" Uncle Tom's Cabin " would be BANNED IN BOSTON today

Mississippi school district removes To Kill a Mockingbird from curriculum 

Just a week ago I came across an old edition of " Uncle Tom's Cabin " and browsing it in the quaint antique store I could guess that this classic anti-slavery novel would be BANNED IN BOSTON schools today.
                            From  a book review of " Uncle Tom's Cabin "

 "  [ Such considerations did not occur to Harriet Beecher Stowe. Not only does she use language (for example, negro — and sometimes negress — with a small n) that was polite in her time but is not in ours, and not only do her characters, even some of the sympathetic ones, say nigger all too frequently, but Stowe in her role as narrator often takes time out to tell her readers what black people are like: They are home-loving rather than adventurous, for example; they have admirable but highly exotic taste in clothing and décor; and, of course, they generally have simple, childish hearts.. ] "


 

                 In general, the " identity politics " WAR ON WORDS has been ludicrous for decades now. It is truly Orwellian: the idea that by eliminating words , you can erase thoughts .

                 All of us may use insensitive words now and then. If a blue collar worker loses his job over racist language, will that make him less racist ( if he is indeed racist ) - if he can no longer feed his family ?

                 Real racism is characterized by implacable malice not random crude language.

  The same is true of anti-Semitism. The mainstream capitalist news media does seem to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. ( In his autobiography , " Uncle Tungsten " the famous scientist Oliver Sacks describes his family in the early days of World War II having unpleasant experiences with Zionist " bullies " ) .

                  And just WHO gets to decide the criteria for " hate speech " in oh-so- democratic America ? The " progressive " Hillary Democrats ?

                                       *****

 

                                   Oliver Sacks : " I came to hate Zionism.... "

 

[ I never heard [my parents] talk between themselves about Palestine or Zionism, and I suspected they had no strong convictions on the subject, at least until after the war, when the horror of the Holocaust made them feel there should be a “National Home.” I felt they were bullied by the organizers of these meetings, and by the gangsterlike evangelists who would pound at the front door and demand large sums for yeshivas or “schools in Israel.” My parents, clearheaded and independent in most other ways, seemed to become soft and helpless in the face of these demands, perhaps driven by a sense of obligation or anxiety. My own feelings […] were passionately negative: I came to hate Zionism and evangelism and politicking of every sort, which I regarded as noisy and intrusive and bullying. ]