The soporific argument over whether Twain was or was not a racist has forced me to examine some of the other books I have lying around here and the results are nothing short of astounding. 1. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote negatively about a visually challenged amputee. 2. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson compounded his felony by his equally negative portrayal of a man who, in modern parlance, was mentally exceptional. 3. Charles Dickens wrote patronizingly of a physically challenged youth. 4. Victor Hugo's portrayal of Quasimodo, the exceptionally shaped person, was as patronizing as that of Tiny Tim. 5. Sophocles' treatment of Oedipus, a survivor of incest, not to mention self-mutilation, certainly was less than sensitive. 6. Swift, in his negative portrayals of Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians certainly tipped his soiled sizist scoundrel hand. 7. Johanna Spyri failed to empower Ms. Heidi, thereby fostering stereotypes of gender, an obviously anti-feminist gesture. 8. Kate Douglas Wiggin similarly failed to sufficiently empower Rebecca, another anti-feminist move. 9. Carl Sandburg's celebration of Chicago as _hog butcher to the world_ certainly shows him to be an anti-animals rights activist and most likely an anti-environmentalist. 10. Rostand's depiction of Cyrano was an obvious slap at the nasally gifted. In short, we must look anew at _the canon_ and root out the evils lurking therein. As responsible people, we must look beyond Twain and his gang of accomplices to search out every bit of perceptible bias in all the works of literature in all the world. After the bonfire, we can start in on either art or music. Wagner might be a good starting point. Marc Koechig