Has P.C. Gone Too Far?

[thumbelina]

‘Moon’ illustrator’s missing cigarette angers bookseller

A recent change in the photo of a well-known children’s book illustrator to remove a cigarette from his hand has drawn criticism from a Kansas City bookstore.

Pete Cowdin, owner of Reading Reptile, said he noticed the change about six weeks ago while selling a copy of "Goodnight Moon," a popular classic written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd that was first published in 1947.

The photograph of Hurd published in the book for years showed him with a cigarette in his right hand, but in new copies brought out recently by HarperCollins Publishers, the cigarette has been digitally removed.

Cowdin, surprised by the change, reacted by setting up a Web site, www.goodnightreality.com, to protest what he says is censorship.

H/T

[Aoife]

Plain and simple:this is HarperCollins attempting to rewrite a portion of history they don't care for. The reality was, LOTS of people smoked in the 1940's. That picture represents not only the illustrator, but history as it was at that time. I voted for the original to be reinstated.

[thumbelina]

Must be a DUh'er...

[DoubleU]

Voter Fraud, geez sounds like something the DUers or the Daily Kos people would do.

[newshutr]

Hey, I know!!! Lets get photos of FDR walking down Pennsylvania Ave by himself.

Oh wait....they don't exist...yet.

Revisionist history sucks.

[TheOffender]

Well to answer the the name of the thread...yeah, PC has definetely gone to far, but I don't think this particular instance is that big of a deal. Seems to me they just don't want kids seeing someone in a book with a cigarette to me. Should they have taken it out? Probably not...but they did, and to me, this particular instance isn't that big of a deal.

[Fez]

Simply ridiculous. Why do cigarettes piss people off so badly? People should mind their business.

[Enigma]

Well damn. I think our government should photoshop some clothes on the pictures of those Abu Ghraib prisoners is what I think.

[Aoife]

Simply ridiculous. Why do cigarettes piss people off so badly? People should mind their business.

Not just cigs either Fez. This was a cig in the hand of an illustrator 60 friggin years ago. It's simply ridiculous. I don't smoke, but the mear presence of a cig doesn't send me into convulsions of disgust.

[hail to the chief]

This is France's doing!!!