History The Cruel

Inspired by simple and interesting question, the concept of denying history and censorship of that was brought forth. The question, “Should The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be taught in school?” Now for those who are not familiar with the nineteenth century Mark Twain novel, it is about the story of a young boy in the American slave-owning society , who befriends a slave named Jim. Huck, has been raised in a society the permits the inhumane detainment of African Americans and the mistreatment of them. As a result, Huck blends into the society standard that “nigger” is a suitable term in describing the African-American. He does not view Jim as being inferior in a purposely spiteful and degrading manner as the adult society does, but has been raised to view the African-American as an inferior being. The question of whether the book is appropriate is the fact that Huck constantly refers to and calls African-Americans “niggers.” Now in today’s society, is known to be wrong and is scorned upon. In this period of history however, it was generally accepted. There is then a question of whether it is appropriate in this age to be taught, given its content that is now viewed as wrong. But there is a certain point where you also have to acknowledge history as whole. Literature parallels history to the effect that standards of society and the trends are reflected. So should literature have to be removed due to a fault on the part of history and the standards set at any given period of time? Should literary pinnacles be wiped away because of questionable content? At what point do you begin to acknowledge something as inappropriate?

First, it must be acknowledged that history itself is not kind. As Thomas Hobbes viewed humanity, the history it created is inherently cruel. Why? Humanity is not perfect and therefore is prone to prejudices and discrimination. Perhaps the greatest fault in the beginnings of the educational career of a student is the purposeful neglect of various facts in order to reestablish a historical character in order to create a hero. Christopher Columbus is a prime example of the abuse of history. The question stems further from this point. Should we be teaching our children misinformation that is known to be wrong? No. Columbus shouldn’t even be taught in kindergarten, period. Columbus’ cruel and inhumane treatment of the indigenous peoples to the North American content was disgusting and horrifying. But more importantly, it is history. Whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, it is our history. Our entire history is like a human body riddled and overrun with plague and disease. Picture the skin of a child overridden with chicken pox. Dark points cover our entire history from head to toe. Adolf Hitler subjected everybody from homosexuals to African-Americans to the Jews to concentration camps, which was the worst of evils. The United States of America had Japanese-Americans rounded up and relocated to such camps, just under a different name, in World War 2. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft under President George Walker Bush wished to put anybody viewed as an “enemy combatant” in a concentration camp. Atomic bombs were dropped in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki to bring a bitter end to World War 2. Saddam Hussein tested chemical agents on his own people during his reign as president of Iraq. The point? History is bitter and it is ugly; it is also cruel, negligent, and inhumane.

Returning to the point of Huck Finn itself, the mistreatment of African-Americans itself is something that occurred and cannot be denied. Furthermore, it will not become just another event of the past, barely pondered, anytime soon. Why? Because it was only a half a decade ago that we actually finally gave freedoms to those human beings who were horribly oppressed simply because of the pigment of their skin. Society itself however, always enters a state of denial that will further flush the thought from its collective mind. Whenever harm is done, it acts as if it was the fault of the person next to them, but in all truth, the fault is everybody’s as a whole. If you were not opposing, then you were supporting. The same school of thought involving denial and ignorance is what brought Adolf Hitler to power and left him there for all the years he oppressed individuals who he saw is inferior, simply because of superficial features.

Do we neglect all of this at the risk of offending another? What if a student is offended by Darwinism because he has been raised as a devout Christian, does this student get a free ticket out of Biology class for whatever span of classes covers the contradicting theory of humanity? History is offensive. The present is offensive. The time is not to turn a blind eye. We live in a society that permits the abortion of unborn children, right or wrong, the methods of doing such is inhumane in itself. Abuse is rampant as far as both children and elderly go, as well as each other in society as a whole. There is still mass genocide that occurs in Africa and poverty haunts much of the world still. Society allows for these things to happen. You condone such acts by refusing to do something about the future. Negligence is a problem because it involves turning a head when things go straight to hell. The U.S. did it conveniently when Hitler was raging across Europe and rounding up people viewed as inferior to be thrown in concentration camps and did it under Saddam Hussein for years. The problem of history is the problem of the future, as one must change the future, as the future eventually becomes history and that history is just another growth in the progression of such offensive events.

We learn from these events. Through teaching our children at an appropriate and mature age that the use of the words “nigger” and “chink” are wrong, as well as the cruel taunting and torture of others, we show them what outcomes it has. Outcomes in history include the extended length of harbored slavery and racism in a supposedly free world, as well as in other portions of the world. We show them that while war is at times necessary, violence is not always the alternative. First shots at violence and lead to immeasurable amounts of unnecessary violence, most of which is preventable. Books like Huck Finn were written for the purpose of not being some random derogatory white supremacist book in the obscure end of a book shop, but to illustrate the hate that haunted specific groups of individuals for years. Just as Schindler’s List wasn’t created to advocate the holocaust, concentration camps, or the cruel racism involved with such, but rather to illustrate the negative reality and how an act of severely wrongful and inhumane act on the part of the Nazi regime of Germany.

Slashing books that have been long held as apart of the highpoints in literature is also degrading the integrity of history, as it reflects a certain negligence of our heritage, negative or not. When the wiping of various historical events occurs, the censorship that leads to the weakening of democracy and the freedom it permits that results. Countries such as Cuba and China have strict laws of censorship, which for various reasons are created because they view it as a way of protecting the nation. But humanity must be allowed to act as a whole. If we fail as a whole, we shall learn as a whole. And where from and what we learn as a nation is derived from our past, in history. The very basis of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution itself was based off of various usurpations of power and certain abuses they had been subjected to. If, instead of neglecting our past, we could learn as our founding fathers did from history that has already arrived, we can change the future in order to ensure that the eventual history and past shall be cleansed of such repetitive disasters in human rights.