To the surprise of no one, an uncensored, unvandalized collection of Roald Dahl’s seminal works sits at number two on the Amazon sales chart for “Children’s Fantasy and Magic Books.”
Number one is the Harry Potter Collection.
The Roald Dahl Collection is selling for around $69.99, and the most remarkable thing is that it’s no longer available through Amazon. Although you have to purchase the collection through third-party Amazon sellers, it is still number two.
This collection of 16 children’s books includes Dahl’s most famous titles, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, James and The Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, and The Witches.
On the overall sales chart of all books, the Dahl collection is number 49.
While Dahl’s timeless and enchanting stories have always been big sellers, this jump in interest is undoubtedly due to the obscene news that Dahl’s titles are going through a “sensitivity” rewrite at the hands of book-burning fascists:
In any event, Puffin, an imprint of German-owned Penguin Random House, has not taken aim at inappropriate political commentary or certain once-normal words now considered racially insensitive in Dahl’s books; it has taken an axe — or grafting tools — to passages whose only crime is not actively promoting a feminist agenda or suggesting that obesity may not be a positive trait, among other high crimes.
One passage from The Witches reading “Even if she is working as a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman” is contorted into “Even if she is working as a top scientist or running a business” — with the real world existence of female cashiers and secretaries with male bosses apparently being considered beyond the pale.
The fact that the publisher is “German-owned” is kinda perfect.
This is third-world stuff. This is the kind of behavior we expect from the Taliban, from fascists like Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini — not from what is supposed to be an enlightened member of Western Civilization.
How, in just a few decades, did modern society go from decrying book burning and censorship to embracing digital book burning and censorship?
This is hard for me to wrap my simple mind around because I grew up in the post-McCarthy era when the idea of this kind of censorship was drilled into us as something every bit as unacceptable and un-American as spitting on the flag.
And this is not the first time this has happened…
The child predators at Walt Disney are a-okay with your small children being exposed to gay porn but feel they must be protected from Uncle Remus — a movie that resulted in an Honorary Oscar for a black actor, James Baskett. Disney is erasing a black man’s historical accomplishment.
Gone with the Wind, which is still the most financially successful and popular movie ever made (if you adjust for inflation and look at raw ticket sales), has either been erased or vandalized with an opening lecture that tells you what you’re supposed to think about one of the greatest movies ever made.
A scene from Gone with the Wind
Huckleberry Finn, one of the greatest novels ever written, has been censored to remove the n-word from the text, even though the whole point of the novel is to condemn racism.
Finally, could there be anything more ironic than George Orwell’s 1984, not only getting a feminist rewrite but getting a feminist rewrite with the blessing of Orwell’s estate?
A boy reads a book next to copies of British writer George Orwell’s 1984 at Hong Kong’s annual book fair on July 15, 2015. (Aaron tam/AFP via Getty Images)
We’re living through Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, where fascists burn books to protect people from being offended, where the only way to preserve these works of art is to memorize them — to become a book yourself.
We may very well get to that point, and if that sounds like hyperbole, let me remind you that men are currently allowed to compete in women’s sports and share their locker rooms. But until we do get to that point, you MUST buy hard copies of art before the uncensored versions are no longer available — especially books, movies, TV shows, and music.
I was going to go all digital with my video collection, and then Disney stepped in and erased an episode of The Simpsons from digital collections.
These people are monsters. If you want to know how far they will go to create their Utopia, look no further than Hitler’s Final Solution and Stalin’s Great Terror.
The saddest and most frightening thing is what we don’t know. … How many movies, books, and TV shows have been and will be quietly erased from libraries, stores, and digital shelves forever?
If you love something, grab the hard copy now.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.