[ebooktalk] Re: George Orwell
- From: "Alan Russell" <al.russell12@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 11:33:02 +0100
Hi, I think this is a really interesting subject. The trouble with political
correctness is that it has a tendency to blur things unnecessarily, and also
that it rests on the assumption that current thinking is always right. In
addition there seems to be a growing view that there is such a thing as a
right not to be offended. I completely disagree with this. Alan.
-----Original Message-----
From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Ian Macrae
Sent: 29 April 2013 13:37
To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: George Orwell
Your comment, Shell reminds me of when I worked in one of the more
interesting areas of the Beeb away from programme making. I spent some time
investigating and responding to viewers' and listeners' complaints. When
back episodes of Only fools and Horses were repeated, they would trigger a
raft of complaints. In particular, there was one in which Uncle Albert
referred to the local Asian shop keeper as "Paki". Unsurprisingly numbers
of Asian viewers complained. When I went to the programme makers as part of
my investigation, the writer John Sultan would say, a) that the programme
was of its time when such usage was more common and a good deal less frowned
upon and b) that it was also authentically the language which the character
Uncle Albert would have used. I have to say I upheld the complaint on the
grounds of the offence it caused. Bringing this back to books, I wonder how
people, including the author, would react to the Richard Alan books like
Skinhead now. After all, if you write a book which sets out to show the
brutality of a particular lifestyle, can you legitimately avoid using the
sort of language he used, including racist terms which were so much apart of
the Skinhead belief?
On 29 Apr 2013, at 13:11, Shell wrote:
Hi Steve,
It is quite shocking the amount of racism in early novels. I know
that with some books and tv series, they have debated taking some of it out,
but I don't agree with that. It should stand as historical interest. I am
glad we live in more enlightened times and that my town, in particular is
very multi-cultural.
Shell.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Steven Bingham" <steven.bingham1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 12:04 PM
To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: George Orwell
> Having recently read a few books set in the 1930s I would
certainly agree
> that attitudes and opinions, at least on the surface, have
drastically
> changed in regard to foreigners and ethnic groups. In one book
attitudes
> very disparaging to Jews were expressed even by police officers
and terms
> such as dago and fuzzy-wuzzy were quite openly used. In fact, I
have hear my
> mother say and read in an autobiography that as children they were
told that
> if they saw a black man they should run away. You wouldn't stop
running now
> particularly in the area of Brent were my mother was brought up.
There was
> still very much a feeling that the British were best. Of course,
we still
> had the empire at the time.
>
> Although political correctness now means that you would/should
never hear a
> police officer or any official saying anything disparaging about
Jewish
> people or ethnic minorities I do wonder how many of us still hold
the 1930s
> views. I am certain that many older people have difficulty in
coming to
> terms with our multi-ethnic Britain.
>
> I have recently finished training with a new guide dog and one
aspect item
> in his training had to be changed. He had been trained to find the
controls
> for pedestrian crossing by being told to find the pole. Reading
has a very
> large Pollish community particularly around the Oxford Road area
which I
> have to cross regularly. I have changed his word to "find the
post."
>
> Sorry for the off topicness but it illustrates what you have to be
careful
> about.
>
> Steve
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Pele West
> Sent: 29 April 2013 09:02
> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: George Orwell
>
> Hi Ian
>
> I am not sure I reached any satisfactory conclusions from the
comparrison of
> the 1930s and now. Leaving aside the political angle, which I
don't feel
> learned enough to comment on, the most striking differences were
working and
> living conditions and the attitude to women and what is now called
political
> correctness.
>
> Orwell talks a lot about coalmining and its importance, which has
changed,
> of course.
>
> I really laughed when Orwell wrote about how anyone a little
different
> (cranky) would most likely be a socialist:
>
> "One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words 'Socialism'
and
> 'Communism' draw towards them with magnetic force every
fruit-juice drinker,
> nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, 'Nature Cure'
> quack, pacifist and feminist in England."
>
> He then goes on to talk about a brochure for a summer school in
which they
> ask him to state if he is a vegetarian.
> Dietary considerations are the normal thing now, if one goes to a
> conference.
>
> I apologise if you think this is a rather shallow comparrison, but
I would
> need to give a lot of time that I have not got at the moment to
write an
> essay on then and now.
>
> Pele
>
>
>
>
>
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