Dr Seuss rockets up US charts after books pulled over racist portrayals

By Alison Flood

 

Four of the six Dr Seuss books that will no longer be published, along with Scrambled Eggs Super! and The Cat’s Quizzer. Photograph: Christopher Dolan/AP

 

US customers have flocked to buy copies of Dr Seuss titles after six of the children’s author’s books were withdrawn because of racist portrayals of people of colour.

 

Dr Seuss Enterprises, which preserves the late Theodor Seuss Geisel’s legacy, announced on Tuesday – the author’s birthday – that after working with a panel of experts to review Seuss’s books, it had concluded that the six titles portrayed people in ways that were “hurtful and wrong”.

 

Seuss’s first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, contains an illustration of a Chinese man that caused controversy two years ago when it was included in a mural. 

 

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/04/dr-seuss-rockets-up-us-charts-after-books-pulled-over-racist-portrayals

Snowflakes of today are using their own context rather than the time context that the books were written. IMHO it is they who are wrong.

 

You can overwrite history which is what they are trying to do, to sanitise history to their way of thinking, because they KNOW better than the people who lived the history at the time.

 

What they cannot do and t really annoys them is to eradicate the parts of history that they don't like and replace it with the history that THEY like.

More madness.  Dr Seuss had some pretty powerful antiracism and discrimination messages.  Perhaps none more so than "The Sneetches":

 

"Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches-

Had bellies with stars.

The Plain-Belly Sneetches-Had none upon thars.  

Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small.

You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all. 

But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches

Would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.

With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort

“We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!”

And whenever they met some, when they were out walking,

They’d hike right on past them without even talking".  ...

 

 

As a progressive, I'm disgusted with these liberals and their petty gender issues. Overall, I consider it an infringement on personal liberties. They cancel Mr. Potato head and trying to pass legislature in Cali to have stores be particular how they stock toys.

 

But lastly, I do also think it's done by both parties to keep the country divided.

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Seuss’s first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, contains an illustration of a Chinese man that caused controversy two years ago when it was included in a mural. 

 

Big fan of Dr Seuss books, ''Green Eggs and Ham'' and ''Oh the places you'll go'' being absolute classics that children adore, but I will admit I am happy to see some of his titles being discontinued by the Dr Seuss Enterprises, the zoo book in particular is one I won't miss - some of the imagery is somewhat stereotypical and ill judged.

 

They were not meant to be deliberately offensive and Dr Seuss was by no means aiming to ridicule and marginalise others by mocking their ethnicity.

 

His books were a product of their time and the attitudes prevalent then.

 

Some stand the test of time, others do not...

16 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

 

<snip>

 

His books were a product of their time and the attitudes prevalent then.

 

Some stand the test of time, others do not...

Unfortunately, some misguided, self-anointed "social re-engineers" will not permit these books to stand the test of time.

Some fundamentalists came for the Grinch

He stood his ground, gave up not an inch

For he was as green as a green egg can be

The rest of the rainbow...'s another story.

19 minutes ago, DrDave said:

Unfortunately, some misguided, self-anointed "social re-engineers" will not permit these books to stand the test of time.

Everything has it's place and time.

 

I wouldn't advocate removing the books currently being discontinued, but it is good that the issues contained within them are being discussed.

 

Thankfully rationally by most people, who do not need hyperbole to express an opinion...

12 hours ago, billd766 said:

You can overwrite history which is what they are trying to do, to sanitise history to their way of thinking, because they KNOW better than the people who lived the history at the time.

 

Not the silliest comment ever, but I would award you a "participation medal".

 

You do realize that "they" are not burning the books, or banning them? Still in your public library, assuming the local militia hasn't stormed that yet.

 

I do find it funny that the right wing media seems consumed with Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head, while much of the country deals with a pandemic and econimic downturn. #importantstuff

 

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Dr Seuss Enterprises, which preserves the late Theodor Seuss Geisel’s legac

 

 

https://www.seussville.com/statement-from-dr-seuss-enterprises/

 

 

 

If anything, this action draws more attention, good and bad, to the books, and fosters a discussion which is long overdue. We've never really come to terms with our history of racial injustice, perferring to pretend it never happend, that is wan't a big deal, that some of my best friends are..., and we should all move on. Until we acknowledge what we did, we'll never really make any headway.

 

Regarding these books, which I grew up with, and if it were up to me, I would re-contextualize the specific six books, and with a lot of input, annotate them to explain (for those few clueless people) what is wrong with them. I mean in the 1950's most Americans were a tad racist; we did support a "separate. but equal" policy, which in hindisght is nearly as embarassing as the bondage/property scheme which preceeded it.

 

 

I think i may be the only person who has never heard of him or his books until this issue.

 

Arent there any books that can be used written this century to make things up to date?

21 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Arent there any books that can be used written this century to make things up to date?

 

"This" century isn't really an issue. It's the previous one, two, three and four that are "thorny"?

 

 

His books never hurt anyone of made anyone a racist. I used to read them as a kid and i read them to my kid. Just over sensitive left nonsense. i believe they have much bigger things to worry about than Dr. Seuss books.  Just another ploy in their cancel culture society

Cancel Culture make me PUKE - how about banning Snow White? (wrong colour) or Prince Charming (wrong gender) or Puss-In-Boots (hurtful to dogs)

 

its PATHETIC and I'm waiting for the world to wake up from this woke, boring BS by a very small minority who seek to control us all

This is one of the items they deem racist.  Including the long neck canary being racist.  Do you think these characters are racist?

 

 

6 minutes ago, Dart12 said:

the long neck canary

 

Not sure if you're being facetious, or are truly clueless? The canary is not the issue.

 

Again, the "they" here is, what appears to be, an organization that represents the Dr. Seuss publications.

 

Any beef should be taken up with "them", not some amorphous group of people some seem to think are "cancelling" them.

 

 

This got one of the books pulled. Pure STUPID!

14 minutes ago, J Town said:

This got one of the books pulled. Pure STUPID!

I was using that one in a different discussion and challenging people to depict a Chinese man eating from a bowl. Naturally they won't do it because they KNOW that they have to show someone with "yellow" skin and using (chop) sticks, which would be "stereotyping" (which is why the above pic was considered racist).
Another pic apparently shows Asian characters wearing "coolie hats" (basically the same as the character is wearing in the above pic) and somehow that is racist. (Because no Asians wear those kinds of hats, right ?) 

Sheesh, when they came out with Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, the first episode (The Harmful One) was "set" in Thailand (but apparently filmed entirely in the USA) and literally every pic of Thais outside of the city had them wearing Vietnamese style "coolie hats". (It also had all the "Thais" wai-ing by holding their hands together - at belly button level !)

 

12 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Everything has it's place and time.

 

I wouldn't advocate removing the books currently being discontinued, but it is good that the issues contained within them are being discussed.

 

Thankfully rationally by most people, who do not need hyperbole to express an opinion...

 

Trouble is, the "issues" are not being "discussed", just cancelled.

Note how Wokeville does not allow you to say "Chinaman", only 'Chinese man.'

 

So, it's improper to call an American man American (or, more accurately, Yankee).??

 

  Note also how it is seemingly ok to use the grammatically (but non- racist) parallel construction "Welshman" "Englishman" ..etc...

 

My Woke daughter-in-law tells me that I must not use the word "fat" to describe fat people (but I'm glad to see that Dr Seuss found nothing wrong with that nice, satisfactory, monosyllable that the English language  is so adept at producing.)

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

I do find it funny that the right wing media seems consumed with Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head, while much of the country deals with a pandemic and econimic downturn. #importantstuff

 

Personally, I find it funny that the "left" and the media are so bent out of shape that they are consumed by gender pronouns and attempting to erase/destroy any history they disagree with, while the rest of the world are trying to cope with the covid crisis and economic issues.

 

45 minutes ago, Dart12 said:

This is one of the items they deem racist.  Including the long neck canary being racist.  Do you think these characters are racist?

 

 

 

 

The issue is NOT with the bird but with the depiction of African Pygmies. 

Apparently, depicting an Arab riding on a camel is also "racist" because, as we know, Arabs don't ride camels. Right ? (But of course Aladdin is OK because all Arabs ride carpets I guess.)

Note that it is the company that legally owns the books that decided to no longer publish those 6 books. You know, instead of say, having the offending pics redone. (So that they more accurately depict things like Arabs on Camels or Asian men eating with chopsticks, without anything to suggest race, religion, gender or sexual identity of course.)

It would be fair to say though that the company that owns the rights to those books decided to stop publishing them (after profiting from them for over 8 decades apparently) as they were probably worried that the "cancel culture" might turn their sights on them and the fallout could affect all the other Dr Suess titles.

Personally, I think all they needed to do was remove the images that a tiny group of people have an issue with and replace them with something that the snowflakes couldn't object to.

Like a picture of a table with a bowl of rice and set of chop sticks and a rectangular blank spot seated on a chair with the caption "A gender-neutral, self-identified person of undetermined race, religion, sexual preference or nationality about to eat a meal."

Then a cartoon of a camel, with the same blank spot and generic description, changing "about to eat a meal" to "riding on an enslaved animal".

But you can be sure that no matter how "generic" you make something, some snowflake will take issue with it and in today's society, if one person finds offense with something, it becomes a national (or international) crisis.

17 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

 

Big fan of Dr Seuss books, ''Green Eggs and Ham'' and ''Oh the places you'll go'' being absolute classics that children adore, but I will admit I am happy to see some of his titles being discontinued by the Dr Seuss Enterprises, the zoo book in particular is one I won't miss - some of the imagery is somewhat stereotypical and ill judged.

 

They were not meant to be deliberately offensive and Dr Seuss was by no means aiming to ridicule and marginalise others by mocking their ethnicity.

 

His books were a product of their time and the attitudes prevalent then.

 

Some stand the test of time, others do not...

The test of time is written and rewritten until those who wrote it are written out of it as being out of step with the latest test, rewrite.

Let's ban the Bible and Koran for their support of slavery, genocide and wife-beating.

That's a ban I'd support.

Let's ban the Bible,Torah and Koran for their support of slavery, genocide and wife-beating.

That's a ban I'd support.

I remember being read this book in the 50's, little black Sambo would be cancelled as well then

 

https://www.amazon.com/LITTLE-BLACK-SAMBO-Little-Golden/dp/B000KK69LY

4 hours ago, J Town said:

This got one of the books pulled. Pure STUPID!

another victim of the anti-Wok(e) culture ???? 

no more being Published/released - but no defined word as to whether the mere existence of the Editions will eventually become under threat?? 

In the meantime, if one cannot obtain actual books, the Online world is prevalent...

 

Here below from a simple initial Search via Dr Seuss on Issuu.com 

5 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Cancel Culture make me PUKE - how about banning Snow White? (wrong colour) or Prince Charming (wrong gender) or Puss-In-Boots (hurtful to dogs)

 

its PATHETIC and I'm waiting for the world to wake up from this woke, boring BS by a very small minority who seek to control us all

The book was discontinued by the publishers after a review of their titles. No outside influence. No woke lefties, no commies, no antifa, just the publishers acting independently. Up to them. Of course Fox news would have you believe otherwise.

4 hours ago, blazes said:

Note how Wokeville does not allow you to say "Chinaman", only 'Chinese man.'

Neither does Thai Visa.

1 hour ago, Benmart said:

The test of time is written and rewritten until those who wrote it are written out of it as being out of step with the latest test, rewrite.

Not true. Not even close to being true. 

5 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Not sure if you're being facetious, or are truly clueless? The canary is not the issue.

 

Again, the "they" here is, what appears to be, an organization that represents the Dr. Seuss publications.

 

Any beef should be taken up with "them", not some amorphous group of people some seem to think are "cancelling" them.

 

 

Neither. This is how this small group thinks.  Look for any angle , ANYTHING, to tear down societal balance and harmony.

 

There is no constructive conversation, no building a better world... Just endless divisiveness and destruction.

 

And this group attacked the business that handles Dr Seuss publications . That's why they were bending to that bad press and canceling them.

 

They claim there is racism in this Seuss page.

 

But my question was... Do you see anything racist in those words or pics yourself?