# Roald Dahl was anti-semitic? Who knew? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485 "2020-12-07T16:38:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/121 "2023-02-24T23:11:14Z")
These extreme examples were meant to be tongue in cheek. I’m not against making things less offensive and no one should be denied basic dignity. But I wonder if real and serious problems with real life discrimination are solved by trivial changes rather than being meaningfully acknowledged and addressed. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/122 "2023-02-24T23:15:14Z")
The people in question here aren’t trying to solve the world’s social problems with trivial charges. They want to sell more books. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/123 "2023-02-24T23:17:09Z")
Of course you are right. How prophetic they are releasing them all anew in their original form. One tires of media stunts, mock outrage and companies trying to take advantage of every moment to aggrandize themselves in social media or score free publicity. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/124 "2023-02-25T01:36:33Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > I think _Cujo_ was his last book written under the influence Never knew that. Makes sense. _Cujo_ is my example of a movie better than the book. The movie sucked, which says a lot about the book! Speaking of changing books, they did a revised re-release of _The Stand_. It was successful when they added in chapters that the editors had cut (like the guy stuck in the car because of wolves); much less successful when King was throwing in small changes to “modernize” the back stories. ---
**Author:** ![fordgt100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fordgt100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fordgt100)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/125 "2023-02-25T09:13:42Z")
I never even heard of him until now. My idea of children’s books was sneaking into uncle Ralph’s closet to look at his Playboy collection that he kept hidden from Aunt Emma (but she knew). Reading anything in them was optional. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2023, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/126 "2023-02-26T04:29:01Z")
It’s official–Dahl wished for anyone who altered his books after he died to be hit on the head with a hammer and fed to a crocodile. > **[Roald Dahl threatened publisher with ‘enormous crocodile’ if they changed his...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/25/roald-dahl-threatened-publisher-with-enormous-crocodile-if-they-changed-his-words?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1)** > > Conversation with Francis Bacon emerges amid the row over updating controversial language in the children’s author’s books ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/127 "2023-02-26T14:22:35Z")
Very well. Fetch the crocodile! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/128 "2023-02-27T17:28:41Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Augustus Gloop was shamed and called a nincompoop for his alleged greed and gluttony much more than his girth. Just checked the original Oompa Loompa song as written and it does indeed focus on the “greedy” aspect rather than his looks (other than one mention of being “big and vile”). The song from the original film (which was not the one from the book) does ask: _What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?_ _Eating as much as an elephant eats_ _What are you at, getting terribly fat?_ _What do you think will come of that?_ _I don’t like the look of it._ But that’s not Dahl’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/129 "2023-02-28T18:28:14Z")
Good to hear! Seriously, how much could they change a book, until they change the actual story itself? Because then what’s the fucking point? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/130 "2023-03-01T15:10:34Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Speaking of changing books, they did a revised re-release of _The Stand_. It was successful when they added in chapters that the editors had cut (like the guy stuck in the car because of wolves); much less successful when King was throwing in small changes to “modernize” the back stories. I have a small peeve about John D. MacDonald “modernizing” short stories he wrote early in his career in the re-releases sold as “The Good Old Stuff”, so as to avoid datedness or “confusing” readers. Example of totally unnecessary and silly revision: one story was set up around a murder on a long train trip. The main character evidently was changed from a WWII vet to a Vietnam vet. I suspect that few Vietnam vets bothered taking long train journeys. \*might as well change “Murder On The Orient Express” to “Murder on United Flight #3387”. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/131 "2023-03-04T13:15:43Z")
> **[Roald Dahl ebooks ‘force censored versions on readers’ despite backlash](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/roald-dahl-collection-books-changes-text-puffin-uk-2023-rm2622vl0)** > > Owners of Roald Dahl ebooks are having their libraries automatically updated with the new censored versions containing hundreds of changes to language related t ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485/132 "2023-07-20T19:18:55Z")
Here’s more: > **[Roald Dahl Museum says author's racism was 'undeniable' | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/roald-dahl-museum-gbr-scli-intl/index.html)** > > The Roald Dahl Museum in England, founded by the widow of the children’s author, has acknowledged his racism was “undeniable and indelible.” I’m generally able to pretty easily separate the bad person from the great art they create: Michael Jackson, Richard Wagner, Frank Lloyd Wright, R. Kelly, Kevin Spacey, etc. But that’s just me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roald-dahl-was-anti-semitic-who-knew/927485.md?page=6)