• @[email protected]
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    4 months ago

    It’s because the word doesn’t mean the same thing it meant when he said it.

    Yeah, it does.

    It was difficult for me to fully parse, not so much that it made me uncomfortable.

    Still a “you” issue, not an issue with the text, no matter what you call it.

    I tried a number of words as replacements, but none made as much sense as the word slave, at least in my lexicon. Clearly there would be no issue changing the word in a translation, so why not in this case? I’m not suggesting we remove the original, merely that it can be presented in different ways for different audiences.

    But you’re not translating, you say it yourself - you’re very deliberately trying to replace in order to make yourself comfortable, not because the text actually needs any adjusting (E: because he definitely isn’t talking only about slaves).

    Saying history needs to be presented differently because it makes you uncomfortable is a wildly privileged thing to say, your feelings are not a priority in the fight against racism (or other bigotry), and being uncomfortable (aka facing reality, unsoftened for your delicate self) is necessary to unlearning.

    Instead of getting defensive, check that privilege, learn to deal with such unbelievably mild discomfort (sorry, “difficulty to fully parse” 🙄), and have some respect for the words and experiences of others, especially when they talk about actual struggles people face in this world.

    • Jojo, Lady of the West
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      24 months ago

      But you’re not translating, you say it yourself - you’re very deliberately trying to replace in order to make yourself comfortable, not because the text actually needs any adjusting.

      What I said myself is that it’s not about comfort. I am translating, just like you might have to translate a poem by Robert Burns. I live closer (culturally and temporally) to Malcolm X than most anyone today to Robert Burns, and the amount that needs to change for a translation is smaller too.

      I agree, if it was about it making me uncomfortable it wouldn’t be reasonable to make the change. But it’s not. Please do not put words into my mouth, especially after I have explicitly told you they are not true.