With the revelation that Roald Dahl's classic children's works like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory have undergone posthumous sensitivity butchering, one can only wonder exactly how the censors will handle other prominent works of art from history.

First, as to Dahl, it is true that, like many a writer, he was a relatively unpleasant human to be around.  But to the nine-year-old enthralled by Willie Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas — sorry, the Oompish peoples of the Loompa ethnographic subset —  it has no — and should have no — bearing.

As publishers around the globe are hiring "sensitivity readers" by the locally sourced, sustainably harvested wicker basketful, checking in on their progress may be a good idea in order to prepare for what one will find at the local book store — whom are we kidding? on Amazon — in the coming months.

And it seems the sensitivity readers are not stopping at simply changing existing texts; they are also trying to help the world come to terms with entire problematic works.  Try these.

The entire script of "Oedipus Rex": Oedipus was sad.  Oedipus got happy.  Oedipus got sad again.

Nineteen Eighty-Four — at least the copies that are not slated for burning — has had an explanatory foreword added to inform the reader of Winston's delusional state of mind and that, while the methods seem crude to us now in an age of pharmaceuticals, the caring state was only trying to cure his mental illness as best it could.

Animal Farm — banned outright for its anthropomorphism, though the wonderfully positive Brave New World is now mandatory reading as a future guidebook for third-graders.

How about we expand the sensitivity reader concept to the world of art?  Some possible initial reports:

It's funny because it just might as well be true.

Thomas Buckley is the former mayor of Lake Elsinore, Calif. and a former newspaper reporter.  He is currently the operator of a small communications and planning consultancy and can be reached directly at planbuckley@gmail.com.  You can read more of his work at  https://thomas699.substack.com.

Image via Pixy.