We have already seen how publishing companies have tried to stealth edit the works of the late authors Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming, reminiscent of the novel “1984” and it’s MiniTru “memory hole”. Now, they aren’t even bothering to wait until the author is dead, as R. L. Stine found out.
“Children’s horror author R.L. Stine accused his publisher of editing his popular Goosebumps series for potentially offensive material without his involvement.
“The Times reported last week that Scholastic was reissuing Goosebumps books and changing references to weight, ethnicity, and more that could be deemed offensive. This followed publishers making edits to the works of other popular authors, including the late Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming.
“The Times initially reported that Stine was working with Scholastic on the edits, but the author revealed on Twitter that he was in fact not involved.
“Responding to a fan reacting with disappointment at the reports, Stine tweeted, ‘Lindsey, the stories aren’t true. I’ve never changed a word in Goosebumps. Any changes were never shown to me.’”
But why stop there?
Oh, fairy tales have often been Bowdlerized in the past, but now they are being wokified to fix “problematic elements“.
“Love at first sight was the stuff of fairy tales, once upon a time, but perhaps no longer.
Ladybird has used sensitivity readers to reexamine some of its children’s books, and fairy stories have proven problematic, […]
“The publisher’s back catalogue includes fiction and educational material based on classic tales like Cinderella and Snow White, and the characters and plots in these stories are understood to be potentially troubling for inclusion experts.
“Handsome princes – and beautiful princesses falling for them at first sight – have been deemed problematic by sensitivity readers advising on offensive content, due to the privilege given to physical attractiveness and heteronormative romance.
“Outdated or harmful elements in fairy tales, according to publishing insiders, may also include characters presuming each other’s pronouns or social class, and a lack of diversity among blonde-haired and blue-eyed protagonists.
“Ladybird, a Penguin-owned imprint known for producing books for young children […]”
Ah, Penguin, yet again.
Said it before; will say it again: The only things you can trust are the actual old physical books you have in your hot little hands.
Libraries are a paragon of civilization.
Pictured: A Paragon of Civilization!
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