Banning Shakespeare, AIBU to think

[FluffBalled]

it's about time isn't it?

All that transphobia, prejudice and antisemitic language - it is amazing schools have allowed this stuff to continue.

OP, taking something off Netflix is not the same as banning it.

You get that, right?

The pyramids can go built by slaves, the great wall of China built by slaves, Rome after all they had half of the world under slavery, any plantation houses left standing should be pulled down, any books written that are not PC now should be burned (hang on didn't Hitler already do that) The irish Catholic church should be dismantled after the scandal of how girls were treated in the laundries and mother and basby homes, and the catholic church did nothing as an orginisation to stop the holocaust, (individual priests and nuns yes the church as a whole no) just some examples where do you stop

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Ha ha, yes, Owen Jones. I wonder who else would sit on the “banning” committee?

One thing is for sure. There will be no diversity of political opinions on those compiling the list of 'problematic' statuary. Priti Patel and Shaun Bailey won't be included.

If the creator of the art doesn't mind the removal and/or editing of the art, I think this makes a big difference.

I agree. I wasn't aware of Cleese's involvement, thank you.

More broadly I think this recent trend towards trying to ensure against offence in general is a very bad idea.

Not (as so bat-shittily put above) because of white fragility or any tolerence of racism, but for the opposite reason: censorship always benefits those in power in the end. In the long term, the best environment for positive change and the best defense for powerless minorities is freedom of expression.

The cost of those rights is having to deal with the fact that fuckwits will also have the right to speak, so stuff like Little Britain will still exist, but I think it's a cost worth paying.

Thanks, I'll be sure to do that

The Potter books could just be assigned a new author (one of the right sort of agreeable women perhaps) but then the religious lot will still be unhappy about all the blasphemy so best we just burn the lot.

Yes clearly people who maybe object to the N Word in a famous fawlty towers scene also want Shakespeare banned

Am I in the right thread for the book burning?

TheEmpressMatilda I'll be sure to do that

How can a thread on Shakespeare, banning, and appropriateness get this far without a single mention of Bowdler and his slaughtering of the Bard ?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bowdler

plus ca change, I guess ...

You can not re write history.

I don't think Southern plantations should be pulled down. I certainly think they should be converted into genocide memorials and not be a place where white people have parties and get married.

Most people are not calling for banning or destruction of anything, it's about putting all these things into context.

We should ban all art, literature, film and television from the past and in the future only have edutainment that has been created by committee. The committee will, of course, need to be carefully vetted and their Twitter history forensically scrutinised to make sure they have never been guilty of wrongthink.

Surely at this point we need to ban any play/film/tv programme with a woman in it?

Ah, but to do that you’d have to define what a woman is, and there’s no inoffensive way to do that.

‘Adult human female’ is bigoted hate speak. And don’t even think about bringing menstruation into it

Anything that referencing woman or women such as Little Women should go we don't need children being forced fed transphobic ideas. Texts like that could be re edited to read Little Menstruators I suppose.

Don't be ridiculous, it should be "Little Men" - the subtext must remain inclusive so some pronouns will need adjusted throughout.

Perhaps we are both wrong and it should be Little Nonmen?

I think with the high profile change of Fawlty Towers due to racist language; people are (fair enough) thinking that this is about that; rather than the JK Rowling situation.

You know argument has failed when someone descends to calling people Nazis. So the newspeak dictionary definition of Nazi will include “those who engage in discussion about whether it is necessary to ban the television programme Fawlty Towers”.

I get what you're trying to say OP.

The cost of those rights is having to deal with the fact that fuckwits will also have the right to speak, so stuff like Little Britain will still exist, but I think it's a cost worth paying.

But you are not paying that cost (assuming you are white, apologies if I'm wrong)

In essence, we are saying that any minority group has to put up with an enormous amount of racist speech and culture that white people simply don't have to deal with.

I don't think it's as straightforward as saying free expression is the best protection for minority groups. Free expression also directly leads to physical and mental harm being inflicted upon minority populations.

Look at Trump's America -- concentration camps for migrant children, an enormous spike in hate crimes and white nationalist terrorism. Free expression has not stopped any of this.

In Germany, it is forbidden for people to share Nazi propaganda or display symbols. Is this a bad thing? After all, it's censorship!
And yet, support for German neo-Nazi and far-right political parties is among the lowest in Europe. That is not a coincidence.

I don't see a problem with a country sifting through its culture and having a conversation about whether some things should be put away or put in context. Times change and we don't have to celebrate the same things forever.

Policing our language, culture and history is the common theme. The far left BLM movement has much in common with the the TRAs. The BLM movement is no more about racial equality than the TRA extremists are about gaining rights for the real Trans population. Both have been taken over by extremists with their own nefarious agendas. Taking the mickey is fair game imo.

@YouTheCat

Am I in the right thread for the book burning?

....I've told you once.

@theonlywayisapple

Well for things to be consistent, he should be banned

Consistency is key.