Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site unc.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!duke!mcnc!unc!bch From: bch@unc.UUCP (Byron Howes ) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: The power of words Message-ID: <6638@unc.UUCP> Date: Tue, 24-Jan-84 08:46:17 EST Article-I.D.: unc.6638 Posted: Tue Jan 24 08:46:17 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 02:04:10 EST References: <6449@watdaisy.UUCP> Organization: University of North Carolina Comp. Center Lines: 55 I find I have a very negative reaction to the bowdlerization of any text for any purpose, even in support of the women's movement which I whole- heartedly support. Changing the original text to any end implies a form of censorship which is, to me, a more critical issue than human rights. Although changing pronoun references and gender may seem a minor detail, certainly not destroying the intent or sense of the text, it opens a door for further rewriting by those who do not agree with the political direction of a citation. Secondarily (and *really* secondarily) if text is to be made "more accessible" by changing gender references, then why not something like the following (I feel very uncomfortable doing this): "Go, seeker, if you will, throughout the land and you will find us burning in the night... To everyone the chance, to everyone, regardless of birth, the shining golden opportunity - to everyone the right to live, to work, to be yourself, and to become whatever thing your individuality and vision can combine to make you - this, seeker, is the promise of America" Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again, 1940 "Whoever would change people must change the conditions of their lives." Theodore Herzl, Diary, 1923 "When even one American - who has done nothing wrong - is forced by fear to shut the mind and close the mouth, then all Americans are in peril" Harry S Truman, New York Times Magazine "You have not converted a person, because you have silenced them" John Morley, On Compromise, 1874 "My political ideal is democracy. Let every one be respected as an individual and no person idolised" Albert Einstein, "Forum and Century", 1931, volume 84 "Human history begins with the act of disobedience which is at the same time the beginning of freedom and development of reason" Erich Fromm, Psychoanalysis and Religion, 1950 "Put fear out of your heart. This nation will survive, this State will prosper, the orderly business of life will go forward if only people can speak in what ever way given them to utter what their hearts hold - by voice, by posted card, by letters, or by press. Reason never has failed. Only force and oppression have mades the wrecks in the world" William Allen White The Emporia Gazette, 1922 [The last quotation seems particularly applicable here...] -- Byron Howes UNC - Chapel Hill (decvax!duke!unc!bch)