6 ms·

I'm bored with people rolling this quote out and I disagree with the premise. This is much more like Victorian prudery and moral panics than some foreshadowing

I'm bored with people rolling this quote out and I disagree with the premise. This is much more like Victorian prudery and moral panics than some foreshadowing of a totalitarian state. Stop being overly dramatic.

paganel 4y ago
This is pure censorship, belittling people who call it out means taking the the side of censorship. Nothing overly “dramatic” about it (there’s also something to be said about using the word “dramatic” with a negative connotation).
- starkd 4y ago
  Even if the revisions are fairly innocuous in themselves, it is still altering history in a way that impedes future generations from an honest legitimate view of history. Imagine a world with a filtered awareness for history. It is a closing of the mind.
- acdha 4y ago
  Except it’s entirely voluntarily done by the owners themselves. Nobody forced them to do it, there hasn’t been an organized protest asking them to, it’s just a business making decisions about what they think will boost sales. Capitalists making independent business decisions is pretty far from 1984.
  - op00to 4y ago
    Are corporations even mentioned in 1984?
- kcplate 4y ago
  The publishers could not care less about removing words due to the fact that they might be offensive in 2023. They are not losing any sales because of any specific words in these books. They are editing the books simply because it creates cheap publicity around the brand. This isn’t censorship, it’s a publicity stunt.
Invictus0 4y ago
Man, this comment. We literally have telescreens in our homes. We know that the NSA has monitored every bit of information we emit. We have AI generated propaganda. Algorithms that turn us against each other, that monitor the cameras on every corner. We even had people violently attempt to overturn our democratic elections! And you bleat that it's just a little prudery.
- op00to 4y ago
  I am just stunned that you equate A PRIVATE COMPANY doing whatever the hell they want with their own property to 1984. Do you also believe that one time you thought you saw a pig talk means we are headed towards an Animal Farm situation?
hyperhopper 4y ago
The point is more that it's reaching a point where true history is hidden/questionable/edited/rare/debated. It's not too the next step where totalitarianism comes into play. Especially when it gets to the point where having stepped over these boundaries in the past can lead to being targeted by the government / powerful corporations / employers. But it's 100% relevant to be bringing into the conversation.
- jquery 4y ago
  Tennessee just banned transition therapy for trans people and gave them a year to “detransition”. The owner of Twitter just replied “kek” to an outspoken segregationist. But sure, it’s capitalists trying to sell more pulp fiction that’s the biggest fascist threat in America right now.
  - not_a_shill 4y ago
    Was the only non-fascist era in USA history 2015-2016 (Oberfell to Trump)? You could probably knock the years back to Obama if you want, but Prop 8 was in 2008 so it's hard to go earlier than that. NOI segregationists have existed for a long time in the post-segregation era.
  - CoryAlexMartin 4y ago
    The Tennessee bill you’re referring to specifically prohibits children, not adults, from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapies and sex change operations.
    - sundaeofshock 4y ago
      It is a transphobic bill that blocks all age and medical appropriate gender affirming care for a person under 18. This includes totally reversible actions related to social transition including name changes and clothing choices. https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-condemns-tennessee-house-for-passing-discriminatory-anti-drag-bill-and-gender-affirming-care-ban-urges-governor-lee-to-veto https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-con...
throw0101c 4y ago
> This is much more like Victorian prudery and moral panics than some foreshadowing of a totalitarian state. Stop being overly dramatic. Why can't it be a foreshadowing of a totalitarian state of Victorian prudery?
jwestbury 4y ago
Exactly -- it's bowdlerisation, pure and simple. This is a behaviour that the left used to abhor, but they've finally found reason to adopt the behaviour themselves.
- cyclecount 4y ago
  Americans on the right seem incapable of seeing the difference between the dominant liberal institutions in power today, and "the left" which holds basically no power in the western world today.
- defrost 4y ago
  To be clear this is the attention seeking behaviour of capitalist publishers .. there are no "the left" involved here. They promote the changes, stoke the outrage via press releases, stir up support for "the originals" and make bank from two highly talked about simultaneous releases of the same old product. For context: Dahl’s publications are extremely lucrative. In 2021, his literary estate was bought by Netflix for £500m. So, despite the writer himself being more than three decades dead, his market share must not be allowed to diminish. [1] Absent any of this it'd just be just another release with zero fanfare or intereest. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/26/updating-roald-dahl-same-old-story-david-mitchell https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/26/updati...

paganel 4y ago

This is pure censorship, belittling people who call it out means taking the the side of censorship. Nothing overly “dramatic” about it (there’s also something to be said about using the word “dramatic” with a negative connotation).

starkd 4y ago
Even if the revisions are fairly innocuous in themselves, it is still altering history in a way that impedes future generations from an honest legitimate view of history. Imagine a world with a filtered awareness for history. It is a closing of the mind.
acdha 4y ago
Except it’s entirely voluntarily done by the owners themselves. Nobody forced them to do it, there hasn’t been an organized protest asking them to, it’s just a business making decisions about what they think will boost sales. Capitalists making independent business decisions is pretty far from 1984.
- op00to 4y ago
  Are corporations even mentioned in 1984?
kcplate 4y ago
The publishers could not care less about removing words due to the fact that they might be offensive in 2023. They are not losing any sales because of any specific words in these books. They are editing the books simply because it creates cheap publicity around the brand. This isn’t censorship, it’s a publicity stunt.

Invictus0 4y ago

Man, this comment. We literally have telescreens in our homes. We know that the NSA has monitored every bit of information we emit. We have AI generated propaganda. Algorithms that turn us against each other, that monitor the cameras on every corner. We even had people violently attempt to overturn our democratic elections! And you bleat that it's just a little prudery.

op00to 4y ago
I am just stunned that you equate A PRIVATE COMPANY doing whatever the hell they want with their own property to 1984. Do you also believe that one time you thought you saw a pig talk means we are headed towards an Animal Farm situation?

hyperhopper 4y ago

The point is more that it's reaching a point where true history is hidden/questionable/edited/rare/debated. It's not too the next step where totalitarianism comes into play. Especially when it gets to the point where having stepped over these boundaries in the past can lead to being targeted by the government / powerful corporations / employers. But it's 100% relevant to be bringing into the conversation.

jquery 4y ago
Tennessee just banned transition therapy for trans people and gave them a year to “detransition”. The owner of Twitter just replied “kek” to an outspoken segregationist. But sure, it’s capitalists trying to sell more pulp fiction that’s the biggest fascist threat in America right now.
- not_a_shill 4y ago
  Was the only non-fascist era in USA history 2015-2016 (Oberfell to Trump)? You could probably knock the years back to Obama if you want, but Prop 8 was in 2008 so it's hard to go earlier than that. NOI segregationists have existed for a long time in the post-segregation era.
- CoryAlexMartin 4y ago
  The Tennessee bill you’re referring to specifically prohibits children, not adults, from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapies and sex change operations.
  - sundaeofshock 4y ago
    It is a transphobic bill that blocks all age and medical appropriate gender affirming care for a person under 18. This includes totally reversible actions related to social transition including name changes and clothing choices. https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-condemns-tennessee-house-for-passing-discriminatory-anti-drag-bill-and-gender-affirming-care-ban-urges-governor-lee-to-veto https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-con...

throw0101c 4y ago

> This is much more like Victorian prudery and moral panics than some foreshadowing of a totalitarian state. Stop being overly dramatic. Why can't it be a foreshadowing of a totalitarian state of Victorian prudery?

jwestbury 4y ago

Exactly -- it's bowdlerisation, pure and simple. This is a behaviour that the left used to abhor, but they've finally found reason to adopt the behaviour themselves.

cyclecount 4y ago
Americans on the right seem incapable of seeing the difference between the dominant liberal institutions in power today, and "the left" which holds basically no power in the western world today.
defrost 4y ago
To be clear this is the attention seeking behaviour of capitalist publishers .. there are no "the left" involved here. They promote the changes, stoke the outrage via press releases, stir up support for "the originals" and make bank from two highly talked about simultaneous releases of the same old product. For context: Dahl’s publications are extremely lucrative. In 2021, his literary estate was bought by Netflix for £500m. So, despite the writer himself being more than three decades dead, his market share must not be allowed to diminish. [1] Absent any of this it'd just be just another release with zero fanfare or intereest. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/26/updating-roald-dahl-same-old-story-david-mitchell https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/26/updati...