Dr Seuss Banned for being Politically Incorrect!!!!!

[iris lilies]

I saw that on the news, and I was so afraid that my favorite Dr. Seuss titles might have been struck down: like Horton Hatches The Egg in particular. The titles that have been banned don't mean a whole lot to me. Apparently some of the offensive content had to do with the images, not the words so much. Seems they could get permission from the estate to simply redo those images... but maybe the publishers aren't selling many of those titles and will get some good press from proactively shutting them down for politically correct reasons.

uhhhh, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these titles are hardly their best sellers. The Mulberry Street book dates from my era I think, and I recognize only one of the others. And I’m in the biz you know. But believe me there are much better books out there and than these tired old Geisel titles. Horton is one of them!

Don’t use the “banned” language because these books have not been banned. That’s a word that librarians like to use to point attention on their issues.


Again, I was in the biz. I know of what I speak.

I headed the department in a large public library system that addressed book banning (i.e. what we call “challenges”) and 50% of those challanges came from people who were afraid others would be offended at specific materials even those the challenger was not personally offended.

I call them do-gooders, spreading their perceived power throughout our community in a misguided idea that they were saving other people from a world of hurt.

[iris lilies]

There is no way on earth that I could disagree with you more or disagree more strongly.

I recognize that some of the language used in those books ought to be updated and that some of the images also ought to be updated simply because some words and stereotypes that were common and considered harmless decades ago are now considered insensitive or even offensive. But flat out banning books that have been popular for decades instead of doing whatever minor tweaking is needed to make them acceptable is ridiculous.

Far from being irrelevant, most of the Dr Seuss books are timeless, and their amusing message is always new and timely for every child who reads it.

As far as the news media having "about 3 to 5 stories every few days they trot out in front of us and we all have to be focused on those 3 to 5 topics, and often we are expected to be outraged": Whatever seems to be newsworthy is what gets published, and whatever gets attention in one news source gets repeated in other news sources, after which it usually gets replaced by newer news. That's the way news works and always has.

The point is: If you don't like what you see in the news or in certain news media, don't read/watch it.

What gets reported on ESPN or any of the 30 other news sources that I don't look at has no effect at all on me because I don't look at them. And IMHO everyone else should follow the same policy: If a news or entertainment source annoys you, don't look at it. But let those who are interested in what a news source says repeat, read, and discuss it to their hearts content.

IOW I'm totally against censorship unless there is a very compelling reason for it, and in this case there is not.

{Here endeth the rant}
{And I'll pre apologize for having such a strong opinion on this if anyone requests it.}

dude, it isnt censorship.

You will find no one on this board who is a bigger proponent of free-speech than me.

[Yppej]

When covid is over one place I want to go is the Dr Seuss Museum in Springfield, MA. It will be interesting to see if/how they address this.

[LDAHL]

Good Lord, I must have read Mulberry Street to my kid a hundred times. Was I inadvertently indoctrinating a little white supremacist?

I agree with IL that not printing a given title isn’t the same thing as banning it. Nor is a refusal by Amazon to sell a given title the same thing as banning it. Nor is the Atlantic or New York Times firing a writer the same thing as banning their work. Nor is a social media company “deplatforming” individuals or ideas the same thing as banning them. But I’m not sure any of those actions is evidence of a healthy, self-confident culture.

[GeorgeParker]

I'm assuming that Seuss Enterprises board is simply being proactive in an effort to protect themselves from future attacks while simultaneously ingratiating their business with social justice warriors. Probably a smart business move considering the $30M or so per year revenue the good doctor's books and licensing deals bring in.

I'm sure you're right, but if anything their selfish greedy motive for discontinuing those 6 books makes their censorship all the more egregious.

[nswef]

Yppej We went to Seuss Museum several years ago and they did address the anti Semitism as I recall. I'm sure they will do this fix as well. He did go back and change some of the illustrations. He learned and tried to do better. The sculpture garden is terrific.

I remember reading Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson to my 4th graders and the cook in the story was presented as a stereo type. We talked about it- why did that happen, was it offensive, could it have been presented differently? It is a great opportunity to open minds. I worry that hiding all the ugliness makes people think it didn't matter, kind of like not knowing about Japanese internment camps in WW2. I was so disillusioned and yet, had someone not told me....Knowledge is power.

[Alan]

I'm sure you're right, but if anything their selfish greedy motive for discontinuing those 6 books makes their censorship all the more egregious.

I don't think it should be considered censorship at all, at least not the official variety. I think we're just living in a period where people find offense in caricatures of anyone they deem in need of protection, real or imagined. Of course every Seuss illustration of humans is a caricature so the opportunity for outrage is huge. The Seuss Enterprises folks are just proactively protecting themselves from those do-gooders.

[bae]

I've met Ted Geisel many a time - he and my Mom were good friends.

He always seemed to me to be a nice, witty, intelligent, happy gentleman. I got to go to the San Diego Zoo with him a couple of times, and it was a fabulous experience.

You can usually find some really cool original art of his, especially sculptures of nonsensical animals, at the Chuck Jones Gallery in Santa Fe.

Some of his earlier work, especially the WWII propaganda effort, is quite racist by modern standards. Some of his other work is quite forward-looking and progressive.

My college graduating class gave him an honorary degree at our graduation ceremony, and the look on his face as we all stood up, wearing our robes, and chanted a verse from Green Eggs & Ham was priceless.

[GeorgeParker]

Really bad example of times gone nuts. You have seen Dr Seuss cartoons with anti-Japanese racism during WWII right? Simpler times, when we had internment camps, ah those simpler times ...

Quoting the article I linked to above: "Before he became a giant of children’s literature, Mr. Geisel drew political cartoons for a New York-based newspaper, PM, from 1941 to 1943, including some that used harmful stereotypes to caricature Japanese and Japanese-Americans. Decades later, he said he was embarrassed by the cartoons, which he said were “full of snap judgments that every political cartoonist has to make.”

And don't forget that creating nasty stereotypes of our WW II enemies was official government policy during the war and in the years leading up to it. Caution!! This URL leads to highly offensive historical material https://www.historyhit.com/examples-...world-war-two/

The internment camps were also government policy and I see no possible connection between them and the Dr Seuss books. Nor do I think Dr Seuss was any more or less casually bigoted than any other average American in the 1940s and 1950s.

[happystuff]

I'm assuming that Seuss Enterprises board is simply being proactive in an effort to protect themselves from future attacks while simultaneously ingratiating their business with social justice warriors. Probably a smart business move considering the $30M or so per year revenue the good doctor's books and licensing deals bring in.

This makes sense and I agree with their actions as you are explaining here.

The Seuss Enterprises folks are just proactively protecting themselves from those do-gooders.

As was pointed out in another thread recently (sorry, not going searching), another instance of assigning negative connotations to "do-gooders" - those trying to do something good.