This is news how? Plenty (most?) books "of a certain age" are full of colonialist stereotypes, because that was the times.

Heck, lately I've been watching "The Wild Wild West" TV show (the original one) and half the episodes are just cringeworthy in that regard - and it was made in the 60's. Gotta love the heavy 60's makeup on supposedly 1890's characters, particularly the women...

wingedkat: I'd support an annotated version, I suppose. Editing the books outright just doesn't sit well with me... right or wrong, that is the way they were written.

Agreed. Add footnotes, if the reader can't supply some common sense. Otherwise, just read more modern stuff.

There's a bunch of problems with books from the 40s and 50s, and most of them are much worse than anything in Pippi Longstocking. In the Hardy Boys, it's a racial stereotypes extravaganza, and nearly every villain is "swarthy". (I won't even get into the gender stereotyping - women be baking pies! That's what ladies are for! I mocked this relentlessly even when I was young, so it must have been really obvious.)

Enid Blyton books, which I did enjoy as a child, are pretty bad too; the villains are always "coarse" foreigners, with the addition of old-fashioned British classism to the currents of xenophobia and sexism. There have to be better books to offer 21st century kids.

Pippi Longstocking is one for the ages, though. She's immensely enjoyable. I'd favour footnoting it or explaining the objectionable passages, which seem like they must be mainly in Pippi in the South Seas. But no childhood is complete without my girl Pippi.

I don't believe in editing original or classic works; books or films. If you find it offensive, don't read it. These stories were all acceptable when they were written and published.
I wonder if the gal in tfa found it offensive before her daughter had a child with a black man?
Probably not.

FTFA - "The black children throw themselves into the sand in front of the white children in the book," she said. "When reading the book to my nephew, who is black, I simply left that passage out."


So...why can't others take the same route? Oh, THAT's right, you are a leader, we NEEEEED you to legislate the reading of children's books....well, that settles that...STFU

"The black children throw themselves into the sand in front of the white children in the book,"

Arabs?

AbbeySomeone: I don't believe in editing original or classic works; books or films. If you find it offensive, don't read it. These stories were all acceptable when they were written and published.
I wonder if the gal in tfa found it offensive before her daughter had a child with a black man?
Probably not.

I'm in favor of the "explain/understand the attitude at the time" approach. Merely refusing to read books with racist themes doesn't make racism go away, and insofar as books reflect the times they are written in, you're missing out on a history lesson. You could also be missing out on an otherwise fun story.

/read a lot of Tintin books as a child.

When on a St. Patrick's day a black person called me a ginger I pointed out it was an anagram.

This is stupid.

Here's a newsflash - the world was different back then. Bugs Bunny cartoons were racist by today's standards along with almost everything else. Was watching old Popeye cartoons a few months ago and in almost every episode, Bluto tries to date rape Olive. I never noticed how messed up that cartoon was when I was a kid. It was simply entertainment. Times are much different now as we try to become more socially evolved, or at least more sensitive to others.

/I always thought Pippi was creepy.

"It is not that the figure of Pippi Longstocking is racist, but that all three in the trilogy of books have colonial racist stereotypes,"

Like pretty much everything written before the latter 20th century. Just explain to the kids as best you can and move on with life.

Ban then Burn all Pippi Longstocking books.....because potato.

This is why kids don't know the Uncle Remus and the Sambo.

/TAR BABY. Good life lesson.

Oh please everyone knows Pippi is fictional, I mean, who really believes Gingers are human?
/It's ok, my best friend is ginger.
//I have G-word privileges.

Thread hijack. Sexy Redhead thread.

bobbette:
There's a bunch of problems with books from the 40s and 50s, and most of them are much worse than anything in Pippi Longstocking. In the Hardy Boys, it's a racial stereotypes extravaganza, and nearly every villain is "swarthy". (I won't even get into the gender stereotyping - women be baking pies! That's what ladies are for! I mocked this relentlessly even when I was young, so it must have been really obvious.)

Yeah I remember that, these stereotypical "negroes" popping up from time to time, talking in a ridiculous accent that made them barely readable. I think I was just like "huh, old books are racist"... teaching moment. (Also, the world's stupidest criminals.)

Tintin has a lot of problems, but in its defense, Tintin and the Captain never met an oppressed person they wouldn't help out, regardless of colour or creed. As a kid, that spoke louder to me than some balloon-lipped drawings did. Heck, Tintin's boyfriend* Chang was Chinese, what does that say?

* don't tell me you didn't think it.

I was going to post something snarky, but this item on the sidebar caught my eye:



You're welcome.

You want racist? Try "Beau Geste." The description of the Jewish pawnbroker is mindboggling.

Parthenogenetic: I was going to post something snarky, but this item on the sidebar caught my eye:

[www.thelocal.de image 600x849]

You're welcome.

Thanks. That's the whole reason I came to this thread; I wanted to make sure that article was pointed out.

Twain.

/and then there's this passage from Struwwelpeter, a German children's book!
Link (new window)

brimnac: Parthenogenetic: I was going to post something snarky, but this item on the sidebar caught my eye:

[www.thelocal.de image 600x849]

You're welcome.

Thanks. That's the whole reason I came to this thread; I wanted to make sure that article was pointed out.

Yeah, me too! I particularly enjoyed the one with the dental dummy.

In other news, people still read Pippi Longstocking. With all the other books out there...why?

If no one anywhere gets butthurt over something in the book you're reading, it's probably not worth reading.

bobbette: There have to be better books to offer 21st century kids.

Sure there are. I only give my kids modern books based on recent, socially aware TV shows. My particular favorite is my daughter's "Snooki's Day at the Shore" coloring book.

\out of orange crayons AGAIN

doglover: Hitler is still the most famous guy in the world

Google Justin Bieber.... 86,400,000 results
Adolph Hitler .... 5,820,000

// Why do I feel ill now
/ oh right, I just googled Justin Bieber

doglover: Dear German Guy,

Don't throw stones in glass houses. Hitler is still the most famous guy in the world. Might wanna let that cool down a few more centuries before you start pointing out racism was endemic a few generations ago.

Personally, I find it refreshing. Even kids should understand the pendulum swings back and forth. Progress as assured is an illusion of the foolish. It's best to know the past unadulterated and draw your own conclusions than be sheltered from reality and one day realize your idols have feet of clay.

1) The person the article is about is a woman.
2) Her point was that changing or foot-noting to help parents explain the questionable sections would allow parents of non-white, non-Euro kids to share these stories with their children without filling their heads with notions of European superiority.
3) Throwing the conservative, Catholic, Hitler in the face of a liberal, female, Protestant minister from a mixed race family speaking at an anti-discrimination conference is pretty farking laughable. I suspect she knows a wweeee little bit more about how terrible Hitler was than insufferable, snotty, self-righteous Yanks like you, friend. Quit making the rest of us look bad.
4) I doubt most parents consider pre-bed story time for 6-year-olds the proper place and time for a detailed exegesis on colonial attitudes in pre-War children' literature.

Ablejack: Twain.

/and then there's this passage from Struwwelpeter, a German children's book!
Link (new window)

Twain's books certainly included racism, but then again, one of his major reasons for writing was to satirize and condemn the racism that plagued the southern society he grew up in. This is why his books are often taught in middle or high school these days, where teachers can be reasonably expected to explain the issues and their context.

Can we still give the kids a bible ?

// Got a bible I annotated, Ill give it to my kids when they are old enough to read that particular snuff novel

stuhayes2010: Thread hijack. Sexy Redhead thread.


[forums.pelicanparts.com image 550x366]

...I just forgot what I was going to post...something about racist books...I'm sure it was witty and insightful.

451.

The Cat in the Hat is racist propoganda too if taken out of context. Somehow. Maybe if it's read backwards at 72rpm?

I remember being read Little Black Sambo as a child. And have you ever seen the Nutcracker? The real one, not the Barbie version. The Chinese dance is one big stereotype. Also Anything Goes - the musical that is a favorite of high school drama departments? Huge Chinese stereotypes.

/wasn't always a tiger being caught by the toe

bidness: White children should grow up feeling bad about being born as privileged oppressors.

bidness: White children should grow up feeling bad about being born as privileged oppressors.

You sound oppressed

"The Merchant Of Venice" is very anti Semitic, maybe we should ban that.

So basically -- add footnotes to classic literature that may contain racist stereotypes so that parents are aware and able to handle that section as they see fit and allowing these books to continue to be enjoyed today.

I see nothing wrong with the idea.

Actually, what's interesting is that adding footnotes instead of changing the text will also allow kids to see how society's views have changed over the years. I think that in itself could be an interesting lesson for them.

The time has come for me to bring this out in the open.

Pippi Longstocking sexually harassed me.

I had to read uncle remus and sambo as a child.
I knew it was racist as a kid.
You can't fool kids.

The germans, however, were fooled once.

Don't like a book? Don't read it.
Try to censor it and you're just as bad as any facist.