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Many books contain an underlying message, usually one of discomfort, beneath the overt story line. Twain was keenly aware of his intended use of words (see the quotation above in @Nashira's post). If we accept sanitized versions of works, we have lost not only the essence of the author's message, but we have 'sold our very souls to the devil' by endorsing and accepting bastardized, unauthorized revisions. How many modern writers would consent to allow some arbitrary literary pundit to replace their words?
Yes, we are preaching to the choir here. But what can we do about it? There are a lot of public forums out there ...
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