Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Catrike Ryder <Soloman@old.bikers.org>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Future of online fora
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:12:48 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 91
Message-ID: <c3ntujdvrcmj3cgl41bpgc1msb1d1jm2m2@4ax.com>
References: <vsm50r$qq1s$1@dont-email.me> <7j7tujt1qqsjncjl13c5saoujqjk5d6sra@4ax.com> <vsm7vl$qq1s$2@dont-email.me> <vsm9g2$vpcs$2@dont-email.me> <vsma8i$vpcs$3@dont-email.me> <vsmf7k$15kf6$4@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:12:52 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="b98ce06d7ea8806727f33438d62168be";
	logging-data="1501426"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+IcYm2udjy8A70sFKoX1o9Oc/0zscoMow="
User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272
Cancel-Lock: sha1:GUiyQDljTaq3G4RMWgHCO6a0aLw=

On Thu, 3 Apr 2025 12:07:00 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

>On 4/3/2025 10:42 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
>> On 4/3/2025 11:29 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
>>> On 4/3/2025 11:03 AM, AMuzi wrote:
>>>> On 4/3/2025 9:54 AM, John B. wrote:
>>>>> On Thu, 3 Apr 2025 09:12:46 -0500, AMuzi 
>>>>> <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> The forum LFGSS (London Fixed Gear and Single Speed) is
>>>>>> among the early casualties of The Planners in the UK nanny
>>>>>> state.  Under the well invoked principle, "Everyone ought
>>>>>> to, because I say so", newly enacted internet regulation
>>>>>> makes online providers fully responsible for online 
>>>>>> content
>>>>>> including purported crimes of "revenge [whether 
>>>>>> personal or
>>>>>> by class], extreme pornography, sex trafficking, 
>>>>>> harassment,
>>>>>> coercive or controlling behavior and stalking."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Since interpretation of those can be highly subjective* 
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> in light of the huge volume of content, every word of 
>>>>>> which
>>>>>> is a possible offense, providers such as Microcosm, who
>>>>>> wrote the popular group forum software, have deleted all
>>>>>> activity and more have followed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> *c.f. plentiful examples of the last three right here on
>>>>>> RBT. Or not. That's the nature of subjective evaluation.
>>>>>
>>>>> A week or so ago I read a notice that both Tom Sawyer 
>>>>> and Alice in
>>>>> Wonderland had been blacklisted by some group or another.
>>>>>
>>>>> Alice for the term "evil witch" or something similar.
>>>>>
>>>>> As for Tom I can only assume that any reference of the 
>>>>> Civil war will
>>>>> soon be unmentionable in polite society.
>>>>
>>>> Yes, there's that.  And a greater loss, which is the 
>>>> nearly complete obliteration of Huckleberry Finn, a far 
>>>> superior volume to the forced and anemic Tom Sawyer.  
>>>> It's among the most powerful anti racism works ever 
>>>> published, but it's been banned in schools for decades.
>>>
>>> Hmm. I just reread it a month or so ago. I thought the 
>>> portrayal of Jim was too cartoonish. I also thought the 
>>> ending was weak.
>>>
>>> Yes, just a subjective evaluation.
>> 
>> Further consideration (and apologies for responding to my 
>> own post):
>> 
>> Maybe I just engaged in a bit of "presentism" - that is, 
>> judging past actions by standards of the present, which is 
>> often unjust.
>> 
>> I don't doubt that Mark Twain's writing and his portrayal of 
>> Jim was groundbreaking in his day. The fact that a black 
>> slave (Jim) was shown as emotional, industrious, courageous 
>> and reasonably intelligent was probably shocking and eye 
>> opening to Twain's audience at the time. That's true even if 
>> the portrayal had a long way to go by present standards.
>> 
>> I reread _Huckleberry Finn_ as sort of prep work for the 
>> current novel _James_ which is, reportedly, the same story 
>> told from the slave's perspective. It's coming up soon on my 
>> list of books to read.
>> 
>
>Back to the issue, would you consider it appropriate for 
>grammar school age children or not?

I do. I read them both when I was very young, with the encouragement
of my mother. 

I also read East of Eden as a child. I was raised on a farm and
understood all that "stuff" at a very early age, probably about 9 or
ten. The part of E of E that stuck in my mind was when they pulled the
old car out of the water and saw the dead bodies. The sexual related
stuff was not a big deal.

--
C'est bon
Soloman