🇺🇸 Is Enormous Better Than Fat?

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CULTURE

Is Enormous Better Than Fat?

A censorship controversy emerged earlier this month when a report noted that publisher Penguin had made changes to children’s books written by British author Roald Dahl. Terms some might consider offensive have been removed, while additional language has been added – drawing criticism from parents, readers, writers, and even advocacy groups.

On Friday, Penguin announced it will publish a “classic” series that will include uncensored versions of Dahl's classics.

Reporting from the Right: Roald Dahl children's books rewritten to delete references to 'fat' characters, add 'inclusive' gender terms (Fox News)

Reporting from the Left: Changes to Roald Dahl's classic children's books spark censorship spat (CNN)

From the Flag: Our readers have told us they appreciate the chance to see when the left and the right find some common ground — this appears to be one of those instances. It’s also yet another entry in the “triggering” debate, as well as what some see as an Orwellian path toward the erasure of culture. In terms of what’s being considered emotionally, intellectually, and artistically, here’s more from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

You Can’t Make the World a Kinder Place With an Editor’s Pen

• This sort of literary censorship is misguided, does nothing to advance inclusivity, and truthfully insults people’s intelligence.

• Kids face harsh challenges in life and scrubbing anything resembling that from children's books is quite damaging.

• Many of the changes made obfuscate the original meaning, and actually help reinforce certain prejudices.

“Why it's wrong to rewrite Roald Dahl's children's books” Megan McArdle, Washington Post Opinion: “As any poet should understand, there is a difference between writers rewriting their own work and someone else taking liberties after the authors are dead. Even in the case of translations, where it’s unavoidable, something is inevitably lost… The tin-eared tinkerers who rewrote Dahl might have made his books marginally less offensive, but also significantly less engaging. … We should also respect present humans as rational beings capable of independent thought, rather than weak-willed zombies susceptible to crude verbal mind control. In our culture, fatness and baldness and mental illness are stigmatized. That’s bad. But the problem cannot be solved by getting Inclusive Minds to snip the words ‘fat’ and ‘crazy’ out of Dahl’s work — any more than the Victorians managed to control teenage sexual urges with a steady diet of literature edited down into Sunday school tracts.”

“Let Kids Read Roald Dahl’s Books the Way He Wrote Them” Katha Pollitt, The Nation: “The US can be a harsh place to be a child. There are guns galore and bullies in school. Suicide is on the rise, homelessness is rampant, and many school budgets have been scraped down to the bone. In New York City, almost one in five children are poor. One in seven doesn’t have enough to eat. Even well-off youngsters struggle with sexual abuse, depression, stress, and the cruelty of online life. Thank God there is one place where all is sweetness and light, or will be soon—children’s books. (Now) Roald Dahl’s classic tales have been altered to be, well, nicer. ... Forget the misanthropy, physical disgust, and delight in transgression and violence and extravagance that give his stories bite and edge. … What matters is that no one in the whole world be offended and that no opportunity be missed for moral improvement.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Taking 'fat' out of Roald Dahl makes no sense Holly Thomas, CNN Opinion

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Catering To Leftist Censorship Does Children and the World a Disservice

• Censoring Dahl falls in line with a general movement toward vague characters, shielding children from reality, and generally poor storytelling in favor of narratives.

• Those in favor of removing certain terms argue “it’s just a few words,” ignoring context while fundamentally changing legendary books.

• Publishers will take steps like this if it helps them sell books, but they seem to be catering to emotionally fragile and unintelligent readers.

“Woke Roald Dahl Will Put Kids to Sleep” Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal Opinion: “Like all the most enduring stories for children, Dahl’s are odd and original. They stir the mind, disquiet the spirit, and stimulate the imagination. To read ‘Peter Pan’ or ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is to plunge into a fever dream; to read Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ is to careen through a fantastical landscape full of greedy youngsters (and indulgent adults) who meet bizarre and terrible fates. Stripping away the weirdness expunges the magic. The bowdlerizing of Dahl fits a broader trend in children’s books. Everything is getting less specific, more didactic and more boring. Writers and illustrators, terrified of causing ‘harm’ by failing to be ‘inclusive’ and ‘accessible,’ are sacrificing specificity, beauty and fun. Most new picture books deliver a lesson rather than risk telling a story, and they increasingly feature young protagonists of indeterminate sex rather than boys or girls.”

“There’s no excuse for rewriting Roald Dahl” Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review: “Already, the excuses are flying. ‘It’s only a few words,’ say the toadies. … But that dog won’t hunt. … Either those words matter, or they do not. … And besides, those are ‘only a few words’ written by Roald Dahl — the greatest genius in the history of children’s books. As a literary yardstick, ‘only a few words’ cannot be divorced from those words’ context, because not all words are equal. … What matters is whose words they are, and what they convey. … Yes, Dahl changed his own work after the fact at various points in his life. Does that grant other people the license to alter his work after he is dead? No, it bloody well does not. Ah, but Charles, surely ‘times have changed’? Yeah, maybe. But Dahl’s characters have not. … The characters those words are describing are, by design, fat, ugly, and crazy.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Save Roald Dahl Books From the Dreaded Sensitivity Readers Robby Soave, Reason

FLAG THIS

7 in 10 Americans Opposed to Book Bans

In 2021, the American Library Association recorded 729, which set a record over the 20 years data has been compiled. The group expects the 2022 number to be even higher.

Meanwhile, a new survey found 73% of respondents are opposed to book bans, and 43% have tried to access books that were either challenged or banned in the past year.

Some of the most popular titles that have faced bans include “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank (Half Price Books/OnePoll).

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