sales of the very book you claim to hate so much. And financially supporting the publishers and booksellers, who, let's face it, need any sale they can get these days, and don't really care what you do with a book once you buy it.

Really, everyone wins.

* Obviously, there have been historical cases where book-burners raided universities or parents took their children's possessions to burn. But I have a hard time imagining that Bible-beaters already owned copies of the Qu'ran.

Look at this!

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada is forming a union of freelancers. That is such a good idea. It's exactly the kind of good idea I've been harping on since I started working in the publishing industry. I do hope this goes somewhere.