We do not live in a communist country. Editing Huck Finn? In this sense, I do not think it should be called "editing" if the usage of the word "nigger" is the problem; rather, it should be called "censoring." The article clearly says the "censoring is necessary in order to boost [the book's] popularity," yet I do not understand how this would make sense. Mark Twain was apparently "a passionate critic of American racism" who did not mean to offend or discriminate against black people in any ways. The word nigger, which appeared approximately 200 times, acts as the live evidence of a flaw in the American history. If I were a black person, I would favor author's word choice because it accuses racism. In fact, during an online conversation between my African-American friend whom I met in Moscow baffled at the idea of censoring a masterpiece. It went something like this:
Jay: oh btw, do you wanna read a controversial article?
Christopher: Sure. Send me the link
Christopher: censors n-word. dude lol. hold on let me read it. [...] Oh wow. This is funny.
Jay: I know. I have a hunch that censoring of the word nigger gives an impression that Americans are trying to hide their flaws in the past...dont you think?
Chrsitopher: not only that but I really liked the book and Mark Twain did not offend me.
Jay: yea, thats what i assumed. anyways how's everything with your chick?
This conversation is not made up, I did actually talked to Christopher about this, and he did not find the word nigger offensive. Therefore, the idea of "censoring" Huck Finn is outrageous.
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