British author Roald Dahl wrote books for children very successfully during his lifetime. He died in 1990. His most famous title: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is his most read and recognized title. It has been the basis for 2 films that endeared the story to millions of fans world wide. A third film production will come out this year, 2023. Recently, a publisher/printer of Dahl's works announced that new editions would have text altered/changed to reflect modernist sensibilities, thereby correcting Dahl's uninformed writings. This has come about through the efforts of two censorial minds that label themselves 'Inclusive Minds'. How appropriate!
These two thoughtful persons have committed their efforts to control the thinking of writers wherever they can uncover literary and cultural sins found in the printed word. Inclusive Minds has "ambassadors" of thought who have been specifically trained to provide assistance to editors and writers when creating written works of art so these writers and editors will not make "mistakes" when publishing various works. They insist strongly that they do not edit anything. They insist that they only advise. The ambassadors do the same: advise only.
If you've read any of Roald Dahl's books, and the Mayor has read many, one immediately recognizes the irreverence, the youthful characters that express child-like sentiments known to most children under age 12. Dahl was gifted and talented with an ability developed during his career to connect with young minds; to connect the dots of humor, youth, and the surrounding imaginative world of those children. Parents, too, could understand the thinking: they were children once also.
Now the partners at Inclusive Minds have targeted Dahl: his words hurt children. Yes, he used words that came from his era, his literary climate, his cultural milieu, his genre of story, and his own personal beliefs. As we know, any artist reflects all these factors when he produces work. A publisher of Dahl's works announced changes in the text of his stories, but doesn't call it censorship. Not censorship? Excuse me; what is it? More Wokeness. Yes, that is the accepted term these days for censorship. We must be WOKE, or we are primitives.
Inclusive Minds is running a business that sells wokeness to those publishers who want their efforts to be accepted by socially conscious buyers; socially aware readers who do not want to read anything offensive in the least. In other words, Inclusive Minds want to control your thinking about-EVERYTHING!.
Salman Rushdie, noted author, has criticized the effort to censor Roald Dahl. He would know: he's been harassed and assaulted by censors from various places. PM Sunak has also criticized the censoring of works written years ago. The age old question comes up: Where does it stop?
We'll see.
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