In the midst of life, we are in debt, etc: The Wayback Machine

There's a lot of talk right now about the edited Huckleberry Finn.

I just keep thinking about this Family Ties^* episode.

^*Man, I totally forgot how didactic 80s sitcoms can be. "Aren't we the most perfect rich, white liberal family ever? Peachy!! Learn our ways!"

Anonymous said...: I find censorship incredibly offensive. Can I censor this censored version? Or better yet, censure it?

This isn't the silliest censorship of Huckleberry Finn though. Apparently a CBS adaptation didn't mention slavery and had a white guy playing Jim. Because, yeah.

Fortunately, Huckleberry Finn is public domain, so the uncensored version will be available to all for the foreseeable future. And if I ever teach an English class where this book is banned, I hope I have the balls to stand up and do something about it. However, when I was in high school, I didn't have a problem reading the books I wanted to read. I guess either it wasn't a big deal in Thunder Bay, or the more whiny parents had kids in another English class. :P

Freedom to Read week is February 20-26 this year.

P.S. I totally went to YouTube and watched the rest of that episode and its concluding episode. Growing up in the nineties, I never saw Family Ties (I have in fact never heard of it) and am apparently missing something.; January 5, 2011 at 9:38 PM
Panic said...: I never saw Family Ties (I have in fact never heard of it)

BWAAAAAAAAAA?!

I suppose you don't know about Night Court either!; January 6, 2011 at 8:46 AM
Anonymous said...: I suppose you don't know about Night Court either!

… Well, I have now, thanks to Wikipedia.; January 6, 2011 at 3:23 PM
erin said...: Thanks for this.; January 17, 2011 at 2:45 PM

In the midst of life, we are in debt, etc