Ian Fleming Bond Books To Be Rewritten By "Sensitivity Readers"

[AndyDursin]

First Roald Dahl now this...truly the age of stupid we are living in.

And sure, some of the "attitudes and words" WERE racist and dated, and surely reflect the times -- but why censor those times? People are smart enough to understand the culture of the era, let them figure it out and make their own judgment. In promoting censorship like this, they are rewriting the past to make it align with the present, as if this time period is the only one worth valuing. It's insane.

https://deadline.com/2023/02/james-bond ... 235271892/

[Monterey Jack]

I half wonder if this isn't some nefarious scheme to goad people into snapping up hard copies of the "unaltered" books, same with Dahl. Is Blofeld behind this...?

And sure, some of the "attitudes and words" WERE racist and dated, and surely reflect the times -- but why censor those times? People are smart enough to understand the culture of the era, let them figure it out and make their own judgment. In promoting censorship like this, they are rewriting the past to make it align with the present, as if this time period is the only one worth valuing. It's insane.

We're truly living in the era of Fahrenheit 451. SInister doesn't begin to cover it. Movies and books from prior to...uhhhh, 2015 getting altered or supressed just to appease some purple-haired 25-year-olds on Twitter who are "outraged" if someone sneezes.

[Paul MacLean]

And sure, some of the "attitudes and words" WERE racist and dated, and surely reflect the times -- but why censor those times? People are smart enough to understand the culture of the era, let them figure it out and make their own judgment.

And doesn't this circumvent the aims of things like the "1699 Project", whose aim is to inform people of how awful and racist white people were (and are)?

Who is going to believe in the history of white racism when everything has been sanitized and rendered inoffensive? "How was James Bond racist? He seems like a really nice guy in the books!", "How is Hans Christian Anderson racist? The Little Mermaid is black -- I know, I saw the movie!"

[mkaroly]

Sounds like Daniel Craig had something to do with this...lol...

Frankly, I am surprised it took them this long. I have the Fleming novels in their original form, unedited. I guess those will be collector items sooner than later. I expect LIVE AND LET DIE to get heavy editing...probably YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE as well.

This project completely crosses a line for me...I hope in a generation or two from now people will look at all this nonsense and laugh hysterically at how stupid these organizations were. And maybe 100 years from now the books will be re-released in their original forms as some sort of 'major historical discovery' thing. I will be long gone by then and won't care...lol...

[Paul MacLean]

I hope in a generation or two from now people will look at all this nonsense and laugh hysterically at how stupid these organizations were.

Either that, of there won't be anything to look back-on, because the originals will have been criminalized, or destroyed altogether -- and that's what chills my blood.

Censorship isn't anything new of course -- remember the old jokes about "books banned in Boston"? But that was a local decency law. This is a case of the publishers themselves making these changes (as it was with the Doctor Seuss books a couple of years ago).

[Monterey Jack]

Either that, or there won't be anything to look back-on, because the originals will have been criminalized, or destroyed altogether -- and that's what chills my blood.

"What does the book tell you that we don't already know?"

"It tells me...that goose-stepping morons like yourself...should try reading books instead of BURNING them!"

[mkaroly]

I hope in a generation or two from now people will look at all this nonsense and laugh hysterically at how stupid these organizations were.

Either that, of there won't be anything to look back-on, because the originals will have been criminalized, or destroyed altogether -- and that's what chills my blood.

Censorship isn't anything new of course -- remember the old jokes about "books banned in Boston"? But that was a local decency law. This is a case of the publishers themselves making these changes (as it was with the Doctor Seuss books a couple of years ago).

Good points. As MJ alluded to above...Fahrenheit 451 it is then. Might be time to build some defense systems around my books!

I had no idea the Dr. Seuss books underwent changes from a censor...yikes!

[Monterey Jack]

Books, movies, music...anything you treasure (or even just like well enough) from prior to roughly 2015 you should start stockpiling physical media copies of RIGHT. NOW.

[Eric W.]

Deranged.

[Eric Paddon]

I'll say it again. I want to live long enough to see THIS era of worthless woke popular culture have disclaimers slapped over them for their bigotry and totalitarian mindsets.

[Monterey Jack]

I'll say it again. I want to live long enough to see THIS era of worthless woke popular culture have disclaimers slapped over them for their bigotry and totalitarian mindsets.

It WILL come to an end, and sooner rather than later, considering the dwindling box office takes for aggressively "progressive" crap like Lightyear and Strange World, and the huge takes for movies that refuse to alienate large swaths of the moviegoing public by simply being FUN MOVIES, like Top Gun: Maverick and Minions 2. If The Little Mermaid tanks, It'll be another nail in the coffin.

[Monterey Jack]

[John Johnson]

[AndyDursin]

Here it comes -- movies will be next.

[Monterey Jack]

Thirty years ago, in a silly sci-fi movie like Demolition Man, the idea of a society so strenuously puritanical and politically-correct that cops were no longer allowed to carry guns, people no longer had sex and they would get fined if they broke the "Verbal Morality Code" was in the vein of lite "It could never get this bad, right?" satire. Now it's a terrifying reality.