From: ptrei@bistromath.mitre.org (Peter Trei)
Subject: Re: SF + PC
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 18:23:21 GMT

In article <1992Dec29.232115.24785@netcom.com> solovay@netcom.com (Andrew Solovay) writes:
>In article <1992Dec29.210507.41979@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> jahb@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (JENNIFER A. HEISE) writes:
>>By the way, being influential is NOT the sole criterion for the canon--
>>otherwise we'd still be reading Kipling.  (Good characterization, but rather
>>Huckleberry-Finnish in its lack of PC.)

>I shouldn't be joining this thread, but...

>How can Huckleberry Finn possibly be non-PC or anti-PC? It was,
>and is, one of the most strongly anti-racist books in American
>literature. I would think Huck Finn would be the one part of the
>canon the PC types were happiest with.

    Huck Finn uses the word "nigger" extensively - this was the
standard word for blacks among the uneducated (such as Huck) at the
time Twain was writing. I don't think it was ever regarded as a
"good" term.

    [a little digression on racial terminology follows]

    As time went on, "nigger" came to be regarded as purely
pejorative, and other words came into greater use - "colored" and
"negro".

    Sometime before I was born, "colored" gradually fell into disuse
(though it survives in the title of the NAACP). It's use now seems
old-fashioned, though not particularly insulting.

    During the late sixties and early seventies, the "Black is
Beautiful" movement appeared, and many blacks decided that
classically-rooted words such as "negro" were euphemisms which
deemphasized their skin color, in which they now took pride. Thus,
"negro" became unacceptable, and "black" was in. It took me a while to
get used to this.

     Sometime in the late eighties, certain black leaders decided that
"black" was no longer a good word. As far as I can tell, they felt
that in the 20 years or so since it's introduction, it had acquired
too many negative connotations. They declared that "African-American"
(always capitalized) would be the new, PC term.

    I still have trouble with this one. Quite aside from being a
clumsy mouthful, it specifies a geographical location rather then a
racial group. Does "African-American" include immigrant Boers,
Americans of Morroccan descent, or naturalized Haitians? It's
exclusive use also cuts off American blacks from solidarity with
blacks in Africa, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world.

    [Geographical designations of racial groups is can create problems
for whites as well - my father recently helped a distant Estonian
relative apply to US colleges. It took a lot of persuading to get her
to check the "caucasian" box - to her, "Caucasians" were people from
Azerbijan etc, with whom she felt little kindred, to say the least.]

     At the risk of sounding cynical, I suspect that 20 years from
now, "African-American" will be thrown on the ash-heap of history as
well.

	[end of digression]

    Some people open "Huckleberry Finn", see the word "nigger", close
the book, and try (sometimes with success! :-( ) to get school boards
and libraries to ban it as racist.
 
    The Huckleberry Finn business is a classic example of the
intellectual poverty of the the whole "politically correct" movement.
PC allows one to replace thought and consideration of complex issues
with litmus tests.

    							Peter Trei
							ptrei@Mitre.org

"Things are almost always more complex than they appear". 

Disclaimer: If you think I'm representing my employer in this post, you