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Original poster

to censor DD's books by ripping inappropriate pages out?!

84 replies

morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:04

Not the ones with people copulating, like in my biology textbooks of yore.

We have a children's compendium (very new) which contains the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

Surely this is just a racist stereotype with possibly worrying racist undertones?

Am I being over-sensitive or should I snip-snip-snip?

OP posts:
Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:28

Hmmm

I don't get the cult of not-destroying books

actually I am going to remove it

I am not convinced that it is not a story with ghastly racist undertones and I don't want her using the expression

OP posts:
janeite · 01/10/2009 19:28

doWn

Winebeforepearls · 01/10/2009 19:30

I really think that sort of thing does go wooshing over their heads. I remember thinking having a tar baby would be quite cool. Didn't cross my mind that it might refer to my black friends at school.

We use a fairytale book from the seventies - the stories are quite disturbing by today's standards, but the dds love it more than anything, especially when Jack the Giant Killer stabs the giant in the head .

Morloth · 01/10/2009 19:32

I can't explain it MoonlightMcKenzie it is just wrong.

Writing things down is part of what makes us not animals.

What is different about morningpaper ripping out the bits she doesn't like and a white supremacist burning the ones they don't?

Just wrong. For me the world is firmly divided between those who would destroy a book (or part of it) and those who wouldn't.

Winebeforepearls · 01/10/2009 19:32

I think cutting a few pages out isn't quite on a par with burning the libraries of Alexandria or Leipzig, but who knows what it might lead you to, MP

hannahsaunt · 01/10/2009 19:34

Another one who thought that it was a baby made of tar. Definite case of over-thinking. Children take things at face value - my boys love secret seven and famous five but have never translated it to real life - it's just another story as real as Harry Potter or Doctor Who (now those are books you never want to be landed with reading to them).

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:34

Yes I think this is more like finding a chapter from 'Riders' in the middle of 'Stories for Six Year Olds'

It just seems inappropriate

OP posts:
Fruitbeard · 01/10/2009 19:35

Isn't it just a baby made out of tar??

pointydoug · 01/10/2009 19:36

Are you joking? Are you joking, mp?

Why do you have all these books in your house if you dislike them so much?

pointydoug · 01/10/2009 19:36

Are you still feeling poorly?

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:38

It is actually more the illustrations that I don't like - they show a fat, black baby

I've read versions of this with a baby that looks like it's made from playdough or something

but this just looks like a little baby in a classic 1940's exagerated african-american style

I think that is what I dislike

OP posts:
LilRedWG · 01/10/2009 19:44

I think you are a little hypoxic from your cough MP, as you are indeed insane - you should never, ever, deface a book.

She will probably read nothing into it and if she does it is an ideal time to have a chat with her about appropriate language and terminology and how upsetting such words are to people, how times have changed etc etc.

Seriously, I read all of the Brer Rabbit books and really do not think they have affected my views as an adult. Your DD may suprise you by telling you that they words are not nice.

LilRedWG · 01/10/2009 19:44

As for the illustrations, she probably just think the same as I used to - rubbish drawing, that's not what people look like.

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:46

Have hunted on google images but all the pictures of the story show a 'tar baby' - this version just has illustrations showing a little black child

Little Black Sambo was brought by an eldery relative who squawked "the children will love this little coloured boy!" and I quickly binned them

I hate them really because I have elderly relatives who refer to all black men as Sambo

Well they refer to al coloured men as Sambo actually

Sorry but I'd Just Rather Not

OP posts:
JackBauer · 01/10/2009 19:46

If it's the pictures then that's different, but there is something in me that is horrified at ripping out pages, not because of 'ooh, it's a precious book' but the censorship thing.
Removing it until she is old enough to understand that it is a story and has nasty underlying 'hidden issues' is good. I think overprotection is worse than explaining things as and when you wish IYSWIM.

PVish · 01/10/2009 19:46

i read brer rabbit as a kid
loved it
had NO IDEA of racial things
you are overthinking

MoonlightMcKenzie · 01/10/2009 19:46

LOL, so can I scribble all over my SEN code of practice in red ink?

Original poster
morningpaper · 01/10/2009 19:47

you should never, ever, deface a book

This is MUCH MORE MAD than my worries about racist steotypes

Sometimes I scribble in margins

OP posts:
NellyNoNorks · 01/10/2009 19:47

LOLOLOL.

My dad snipped the cover off a 'Dracula' book when my sister and I were children (there was a nice hole where the Dracula picture would have been - the cover was otherwise intact).

My Granny used to pass her magazines on to us. She always tore out the problem page in case my sister and I were exposed to anything 'unsuitable'. I am still sniggering about it now.

I'd go with the fat black baby myself. Your child will probably not become racist (and will probably not even notice it).

I have probably had too much wine, but I do think this is quite funny.

PVish · 01/10/2009 19:48

no MP oyu write in code in the mills and boon libary books so eveyr one with a line onpage 48 under hte last word you haev read....!

LilRedWG · 01/10/2009 19:48

I know it's crazy MP, but I think I had it drummed into me as a sprog. To be fair, I will happily scribble pencil notes in books but can't bear to cut or rip one.

Weird, me?

NellyNoNorks · 01/10/2009 19:49

BTW I'm not a purist about books, despite having a PhD in literature and owning thousands of the buggers. If I were a purist about books, I wouldn't have let my toddlers eat them.

IWantAChickAndADuck · 01/10/2009 19:49

is it actually racist(sorry if I'm being dumb!)?

It's a doll made out of tar so he gets stuck...

I don't understand

(again, sorry if I'm being dumb)

tvaerialmagpiebin · 01/10/2009 19:53

From St Wiki of Pedia:

"Although the term's provenance arose in African folklore, some Americans now consider "tar baby" to have negative connotations revolving around negative images of African-Americans. In recent years, several politicians who have publicly used the term have encountered some controversy, mocking, and censure from African-American civil rights leaders, members of the popular daily media, and other politicians.

In an interview, Toni Morrison said the following of its use in her book, in an acting of reclaiming: "Tar Baby is also a name, like 'nigger,' that white people call black children, black girls, as I recall?. At one time, a tar pit was a holy place, at least an important place, because tar was used to build things?. It held together things like Moses' little boat and the pyramids. For me, the tar baby came to mean the black woman who can hold things together"

barbarianoftheuniverse · 01/10/2009 19:54

I never saw that story as racist. I am not sure it is. The original Uncle Remus stories from which it derives were folk tales told by black Southern American slaves to their children.