Woke censorship just reached a new low. The publisher of Roald Dahl’s classics may have backed down some, but the author R.L. Stine reports that his Goosebumps has been on the culture chopping block -- nobody consulted him about it.
As reported by Daily Mail, Stine’s Goosebumps books have received over 100 edits. Initially The Times reported that Stine linked up with Scholastic to make the changes but, now it’s been reported that the books “were changed without his knowledge.”
The verified Twitter page Comic Book Resources tweeted out an image of the Goosebumps cover and claimed that Stine helped facilitate revisions of language used throughout the book. Stine replied by saying, “I’ve never changed a word in Goosebumps. Any changes were never shown to me.”
Scholastic released a statement claiming it was attempting to bring the “classic adolescent brand to each new generation,” adding: “When re-issuing titles several years ago, Scholastic reviewed the text to keep the language current and avoid imagery that could negatively impact a young person’s view of themselves today, with a particular focus on mental health.”
I grew up on these books and turned out just fine.
Some specific changes were the use of the word “cheerful” instead of “plump,” getting rid of a reference that linked the way a character walked to the style of the “rappers on MTV,” replacing “crazy” with “silly” and getting rid of a part where a character was described as looking like a “bowling ball” with “squirrel cheeks.”
In short, it was the same don't-upset-the-delicate-flowers mollycoddling that was tried with the Dahl books.
Clearly the specific language used was never an issue in the past. The Goosebumps series has sold more than 300 million copies and is the second biggest selling series after Harry Potter. Not to mention, the movie version of the book has grossed more than $150 million and was followed with sequels.
This is preemptory appeasement the woke mob. These days, everything offends someone and Scholastic Scholastic is sterilizing books by an incredible author to help minimize its headaches down the road. .
Well, it's clear how that plan worked out. Good luck to the PR team of Scholastic cleaning up this mess they just made.
