Is Enid Blyton Racist? Not in my opinion! 15-02-13

Is Enid Blyton Racist?

A week of weird and wonderful news stories along with the normally shock news and political debates but I couldn’t help but pick up on the story that Enid Blyton’s work. Her stories and her life are being picked apart as it is believed that she is a racist.

I can’t say that I have read all of her books nor can I honestly remember reading many of them, but the argument that she is racist due to what she wrote about seemed bizarre to me.
This has come about due to the town where she lived for much of her life wanting to throw a festival and have a week to celebrate 75 years since she moved to the town, and to erect a plaque in her honour.
But critics are opposing the move to honour the woman who became famous for her Noddy and Famous Five books. As many of her 600 books have, since her death, been branded as racist or sexiest.

Now I agree that the books were written in a time of lesser equality or even zero equality. But the move to take away her contribution to children’s literacy is ludicrous. The opponents to celebrating Blyton’s work say that these books have been accepted as racist and are no longer found to be material suitable for the younger generations. However statistics show that six to seven million copies of her books sell each year in more then 40 languages. Which show to me these books are just as great as they were when first written.

So the question that was put to me was do I believe that she is a racist and as such do I feel her books are still suitable or should they be edited for the modern society we live in?

After hearing arguments from both sides varying in strength and reasoning I came to the decision that she isn’t racist and nor are her books.
I hope you asked why.
The reason for this conclusion is that yes by today’s standards she would be classed as a racist and her feelings and opinions may well be to strong for this society. However we are talking about books that were written years before the equality we see today. My feelings are that in the years when these books were written this was the norm this was how she was raised and this was how people discussed and spoke about others. I am not saying that it is correct, I completely disagree with racists. However I am saying that you can not re-write history.
By changing these stories adjusting them in any way at all you take away the feeling that she put into these books and you take away her accomplishments. These books are landmark in history and should be kept as they are to show the progression or writing for all.

Now I don’t want an argument with anyone but I would like to know your opinion on this, and

As always, don’t forget to be Awesome!

Peace and Dub

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Twitter – @LiamCooperRants

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