But, that's not how it works. The new text expressly changes the original. It declares that the original text is null and void - that it is all lies. Which means that it absolutely IS modifying the original text. Now, again, I totally agree with the intent here. The original text is mind bogglingly bad. I 100% agree with that.
But, I'm responding to the idea that there are no changes being made to the original text. That is flat out incorrect. Point #7 expressly changes the original text by declaring it all lies.
See, the thing is, I can buy Shadows over Innsmouth, which is every bit as objectionable as this work, if not moreso, and I've never, ever seen a copy that included an extra chapter declaring all the eye wateringly bigoted stuff just "lies". I've never seen a copy of Merchant of Venice that declares sections to be "lies". I've never seen a copy of any number of fantasy works which included an addendum to declare sections to be "lies".
I 100% applaud the notion that work like this should be talked about and the work that
@Dungeonosophy has done should be applauded. They have done fantastic work and it's pretty air tight. Absolutely. And this is something that absolutely should be talked about, particularly in light of some people in this thread trying to play the "well, my friend wasn't offended" game. This book is really offensive.
But, claims that the petition isn't trying to rewrite the work are not accurate. The petition is 100% trying to rewrite the work. And I don't believe that that is the best course of action when dealing with problematic genre fiction. We don't need to rewrite it. But, absolutely agree that we need to keep up the discussion and shine a great big spotlight on works like this to illustrate just how bad genre fiction was.