The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

What kind of stuff did they change?

[Sheilbh]

Some examples. George's Marvellous Medicine (honestly the thing I find weirdest here is adding a dedication ):


James and the Giant Peach:


Esio Trot (strikingly middle-aged women can't be attractive, only kind ):

[Admiral Yi]

 

[Valmy]

Those are very weird changes. I thought we were talking like removing all the N-words from Tom Sawyer or something, not doing strange things like editing out the word 'Bedouin'. I mean even https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedouin says "The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia."

Granted I am not an Arab so I don't know if saying somebody is a member of a Bedouin Tribe is somehow insensitive. That seems kind of odd.

I guess don't call high body fat percentage having people fat either. Fair enough I guess. Still not exactly very scandalous language being removed.

[Sheilbh]

No.

Dahl's work had racism in it - and he was a really unpleasant man (so the dedication to "all doctors" seems almost misleading) - but it was removed earlier and without controversy. This wasn't a D&I reader but a sensitivity reader.

Strikes me that some of them are the opposite of what people are taught about writing so they've removed precise detail and replaced it with vague description

[Grey Fox]

Are these books for children?

All look like sensible changes to books that are aimed at children if you want them to stay relevant and teach the contemporary values of our time.

[Valmy]

Are these books for children?

All look like sensible changes to books that are aimed at children if you want them to stay relevant and teach the contemporary values of our time.

There are a few changes in there I get. I don't really think they are necessary but I get it. Others seem just bizarre and nonsensical to me.

However, I think you probably need to make much more drastic changes than that to make these decades old books teach the contemporary values of our time. Granted they were very odd and whimsical and old fashioned seeming even when they were written, which was part of their charm,

[Sheilbh]

Yeah - Dahl is not a writer I'd give to kids for moral instruction. It's lots of gross humour and rudeness about awful adults, but real emotional heft.

I think for me - and I was a big fan as a kid - they're more books to spark an interest in reading than any didactic purpose (though it feels like everything needs to be didactic lately ).

[celedhring]

Dahl was one of my favorite readings as a child. The dark bits (i.e. the deaths of all the naughty children in Willy Wonka) and bluntness/nastiness of the prose made his work so much different to most of the stuff you're given at the time.

One thing I'm sure of is that Dahl would hate this changes with the passion of one thousand suns. I think that's when you should stop, and if you're uncomfortable about some passages just do your leg work as parent/educator and give context to your child.

[Maladict]

Yeah, kids love Dahl for his irreverence, it needs to be a little rough around the edges. This seems rather absurd, almost like a publicity stunt.

[The Brain]

It would make sense for copyright to lapse much quicker than it does, for several reasons. It gets weird when you can make official changes to books many decades after both their creation and the death of the author.

In this specific case the changes are often very weird and poorly written. The added dedication is just bizarre, unless it's explicitly said it's the publisher's/whoever's dedication and not the author's.

FWIW my impression is that modern children actually can process a world of queer and North Africans. They don't have to be protected from these "dangers".

Yeah, publicity stunt sounds plausible.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Netflix has acquired the company which has the rights to the Roald Dahl oeuvre :

https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-acquires-iconic-roald-dahl-story-company

They are planning to "bring these timeless tales to more audiences in new formats" 

The stories need to become anodyne as the "new formats" will introduce Dahl's world to various people who find it very easy to take offence.

[garbon]

I don't think I've previously received spam where the sender wanted to enlist me in their crime.

I am Sergeant Raymond Williams, who is presently serving with the U.S Army unit in Al-Tanf, Syria. I am contacting you for an urgent transaction of $5.8 Million United States Dollars. I am soliciting your cooperation to help me receive the funds packaged in a box through a diplomatic agent. I will compensate you with 40% of the funds for your assistance. Kindly get back to me as soon as possible for more details

I appreciate the fact that we are strangers for now but knowing that all relationships start as strangers to friendship when there is trust and sincerity, please note
that trust is very essential in all dealings.What I am about to share with you is a top secret which you are not expected to tell anyone, for my own sake. I have limited time to be on the internet due to my present location. I am presently in a remote village which makes it difficult for me to always have access to the Internet; my troops found a huge amount of money in containers worth Millions of U.S dollars. The money was hidden in a warehouse searched by my troop. It was believed that the stash cash in containers were left by the fleeing Afghan drug cartel, though my commanding officer did not declare the funds to the Al-Tanf, Syria. government which we agreed to keep and share among ourselves,

I was able to secure $5.8 Million U.S dollars as my share.I want to entrust these funds to you until I am out of our station here in Al-Tanf, Syria. My wife would have taken responsibility for this but I lost her to cancer about three years ago. I want to have a very peaceful retirement,maybe get married again. I will reward you with 40% of the funds for your assistance and confidentiality between us and I can as well invest in any lucrative business you may advise under your care. All I want is the safety of the funds with you till I come over. I have packaged the funds in a box believing I would leave Al-Tanf, Syria this month before I was chosen by NATO to remain here till the end of March 2023,  to take part in the NATO training & support mission of Al-Tanf, Syria. soldiers and intelligence units. I need you to help me receive the box that contains the funds and keep it in your custody pending when I will leave Al-Tanf, Syria.

A United Nations shuttle flight departs from Al-Tanf, Syria airport once a week. So, if you are willing to help me secure the funds till I am out here, I will make the necessary arrangements to get the consignment delivered to you through a United Nations Diplomatic Agent. I will make all the necessary arrangements on how the box will be delivered to you. All I want from you is your maximum cooperation, and assurance that my own share of the funds will be safe with you.

The diplomat will be leaving Al-Tanf, Syria. very soon. So, if you agree to help me receive the box, then I will finalize arrangements with the diplomat and get back to you. I will give him your contact information that you shall be providing me to enable him to contact you immediately on his arrival. So,I want you to provide me with your information as listed below;

Your full name:Your Address:
Your phone number:

CONFIDENTIALITY;
 
Note that the diplomat will not be aware of the real content of the box as money for security reasons; please you must maintain this status. I will inform the diplomat that the box contains my personal effects that I want to get across to you, my friend. My confidence and trust in you should not be betrayed. So, I would need your absolute honesty. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance.

[The Brain]

What I am about to share with you is a top secret which you are not expected to tell anyone

FFS garbon.

[garbon]

What I am about to share with you is a top secret which you are not expected to tell anyone

FFS garbon.

Do the unexpected!