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I saw on the news last night that a theater company in England is producing a stage play version of Victor Hugo's classic novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." This would not normally be a problem, but this overly politically correct company has decided that the title is offensive to disabled people. They have instead retitled the play "The Bell Ringer of Notre Dame." I don't see how this makes any difference. The parts of the story that would be most offensive to the disabled would not be the title. Yes, there is a general ridicule of Quasimodo in the story by the people in the streets, but the story is about seeing past the outward appearance and seeing what is on the inside. Hugo titled the story "Notre Dame de Paris," and indeed, the French translation still bears that title. If this company did not like the English title then they should have literally translated the French title. The story wasn't really intended to be about Quasimodo, Hugo wrote it to kindle an interest in the restoration of the cathedral mentioned in the title. He was encouraging people to look past the outwardly haggard appearance of the structure, and see what it can be. The cathedral did not deserve to be pulled down because it could still be a productive part of Parisian society if only people would give it a chance, but I digress. I know that some terms have been deemed inappropriate because they have developed negative connotations, but in a couple of generations the term "disabled" will have the same bad feelings associated with it. The politically correct will then be choosing another word to say the same thing. Some words like "hunchback" and "crippled" are considered in bad taste, but say what they mean. "Disabled" is so generic that it can mean any one of a number of things. Political correctness has added many new words and phrases. Mentally disabled has replaced retarded, and African-American has replaced black and negro. That is one of my favorites because unless you have to Africa from the Americas or the Americas from Africa then you are either African, or you are American. You cannot be both. Another favorite phrase of mine is "I don't like to be called black. I like to be called negro." That is the stupidest phrase I have ever heard. Negro is Spanish for black. That is where the phrase originated. We need to be careful not to try to live in a world where no one is offended. We should not needlessly poke fun at people, but Mark Twain said the all humor is rooted in someone else's pain. If we eliminate all offensive material then we remove all humor from society. . . and to think that all this controversy over a story that succeeded in its purpose to save a run down old cathedral. |
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