Pippi Longstocking Racist? One Woman Says Yes

A German theologian has sparked controversy by calling Sweden's beloved Pippi Longstocking children's books racist and demanding additions to prompt parents to skip over or explain certain passages.

She goes on to list what she considers improper, and then gives the books credit for being funny and creative.  However, she loudy demands that parts be cut, edited, or marked so parents can explain.

Well, bull. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of the Pippi books.  I have not read the passages in context, and what the article describes would make me stop and think, for sure.  I'm simply saying that anything that has been published has the right to exist how it is.  It is not the reader's choice what is in the book, only whether they choose to read it or not.  Did we get to tell Margaret Mitchell that Scarlett and Rhett should have patched it up?  Did anyone read The Grapes of Wrath?  If anyone deserved his ass kicked for what he put us through, it's John "Hope Is For Losers" Steinbeck.  The Scarlet Letter?  Except for getting Demi Moore's boobs on the big screen, could there a more useless story?  Those are my opinions, and I'd never read any of those books again.  I'd never dream of telling anyone else what to think, however.  Where I find melodrama and painfully slow plots others see beauty and grace.  Don't blame me, I'm an O. Henry gal, and will remain so forever.

But seriously, nobody has the right to tromp over another person's work.  If you find a book to be racist, stupid, or just not fun you have the right to not read it.  However, demanding changes is wrong.  If someone is that opposed, they can write their own book however they please.  If they are reading it out loud, they can skip anything they like without forcing change on a work of art.  In a world with billions of books, there is no need to demand that any one of them be tailored to one person's expectations.

Second, racist is subjective in this case.  This is a snapshot of history, warts and all.  Those warts are important.  Take To Kill A Mockingbird, for instance.  That book is racist as hell.  It also demonstrates why it's wrong, how people truly were at that time, and how one brave man doing the right thing made a difference.  But racist?  Hell yes it is.  A black man was convicted, not because he was guilty but because he dared admit he felt sorry for a white woman, something unheard of at that time. As distasteful as some characters and actions are, the end result is a lesson in what racist behavior can do, and how it can be countered by intelligence and compassion.  Mark Twain's work is also heavily criticized for his choice of words.  But they are his choice of words, his work, and our right to stop reading anything that we find offensive.

This woman means well, but she's wrong.  If she finds the characters out of line, read something else.  There are plenty of choices out there, and will spare her the burden of censorship for the world.  I know I watched certain movies with the nieces and nephews and used it to have a conversation about things such as racism.  In fact, we watched Gone With The Wind and she flinched at some of the things she saw.  After seeing some of the horror of that era, she had a new understanding of how wrong we can be as a culture.  This summer I bought her a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird and we had several talks about how racism happens as  culture, and how "it's just that way" is never a good enough reason to be unjust.

We can choose what we read.  That should be enough.