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My buddy, Greg recently sent me an e-mail, wondering aloud what I thought of a particular article. The long and the short of it is these two high-school cats were somehow going to be portrayed on a C-span talent show as Huck Finn and N****r Jim, from the wonderful book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". However, the roles are reversed: A black guy plays Huck and a white guy plays Jim. Because of that, C-span was forced to pull it out of the lineup by the copyright holders, because they wanted to "preserve the integrity" of the book.

Bullshit. Seriously, what kind of horseshit answer is that, anyway? I think that by doing something as simple as swapping the ethnicity of the two characters and keeping the same dialog and situational distress that appears in the book makes for some interesting social commentary. While Jim is not a slave any longer, as a black man of the period, he was seen as less than human, or at least, less than a full man, and more of a child. However, he is the only character in the book that plays the part of a rational, compassionate adult, and really serves as a good role-model for Huck. The switching of this role from a black man to a white man raises some interesting questions about cross-race dynamics. Should there really be a dominant race when it comes to being a good-hearted person? Can't inter-racial relationships be free from PC bullcrap and filled with simple understanding and friendship? I think the copyright holders need to sit back and stop being so draconian. This novel was originally intended as both a rather entertaining jaunt, and as a biting social commentary. Why can it not be adapted to be so again, in a form that is more appropriate for our times?

Also, I think it's just plain funny for Huck to call Jim "Cracker Jim", or something like that.