In 2023, we talk to adults as if they were children. “Gna gna gna, gna gna gna”.
And we talk to children as if they were fragile little things. “Gna gna gna, gna gna gna”.
It has come to pass that even children’s books have to be purged, rewritten, so as not to hurt their little eyes, hurt their little ears, offend their little minds.
We learned this week that the books of British author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, etc.) had been rewritten without ugly words like “fat”, “man”, “black”. Help !
THE WORLD IS MADE “WEIRD”
The AFP dispatch made me scream: “Terms deemed offensive will be redacted and replaced in reissues of several of Roald Dahl’s books. References to weight, mental health, violence, or racial or gender issues will be removed from reissues of the author’s various works.
Died in 1990, Roald Dahl sold his books to 300 million copies, and generations of children have developed their imagination by reading his books.
Do you remember the character of Augustus Gloop? The gluttonous child spends his time eating sweets and falls into a river of chocolate in the fabulous film Charlie and the chocolate factory — whether you like the 1971 one with Gene Wilder or the 2005 Tim Burton one with Johnny Depp — based on Roald Dahl’s book.
This child was clearly fat. In his book, Roald Dahl described him as big (fat, in English). But the little priests of well-meaning are afraid that it will hurt the little children of 2023. The word “fat” has been removed from ALL of Dahl’s books.
But that’s not the only absurd change. The Oompa-Loompas are no longer “little men”, but “little people”. Misery, these imaginary beings are now genderless?
The most ridiculous change, in my opinion, was made in the book holy witches. A sentence was added about the wigs worn by witches: “There are many other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that”.
Above all, the fragile little children of 2023 should not associate wearing a wig with being a witch! It would be a way to stigmatize witches!
And in all the books, we replaced the word “crazy” with “strange”.
All because Dahl’s heirs called on sensitivity readers“sensitivity readers” who rummage through books to flush out the slightest word that could shock, hurt, offend.
It is not by removing the word “fat” from a book that we will prevent overweight children from being laughed at in the schoolyard. It is not by removing the word “fat” that we will make the obesity pandemic among young people disappear.
All we do is overprotect children and underestimate their intelligence.
WE HAD A NARROW ESCAPE
The only good news in this whole file is that Gallimard, the French publisher of Roald Dahl’s books, has confirmed that he will leave his books intact, without rewriting them.
It made me breathe a BIG sigh of relief.