Today’s society is completely bonkers when it comes to literature, both in what they want kids to read and what they don’t want kids to read. When you look at what liberals want, it’s literally completely backwards of what it should be.
The acclaimed author R.L. Stine recently spoke out against claims that he had edited his beloved Goosebumps book series for the sake of appeasing modern woke sensibilities, asserting that any changes made to the books were done without his knowledge or approval. Reports of such alterations had sparked a wave of public outrage in light of recent similar editing of classic children’s titles, such as Roald Dahl’s works and those of Ian Fleming.
In response to an angry reader who accused him of being “shameful” for supposedly supporting censorship, Stine firmly stated that this story was “false” and that he had not changed a single word in any Goosebumps book. Furthermore, he emphasized that any changes which were made were never shown to him. Fox News contributor Guy Benson aptly described these unauthorized edits as “creepy,” describing them as “more Orwellian than just banning them.”
The UK Times reportedly uncovered more than 100 edits in electronic versions of the 62-book series alone. These included character descriptions being changed from “African-American” to simply having “brown skin,” mentions of slaves being removed and blackface which was worn by one character for Halloween being scrubbed away. Weight descriptors like “roly-poly” and “plump” were amended to instead say “cheerful” while other claims such as someone having “at least six chins” were altered to say they were “at least six feet six.” Additionally, lines about schoolgirls having crushes on their headmasters were cut, along with words like ‘crazy’, ‘nut’, and ‘nutcase’ being replaced with terms like ‘silly’, ‘wild’, ‘scary’, ‘lost her mind’ and ‘stressed’.
When questioned about it by The Post, Scholastic acknowledged they had indeed made changes in order to avoid imagery which could negatively impact young people’s views toward themselves, particularly where mental health is concerned. However, Scholastic declined comment when asked about Stine’s claim that he was unaware such changes had been made. Following the author’s insistence that he was not behind the alterations in question, many rushed to his defense online with some even referring to this situation as a witch hunt gone too far.
