tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post8253811092232387512..comments2024-03-19T01:52:00.810-05:00Comments on Althouse: So Atticus Finch was a racist, and "Mockingbird" was a sweetened-up rewrite?Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22265288367590330322015-07-12T08:11:05.903-05:002015-07-12T08:11:05.903-05:00What? Mockingbird was a creation of liberal NY pub...What? Mockingbird was a creation of liberal NY publishers rewriting a racially-suspect manuscript? Shockeroo.Dick Stanleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05874286752442524261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-38282212944521098232015-07-11T18:19:59.691-05:002015-07-11T18:19:59.691-05:00@Anglelyne, go see what David Gelernter has to say...@Anglelyne, go see what David Gelernter has to say about modern youth. It's eye-opening.Big Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15831645119853118904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-85691136354181820862015-07-11T17:37:40.115-05:002015-07-11T17:37:40.115-05:00
I will not travel south of DC.
Too many rednecks...<br />I will not travel south of DC.<br /><br />Too many rednecks.<br /><br />tits.Titushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06593014816206957874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-1136642334541590772015-07-11T15:02:34.072-05:002015-07-11T15:02:34.072-05:00The first volume of Robert Caro's multi-part b...The first volume of Robert Caro's multi-part biography of LBJ, "The Path to Power," includes a brilliant exposition of Texas politics in the 1920s, during which the KKK very nearly took control of the Texas Democratic Party. I suppose we could pretend that never happened, that even the most principled and caring individuals in the South during that time were as committed Social Justice Workers as the people who write and edit for Salon.com today. But <i>that</i> would be fantasy.Beldarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13404583858244777905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-46156789796578774902015-07-11T14:47:21.493-05:002015-07-11T14:47:21.493-05:00The important question is not what the new book ha...The important question is not what the new book has done to Atticus but what it has done to Scout.Left Bank of the Charleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04494310302328322830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-26041159049763066332015-07-11T14:29:31.903-05:002015-07-11T14:29:31.903-05:00The South Boston townies which you seen in your mo...The South Boston townies which you seen in your movies are absolutely gone.<br /><br />They have been replaced by fags and yuppies. Irish pubs replaced by "bistros".<br /><br />No more Good Will Hunting in Southie.<br /><br />Check out zillow.<br /><br />You can get a 1 bedroom in "southie" for only 600k.<br /><br />titsTitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06593014816206957874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-72366513107698399062015-07-11T13:55:52.095-05:002015-07-11T13:55:52.095-05:00South Boston is now really expensiveSouth Boston is now really expensiveTitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06593014816206957874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-79097775443519932272015-07-11T13:12:52.806-05:002015-07-11T13:12:52.806-05:00I would add this to the Harper Lee timeline:
She ...I would add this to the Harper Lee timeline:<br /><br />She moved to New York City at age 23, began writing, and found an agent at 30.<br /><br />She then wrote a story about how, as a young girl she thought her dad was all aces, but, having seen the wider world, eventually realized he had a faux-tolerance of blacks as long as they kept in their place. Disillusioned youth! And I am sure that a Southerner who went back home in the late 50's after years in Sin City would be mortified by the local's attitudes, which seems to be a theme of the new book.<br /><br />As to her sitting n this book for nearly sixty years, well, trashing the hero and telling us all we had it all wrong may have struck her, and/or her publisher, as maybe not so great an idea.JustOneMinutehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16823001650326197645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-12108354298582872312015-07-11T12:56:28.330-05:002015-07-11T12:56:28.330-05:00What really bothers me is the way even (allegedly)...<i>What really bothers me is the way even (allegedly) well-educated modern people assume that right-thinking folks in another time and place always had the same beliefs that right-thinking folks have today. </i><br /><br />"Presentism" is a failure of intellect, impossible to avoid completely. But it becomes all-pervading and stupefying in eras like our own.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-29994078289047194072015-07-11T12:27:41.644-05:002015-07-11T12:27:41.644-05:00It seems to me that if an author does a re-write a...It seems to me that if an author does a re-write and changes the character enough, that it's now a different character even though they still have the same name.loudogbloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09295905587126349220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-57814532814844168642015-07-11T11:29:20.716-05:002015-07-11T11:29:20.716-05:00A new manuscript also came forward that suggests t...A new manuscript also came forward that suggests that in addition to be a racist he's also a pedophile. "Scount, the young black boys are bucks in need of tenderness and love. Hot tenderness, the kind that only a grown man can give them. They are still children in the world, but with a little of hands on affection they can be turned into men.<br />Scout, someoday I'll tell you about NAMBLA the new organization I just joined. I'm going there today after my KKK meeting. We'd invite you, but the organization doesn't really cater to girls, only boys. Only sweet, black, virile boys "licks lips)."jr565https://www.blogger.com/profile/06250384040393259866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-19649970156328003362015-07-11T11:29:07.595-05:002015-07-11T11:29:07.595-05:00The North suffers from advanced decadence.
Their ...The North suffers from advanced decadence. <br />Their industry has fled South, they can get nothing material done, as a result of bureaucratic paralysis, and they pretend prosperity on paper (well, electronically) with nothing to back it. <br />They even depend on barbarians (mostly from the South, or their local equivalents) to defend them from barbarians. buwayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369134902650235470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-29590718910941606022015-07-11T11:24:56.726-05:002015-07-11T11:24:56.726-05:00@Big Mike,
Even the most enlightened white folks ...@Big Mike,<br /><br /><i>Even the most enlightened white folks -- the SJWs of their day -- viewed Blacks as inferior to whites.</i><br /><br />My personal favorite <i>Things People Used to Think</i> was how Marxists used to think that, under Socialism, homosexuality would just disappear because homosexuality was caused by the capitalist deformation of social relations. No capitalism, no deformation, no homosexuality. Hey, that was the doctrine of the USSR, which <i>officially</i> had no homosexuals. The few that reared their ugly heads in the workers paradise were clearly counterrevolutionaries. <br /><br />I tell young lefties this & they don't believe it, that I've just somehow got it wrong.YoungHegelianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723316130501823658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-72549082794151015602015-07-11T11:23:50.458-05:002015-07-11T11:23:50.458-05:00The South may be the same, in some sense. However,...The South may be the same, in some sense. However, the North is far far worse, and so has slipped behind. <br />The only historical standard is that, taking all material and moral factors into account, who can conquer whom.<br />All our rhetoric and social artificialities, law, finance, bureaucracy, and etc just paper over underlying power relations. And they delay realization of the true state of affairs. Paper tigers are eventually exposed.<br />In the 1860's and 1930's, the South was obviously weaker. <br />These days, I don't think so. This fact will break through the smokescreen soon enough.buwayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369134902650235470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-79395978979954968542015-07-11T11:18:13.702-05:002015-07-11T11:18:13.702-05:00@Titus,
Sadly, the south is still the same.
And ...@Titus,<br /><br /><i>Sadly, the south is still the same.</i><br /><br />And Boston Southies are still as lovable as ever, too. Right, Titus?<br /><br />Now that the FBI has found Whitey (gotta luv the name!) Bulger, we can always ask him about now vs the good ol' days.YoungHegelianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723316130501823658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5655827624845081072015-07-11T11:16:01.040-05:002015-07-11T11:16:01.040-05:00The south needs to just secede already. They want...The south needs to just secede already. They want to and they are just a bunch of old white taker crackers.<br /><br />The south is gross and sucks-always last in every category in the U.S., except obesity-natch.<br /><br />tits.Titushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06593014816206957874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-69605444020643527072015-07-11T10:56:22.658-05:002015-07-11T10:56:22.658-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Etiennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02463542962653770911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-35324577290760957782015-07-11T10:40:02.100-05:002015-07-11T10:40:02.100-05:00Sadly, the south is still the same.
tits.Sadly, the south is still the same.<br /><br />tits.Titushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06593014816206957874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-709118134411684782015-07-11T10:39:15.122-05:002015-07-11T10:39:15.122-05:00What really bothers me is the way even (allegedly)...What really bothers me is the way even (allegedly) well-educated modern people assume that right-thinking folks in another time and place always had the same beliefs that right-thinking folks have today. The 1950s were sixty years ago. Computers had just been invented and the best of them ran on vacuum tubes, the slowest with mechanical relay switches. (The first silicon transistor wouldn't be invented until 1954.) No cell phones. No Japanese cars. Women wore pants only to do the grungiest chores; otherwise dresses and hats. A different time, and a world quite alien to our own.<br /><br />Even the most enlightened white folks -- the SJWs of their day -- viewed Blacks as inferior to whites. Now if Harper Lee could have gotten into a time machine and come forward about sixty years maybe she could write her book around 21st century values but she wrote when she wrote and reflected the attitudes of her times. But she lacked a time machine and wrote about the people and the attitudes of her own time and place.<br /><br />And someday people will look back at the beliefs held by today's Progressives and ask what _________ was all about? (I leave it to the reader to fill in the blank with today's fads like AGW or veganism or 20% of all co-eds get raped at least once during their four years or women demonstrating their inherent unfitness to do science by getting more excited about a man's shirt than the latest scientific results.) How could any right-thinking person have believed <i>that</i>? In other words, today's SJWs will be tomorrow's Atticus Finch.<br /><br />You too, Professor.Big Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15831645119853118904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-63783296477635390962015-07-11T10:36:12.172-05:002015-07-11T10:36:12.172-05:00The last paragraph of the review:
One of the emoti...The last paragraph of the review:<br /><i>One of the emotional through-lines in both “Mockingbird” and “Watchman” is a plea for empathy — as Atticus puts it in “Mockingbird” to Scout: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” The difference is that “Mockingbird” suggested that we should have compassion for outsiders like Boo and Tom Robinson, while “Watchman” asks us to have understanding for a bigot named Atticus.</i><br /><br />Interesting. I suspect her publishers thought the original was too volatile for the times even then. Sydneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17038514318463662024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-89871956404598469072015-07-11T10:29:40.955-05:002015-07-11T10:29:40.955-05:00#HarperLeeNotOK#HarperLeeNotOKBillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10242789433038241232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-36918617498113764752015-07-11T10:25:58.192-05:002015-07-11T10:25:58.192-05:00I always still surprised when I see a photo of Har...I always still surprised when I see a photo of Harper Lee. In my mind she always looks like that actress in <i>Capote</i>, the movie.Sydneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17038514318463662024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-47888970018550288472015-07-11T10:24:03.924-05:002015-07-11T10:24:03.924-05:00Th first part of Huckleberry Finn is a magnificent...Th first part of Huckleberry Finn is a magnificent defense of Jim's humanity and of Huck's wish to do the right thing despite all the social conventions that preach otherwise. The very end of the novel is subversive of that magnificence. Tom Sawyer keeps Jiim imprisoned and fearful in order to enhance some childish game he's playing. I can think of no great novel whose ending is so completely subversive of the grandeur of the preceding chapters. But when people remember the novel they remember the trip down the river and not the stupid ending. Maybe the same thing will happen here. The tackiness of the preceding novel will enhance the splendor of the second book......There's just so much ambiguity, guilt, paternalism,resentment, envy, contempt etc. etc. going on with black/white relations that all our narratives are slant..Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07837540030934495651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-17830268068329455932015-07-11T10:16:18.789-05:002015-07-11T10:16:18.789-05:00No big puzzle here. In the time and place where th...No big puzzle here. In the time and place where the story is set, it was still possible for a decent person to be racist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-81779748749666332752015-07-11T09:57:23.227-05:002015-07-11T09:57:23.227-05:00Remember this is the NYT. It is entirely within t...Remember this is the NYT. It is entirely within the realm of possibility (or rather a near certainty), that the reviewer has taken a few sentences and utterances of Atticus in isolation in order to make some ideological indictment. In order to gain a true understanding of this reboot-Atticus -- if that is what it is since I'm not clear from the review if this is a reboot or a sequel -- we need to read it in the whole context.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07575021285669012791noreply@blogger.com