‘Sensitivity Readers’ Took Out Offensive Words in Ian Fleming’s Books

Ian Fleming Publications is reissuing Fleming’s James Bond books with racial references and the ‘n’ word removed. We can all live without the ‘n’ word, but they aren’t stripping it out of rap music, are they? This follows extensive changes to Roald Dahl’s children’s books.

Upon the 70th anniversary of the release of Casino Royale, they arranged to have sensitivity readers go through the books. Now they are to be reissued after the cleansing.

Each book will carry the disclaimer, “This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set,” The Telegraph said.

Protecting the Snowflakes

Many of the changes in the Bond books are around the depiction of black people. In Live and Let Die, Bond’s comment that would-be African criminals in the gold and diamond trades are “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much” has been changed to just “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought,” says the Telegraph.

Another scene in the book, set during a strip tease at a Harlem nightclub, was originally “Bond could hear the audience panting and grunting like pigs at the trough. He felt his own hands gripping the tablecloth. His mouth was dry.” This has been revised to “Bond could sense the electric tension in the room.” A segment in the book describing accented dialogue as “straight Harlem-Deep South with a lot of New York thrown in,” has been removed.

That last one is ridiculous – “electric tension” sounds WOKE and entirely out of sync with the book.

Fleming Agreed to the Changes

The estate claims Ian Fleming himself agreed. They must have held a séance because changes like “electric tension” are 2023 WOKE.

The company which holds the rights said Fleming approved removing racial references in To Live and Let Die before he died in 1964. That was their guide.

This isn’t reality. Books should reflect the times, but we’re dealing with snowflakes here.

The publication company said the changes are small in number and Casino Royale wasn’t altered at all. One can imagine the pressure from the WOKEs they must have been under to make changes.

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