Ever consider that we may be becoming too politically correct? I get that feeling on occasion when I see articles like this one.
It seems that a small publisher that reprints classic historical public-domain works, such as the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and so on, has come under fire for attaching a disclaimer that reads, “This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today.” It goes on to suggest that parents discuss with their children how values have changed over the last couple of hundred years.
Amazon customer reviews are almost unanimously condemnatory of the disclaimers.
And though warning labels are usually posted to protect a company from potential lawsuits, constitutional attorney Noel Francisco says this disclaimer has no legal benefits.
"Would it ever be a legal concern that selling the Constitution would expose you to some kind of liability? No. Never,” Francisco told FoxNews.com. "The Constitution is the founding document of the country, an operative legal document."
I suspect this may simply be an innocent case of a boilerplate being applied to works that simply don’t need it, but that doesn’t change how amused I am by the story. Imagine that—the idea that the Constitution doesn’t reflect the same values as it would if it were written today. Why, you’d think we’d need a Supreme Court to interpret the document in light of today’s values or something.
(Found via Slashdot.)
Fortunately we have the public domain which allows anyone to make use of things in it in any way they like. If that use is ironically tacking on a disclaimer that the ideas of freedom and limited rights of copyright holders are no longer valued today, then so be it.
“It seems that a small publisher that reprints classic historical public-domain works…”
…is really interested in getting some free publicity, and so they’re stirring up controversy in order to get it.
And you know what? You just gave them some.