Interesting to see how this forum devolved into practicing cannibalism

[Nick_A]

...he'd be packin' heat.

I don't think so. Twain's' humor would prove that the pen is mightier than the sword

Humor is great, but doesn't mean a whole helluva lot when some nimrod is lookin' to beat your ass for usin' 'n-i-g-g-e-r' in your novel.

The pen is mighty, but, in a knife fight, it makes for a poor weapon.

Keep in mind: the opposition may be literate, but they aren't reasonable (and most of 'em lost their sense of humor a long time back).

No, Twain would carry.

I agree. But the reality is that the sword has one purpose and the pen has another.

The value of the pen is experienced before the fight while the value of the sword appears during the fight. One must be capable of speaking softly while carrying a big stick.

"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Humor is really the aesthetic expression of common sense. As I see it society needs humor to minimize the need for the sword. I know you are aware that the progressive agenda is void of common sense, humor, and the ability to laugh at itself which is why it seeks to take away your sword or your defense against the attack on common sense..

[henry quirk]

No, Twain would carry.

Where I live, Twain's been banned from schools; he can't be taught anymore. Not only that, but "To Kill A Mockingbird," the play, has been made off limits for field trips from public schools. (Lee's book can still be taught, though that, too is under debate right now.) For both, the reason is the same: that problematic "n" word appears.

Essentially, two of the most anti-racist novels in the American canon are banned for admitting that racism ever existed and that word was ever used.

Twain, ridin' Halley's Comet, don't give a flip today about all our nonsense, but we need to (and we need to carry). Wear the 'wrong' hat, carry the 'wrong' book, say the 'wrong' thing, and a body might get tarred and feathered. Me: I don't wanna be tarred and feathered, and I don't wanna be meek and mild. In 2062, Twain might disembark, stretch his legs, drop off a manuscript, make with the bon mot. As the skinless, commie hordes descend on him, I'm bettin' he'll be kickin' himself for not carryin' his piece.

[henry quirk]

I don't think so. Twain's' humor would prove that the pen is mightier than the sword

Humor is great, but doesn't mean a whole helluva lot when some nimrod is lookin' to beat your ass for usin' 'n-i-g-g-e-r' in your novel.

The pen is mighty, but, in a knife fight, it makes for a poor weapon.

Keep in mind: the opposition may be literate, but they aren't reasonable (and most of 'em lost their sense of humor a long time back).

No, Twain would carry.

I agree. But the reality is that the sword has one purpose and the pen has another.

The value of the pen is experienced before the fight while the value of the sword appears during the fight. One must be capable of speaking softly while carrying a big stick.

"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Humor is really the aesthetic expression of common sense. As I see it society needs humor to minimize the need for the sword. I know you are aware that the progressive agenda is void of common sense, humor, and the ability to laugh at itself which is why it seeks to take away your sword or your defense against the attack on common sense..

As you say: the pen has one purpose, the sword, another.

Unfortunately the pen has given way to the finger movin' aimlessly over a touch screen, and the sword hangs on a wall, dull and ornamental.

Time to get funny like a heart attack and reclaim some plowshares.

[Immanuel Can]

Twain, ridin' Halley's Comet, don't give a flip today about all our nonsense, but we need to (and we need to carry). Wear the 'wrong' hat, carry the 'wrong' book, say the 'wrong' thing, and a body might get tarred and feathered. Me: I don't wanna be tarred and feathered, and I don't wanna be meek and mild. In 2062, Twain might disembark, stretch his legs, drop off a manuscript, make with the bon mot. As the skinless, commie hordes descend on him, I'm bettin' he'll be kickin' himself for not carryin' his piece.

Well, here's an irony. It's that it's been the "sensitive" Leftists who have arranged the banning of those intelligent, well-written and thoughtful treatises on historical racism, on the mere basis that the "n" word cannot be read by the sensitive eyes of modern teens. However, it's the "sensitive" Leftists who campaign for no restrictions on expressions of the subculture that now uses that word freely and crudely, in rap "music" and so many other places in pop culture, such as movies and TV. The Leftists argue that this is legit: that the afflicted subgroup has every right to "appropriate" and "transform" that pejorative word, the "n" word, for their own cultural uses, and we ought to encourage and celebrate their doing so, not resist it.

The combination that results is this: that the only time most teenagers now hear the "n" word, and the only association they have with it, is not the nuanced, historical-racism understanding represented by a Twain or a Lee, but rather the crude usages of it they hear in rap or in the many movies and TV shows that employ it. What's left, then, is only the worst, most-thoughtless invocations of that word. Cool gangstas use it. Basketball heroes throw it at each other in fun...

At the same time, every thoughtful or respectful treatment of it has been banned.

Leftist insanity, anyone?

[henry quirk]

NIMBY

Not in the Sovereign State of Quirk.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

No, Twain would carry.

Where I live, Twain's been banned from schools; he can't be taught anymore. Not only that, but "To Kill A Mockingbird," the play, has been made off limits for field trips from public schools. (Lee's book can still be taught, though that, too is under debate right now.) For both, the reason is the same: that problematic "n" word appears.

Essentially, two of the most anti-racist novels in the American canon are banned for admitting that racism ever existed and that word was ever used.

That has nothing to do with 'left'. It's about retarded, illiterate Americans being retarded, illiterate Americans (as usual). And the retarded, illiterate Americans who can't tell the difference between Political Correctness and 'the left' are just as bad. How exactly do you define 'the left' anyway? Do you really believe that there are only two kinds of people in the world? --PC excrement and conservative religious excrement? You actually believe that anyone who isn't 'right wing' (as you must be) automatically thinks Mark Twain and Harper Lee should be banned in schools and children deprived of them because PCfuckturd social engineers love to use children as political tools? Umm, no. There are two kinds of people in the world; morons, and rational, intelligent ones. While I agree that the vast majority of Americans seem to fall into either the PCturd or religioturd categories, the two both fall into the category of 'morons'. There are millions of 'non ''right'' wing' people all over the rest of the planet who are intelligent and empathetic, and loathe both PCturds and religioturds.
It's just unfortunate that American illiteracy and shallowness is infecting the rest of the world like an out-of-conrol malignant tumour.

[Immanuel Can]

It's about retarded, illiterate Americans being retarded, illiterate Americans as usual.

Um...it's NOT Americans.

The ban was imposed by one of the most "progressive" and overtly Leftist governments in recent history, led by a homosexual woman. Sorry to disillusion you: but this isn't yet another opportunity for spleen against Americans. You'll have to find another.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

It's about retarded, illiterate Americans being retarded, illiterate Americans as usual.

Um...it's NOT Americans.

The ban was imposed by one of the most "progressive" and overtly Leftist governments in recent history, led by a homosexual woman. Sorry to disillusion you: but this isn't yet another opportunity for spleen against Americans. You'll have to find another.

You are the one banging on about this vague concept of 'the left' as if it's the same thing as PCturd lunacy.

And isn't this what you were referring to?

''Harper Lee and Mark Twain banned by Minnesota schools over racial slurs''

Last I heard 'Minnesota' was in the US.

[Immanuel Can]

And isn't this what you were referring to?
''Harper Lee and Mark Twain banned by Minnesota schools over racial slurs''

Nope. Dead wrong.

But it's very interesting it's happening there as well. I guess the Left is having its influence there, too.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

And isn't this what you were referring to?
''Harper Lee and Mark Twain banned by Minnesota schools over racial slurs''

Nope. Dead wrong.

But it's very interesting it's happening there as well. I guess the Left is having its influence there, too.

Then you should refer to this part of my post:

'It's just unfortunate that American illiteracy and shallowness is infecting the rest of the world like an out-of-conrol malignant tumour.'

[henry quirk]

And isn't this what you were referring to?
''Harper Lee and Mark Twain banned by Minnesota schools over racial slurs''

Nope. Dead wrong.

But it's very interesting it's happening there as well. I guess the Left is having its influence there, too.

Here, books get whacked by folks all along the polit/philo spectrum. Ain't just the commie Left who does wrong; the conservative Right has its fair share to answer for.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Oh, I see that those two wonderful authors are banned in schools all over the US. Way to go Americans. Ban the books that have given countless millions of children a love of great literature and reading for collectively the better part of 200 years.

[Immanuel Can]

Then you should refer to this part of my post:

'It's just unfortunate that American illiteracy and shallowness is infecting the rest of the world like an out-of-conrol malignant tumour.'

Why? It's racist, and it's not even correct. I have no idea if the Minnesota case had any influence at all here. But what it does show is that the American Left is just as lunatic and incoherent as the Left is here, I guess.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Why? It's racist...

How ironic

[Immanuel Can]

How ironic

Indeed. You speak of "two wonderful authors" who wrote to combat racism, and hold it up as evidence that Americans are bad people, merely by dint of being Americans.

That's pretty ironic, I'll grant you.