You Couldn’t Make It Up

I knew as soon as I typed angry someone would come along and say they weren't angry...

OK then - why does this make everyone think its OK to make fun of students?

MayBeMaw

I sometimes think we need a “You couldn’t make it up” forum.
But in its absence - how about this from the department of stating the bl**ding obvious at a well- known and respected university

Students warned over kidnap scene in ‘Kidnapped’
Trigger warnings have been added to classic novels by the University of Aberdeen, including a warning for students that Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped  involves an abduction
Several Shakespearean texts are among those to have been flagged, as well as two Jane Austen novels and a number of other classics. A trigger warning is a statement that is made before sharing potentially disturbing content
The university, whose alumni include broadcaster Nicky Campbell and Tessa Jowell MP, has told students that Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, presents “sexist attitudes” and its plot centres on a murder A warning about Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities states that it “contains scenes of violence, execution and death
Perhaps their English department could advise on definitions of “kidnap” and “abduction” and how “execution” might have something to do with “death”.
Oh and maybe the History department could lay in copies of the Ladybird Guide to the French Revolution.
But perhaps I am being picky.

You are spot on.

I am thinking of starting a new career - re-writing all the classics without any sex, gore, murders, executions, ghosts etc.

Excuse me please, I could be some time

ps Do you think there's a market for them?

Alegrias1

I knew as soon as I typed angry someone would come along and say they weren't angry...

OK then - why does this make everyone think its OK to make fun of students?

No, we're not making fun of students at all.

We're laughing at the absurdity of the people who think that adults aged 18+ need to be warned about what was written in classic literature as if they are precious flowers.

Oh and maybe the History department could lay in copies of the Ladybird Guide to the French Revolution.

Love the new Ladybird Guides, MayBeMaw!

Calistemon

Alegrias1

I knew as soon as I typed angry someone would come along and say they weren't angry...

OK then - why does this make everyone think its OK to make fun of students?

No, we're not making fun of students at all.

We're laughing at the absurdity of the people who think that adults aged 18+ need to be warned about what was written in classic literature as if they are precious flowers.

Absurdity rules in University Education today. Poor little darlings, how are they going to survive once away from those hallowed halls.



BTW - the students voted for it. They asked for it.

Alegrias
Is it the fact that it’s a Scottish university and we are all having a laugh that’s got you riled ?

Having an 18 year old GS who is a student I find this hilarious. I know he and his friends would laugh at this too.
They are not poor little darlings. Most have been exposed to much more violence than we were.
My 16:year old GD had a bottle thrown at her face at a concert on Saturday. Luckily just had a bloody swollen nose and nothing worse.
I am sure she would faint if exposed to the book "kidnapped".
Students aren't all naive innocents and treating them like 5 year old is insulting.

Presumably it’s to stop students sueing their seats of learning for forcing them to read scenes they’re ‘uncomfortable’ with. Do they have to sign something in advance to say they’ve read and understood the warnings? Best to be on the safe side!

If they are at university, presumably studying English Literature, I would have expected them to have encountered all these novels and plays already. Kidnapped was read to us at Junior school, as was Moonfleet, which I loved.
Presumably Titus Andronicus -may contain some upsetting scenes-, is banned.
Doing an English course which contained a section on poetry of sex and seduction we were advised that some poems contained offensive language. Boy oh boy they certainly did, not the sort to be found in a a poetry anthology, but as many of us were middle-aged, we survived. The younger members were embarrassed on our behalf, in case we didn't understand.

Calistemon will you save Sydney Carton ?

Can’t think of Sydney without thinking of Dirk Bogarde ?

Don't worry, Alegrias, I'm on it already!

Finished Macbeth already (see above), now on to Jules and then Ant and Dec, sorry Ant and Cleo

What took Will so long?

Anniebach

Calistemon will you save Sydney Carton ?

Can’t think of Sydney without thinking of Dirk Bogarde ?

He went on to found Sydney, NSW in my version, Anniebach

(Before anyone gets cross and corrects me, yes, I do know a bit of Australian history)

Calistemon
Could you do Lady Chatterleys Lover without the sex scenes, then it would be really boring.

MerylStreep

Calistemon
Could you do Lady Chatterleys Lover without the sex scenes, then it would be really boring.

I remember finding that book hidden under my Mum's pillow when I made her bed for her one day!

Obviously she thought it was not suitable for a 12 year old.

Nor Peyton Place (she hid that too)

Please put ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ on your list Cali. Be great to read it after you’ve re-jigged it.
?

Mmm, Turn of The Screw! Too many horrible things to cover perhaps a comment "Not a DIY book" would suffice?

Alegrias1

I knew as soon as I typed angry someone would come along and say they weren't angry...

OK then - why does this make everyone think its OK to make fun of students?

Perhaps they're right to put a warning on Jane Austen.

Elizabeth Bennet dearly loved a laugh at people's absurdities... How very dared she...

foxie48

Mmm, Turn of The Screw! Too many horrible things to cover perhaps a comment "Not a DIY book" would suffice?

Can't help laughing

MerylStreep

Alegrias
Is it the fact that it’s a Scottish university and we are all having a laugh that’s got you riled ?

That's Humpty Dumpty out then. In fact most traditional nursery rhymes. ?
I don't think I'm poking fun at the students, more the University staff who spent time/money implementing this.

One way to get the students to read the classics though. ? They probably think it's hilarious too.

Red Riding Hood needs to be edited. No wolf pretending to be grandma after eating her.

BTW - the students voted for it. They asked for it.

Which students asked for it, Alegrias?

Was it the entire student body?

Was it a student representative body that had canvassed the entire student body and taken a vote on it?

Was it a small 'interest group'?

I'm just wondering how they are gong to cope with contemporary fiction once they leave Uni? Some of it is horrific... Or perhaps they'll just never open a book again?

P.S Alegrias, I'd ignore the xenophobic digs...

What is the context of the warning? If the students are volunteering to teach English to refugees, for instance, it might make sense to warn them about content that could be upsetting to readers.

It’s difficult to know what to think without knowledge of the context- I can’t believe that there are stickers on copies of these books in the library.