Rewriting Dahl: The Valid Outrage Over Hijacked Art
Article originally published on Doorway Publishing
It’s an outrage! “Isn’t everything these days?” you ask. Well, we are living in outrageous times, but I think it’s fair to say some things actually need to get people’s ire up. And in this case, it’s the latest assault against classic literature, namely Puffin’s hubris in rewriting Roald Dahl’s catalog to accommodate modern sensitive readers by removing “language deemed offensive.” Move over Dr. Seuss, there’s a new approach to dealing with these pesky beloved classics.
But who gets to decide what is acceptable for the population at large? Not Roald Dahl, of course. Having died in 1990 he could hardly have consented to having his work altered. No, a group called “Inclusive Minds” have chosen to be the spokesman when it comes to “inclusion and accessibility in children’s literature.” But I don’t remember taking a vote. Do you? Who are these people who are deciding for all of us what is acceptable anyway? Didn’t the population already vote when they bought over 250 million copies of Dahl’s books and made him one of the best-selling children’s authors of all time?
But your dollars have no say here, any more than your desire to choose for yourself what literature you wish to consume or allow your children to consume. The same woke arbiters that demand that highly sexualized, pornographic books be allowed in your children’s libraries at school have now decided that these best-selling classics that have stood the test of time are the true menace to society.
But rather than banning them altogether, halting the presses, or just doing a good old-fashioned book burning, these leading authorities have taken a much more sinister route — putting words in an author’s mouth. This is certainly nothing more than another form of censorship, plastered with a pretty little bow called “good intentions.” But where does it end?
How long before this version of Dahl’s work isn’t sanitized enough for these gatekeepers and another rewrite is in order? How long before his stories no longer even resemble the original works he had in mind? How long before they begin rewriting all classics at their whims? And how long before modern authors, such as JK Rowling, lose their rights and must hand over their personal works of art to the powers that be? Again, these people who have done nothing to establish the respect or adoration of the public that these literary geniuses have. In fact, these parasites create nothing, and in their arrogance, only destroy.
So, we must take a stand and make a noise before it’s too late. We simply cannot allow a person’s art to be altered by someone other than the creator and without their consent. This could have devastating long-term effects on our preservation of history. It will also undermine the integrity of the products we purchase and, in an effort to promote diversity, everything will be in lock-step sameness with one chosen ideology being promoted to all. Freedom of thought is under assault, and the attack will only worsen against those with the audacity to challenge these so-called authorities of what’s best for us.
The question is not whether there are books that are offensive or simply don’t age well. Of course, there are. But the answer to this question is not to change reality, change history, or to silence those who have established careers based on a demand for their work. The answer is to decide what your threshold of tolerance is and to choose for yourself what you will read and what your children will read. And if we do consider it important to inform others, we should be able to discuss these issues and attempt to persuade by using rational argument, not by making these great works more palatable to satisfy a few. Many things simply fall out of fashion, but they must be permitted to stand or fall on their own, not at the behest of some privately established organization with an agenda.
Because if the likes of Seuss, Dahl, and Rowling (or any targeted author) can come under threat and these publishers are permitted to get away with such crimes against that author’s body of work, make no mistake, there will be no end to their tyranny. No book will be safe from desecration, including the one whose author they hate more than them all. Better keep plenty of copies of your Bible on the shelf next to that cherished copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from your childhood — just in case.
