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BethLP11 t1_jdyhb0s wrote

Yeah, I read that one. DEFINITELY not her best.

Also? "A Tangled Web" which had a lot I found interesting because it was written post-WWI? Ends with a character using the N-word in reference to a figurine. YIKES.

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Bookanista OP t1_jdyjs1w wrote

I just started that one and got the warning as well! Cringey! Like wtf, why was using that word necessary?

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ExoticSalamander4 t1_jdyv9rm wrote

It was published in 1931, wasn't it? Kinda hard to judge someone for diction choices made over 90 years ago. I wonder what derogatory but presently acceptable words we use will be regarded as terrible slurs in 2100.

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bellefleurdelacour98 t1_je0s39c wrote

Racism was still racism 90 years ago. By this logic we should justify the old people who are still racist now because they were born and grew in another era. If you're reading the book now, it's racist NOW and it was BACK THEN. End of story.

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ElegantVamp t1_jdz6ith wrote

....Because it was the 30s?

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bellefleurdelacour98 t1_je0rxzn wrote

yeah and the racism sucked. Why are people defending racism???

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dennyfader t1_je11cs3 wrote

Kids/teens in the mid-2000s would say "that's gay" all day long. They were not all homophobes, they were just saying a word that, in their world, was not a problem. I refuse to believe that every single person that said "gay" or "fag" in 2005 is a homophobe, because culture changes and context matters. It is so tremendously humbling to realize how much society can change in so little of a time... Hell, in 80-years, people might look back on those of us who eat meat as the lowest of the low, saying, "how could you defend someone who ate MEAT? The body of a LIVING creature!" It would be unfathomable to them to even consider it. I get your perspective, that racism is racism, and I agree with it, really, but it just goes deeper than that when considering different time periods. OP is definitely well within their rights to state how weird it is to read in today's context, though. Don't know why people aren't giving them that.

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