Your thoughts on Dr Seuss and racism?

Reply 60

username4986690

19

Original post by SHallowvale

So why ban current racist caricatures in children's books made today?

Because they would only be included to offend and would likely have some kind of racist addition added on.

Reply 61

SHallowvale

14

Original post by Starship Trooper

Attachment not found

They have. They've learnt it's far better to censor people via proxy.

Censorship by corporations is still censorship

It doesn't even take a quick eBay search to realise that this screenshot is fake. 😂

Reply 62

SHallowvale

14

Original post by DiddyDec

Because they would only be included to offend and would likely have some kind of racist addition added on.

Is that necessarily the case?

Out of curiosity, do you think it would be acceptable to give first edition copies of "The Story of Little Black Sambo" to children? It too is an old childrens book, older than Seuss' work.

Reply 63

anon1848

2

Honestly never read a single one of his books but we all knwo the grinch and cat in the hat..

From wikipedia "Geisel's books express his views on a remarkable variety of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about Adolf Hitler and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), criticizing the materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and Horton Hears a Who! (1954), about anti-isolationism and internationalism."

Wait what.. how are these dangerous right wing values sounds opposite to me?

Jesus christ what is going on in this world.. all ever since George Floyd people lost their minds.

Reply 64

64Lightbulbs

19

Original post by Starship Trooper

Not when they're dead lol 🤣🤣🤣

'Shakespeare would WANT us to censor Merchant if Venice if he learnt it perpetuated anti semitic tropes'

In "And to think That I saw it on Mulberry Street" he made a "yellow" character and called him a "chinaman"
he later went back on it in 1978 and removed the color and changed it to "a chinese man"

He also made the sneeches in support of the civil rights movement, so I don't think it's a far leap to assume he changed a bit and might have regretted the past racial caricatures.

Reply 65

username4986690

19

Original post by SHallowvale

Is that necessarily the case?

Out of curiosity, do you think it would be acceptable to give first edition copies of "The Story of Little Black Sambo" to children? It too is an old childrens book, older than Seuss' work.

Not necessarily but likely.

I think it would because while the depictions are dated the stories within them are not racist at all.

Reply 66

Vertigo_descent

21

Original post by anon1848

Honestly never read a single one of his books but we all knwo the grinch and cat in the hat..

From wikipedia "Geisel's books express his views on a remarkable variety of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about Adolf Hitler and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), criticizing the materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and Horton Hears a Who! (1954), about anti-isolationism and internationalism."

Wait what.. how are these dangerous right wing values sounds opposite to me?

Jesus christ what is going on in this world.. all ever since George Floyd people lost their minds.

It goes from one hysterical over-reaction to another. I wish some of these businesses would show more backbone and tell these 'activists' to get bent,

Reply 67

black tea

19

Original post by Tasliima

It's obviously harmful and teaches children incorrect tropes, especially to the children of colour who will see themselves as ugly and begin to hate their features for no other reason than the insensitivity of an author who shouldn't have been published to begin with.

Why do you assume it would make children of colour see themselves as ugly?

Reply 68

StriderHort

21

I'm ignoring the heck right of the whole thing.

Reply 69

JoshDarnIt_

18

The cancellation of Dr Seuss just makes me want to read more of his books

Reply 70

Fenneko

20

I'm just surprised by how many people agree with the decision.
It's obviously sad and pointless. Just a result of lefties on Twitter cancelling again.

Reply 71

Fenneko

20

Original post by Arthur_Morgan

The cancellation of Dr Seuss just makes me want to read more of his books

Voila, the Streisand effect.

Reply 72

Nikki03

10

This reminds me of how the Nazis burnt books...

Reply 73

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

22

Please avoid posting misleading representations of current affairs - it isn't helpful to the discussion if the images you're posting are fake.
Thanks

Reply 74

Starship Trooper

15

Original post by 04MR17

Please avoid posting misleading representations of current affairs - it isn't helpful to the discussion if the images you're posting are fake.
Thanks

Was a genuine mistake, apologies

Reply 75

vapordave

Debate & Current Affairs Helper

20

I feel this has been completely mischaracterised by too many people.

Certain people are going so far as to say that Dr Seuss is being "unpersonned and erased from children's literature" (legitimate quote from r/unpopularopinions) and making fake eBay removal messages, when all it was was that his estate decided to pull in a second opinion and eventually pull out 6 relatively unpopular books that had problematic caricatures.

There is a debate to be had about that, but all this alarmism about how "THE LEFT IS DESTROYING SOCIETYYYYY" is becoming asinine.

Why can't we have an honest conversation without ramping up the Fox News nonsense machine?

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 76

Alesha1991

16

I don't agree with censoring books written in earlier times. It's definitely important to stand up to & challenge racism + other forms of bigotry but I think this is the wrong way to go about it- you can't really hold works that were written in different eras to modern standards. If anything, some of the more problematic content could be used to educate kids about how social attitudes have changed over time

Reply 77

vapordave

Debate & Current Affairs Helper

20

Original post by Arthur_Morgan

The cancellation of Dr Seuss just makes me want to read more of his books

Dr Seuss has not been cancelled, that's melodramatic...

Reply 78

username4969948

16

Original post by Ascend

Meanwhile, Dr. Seuss book sales soar

Which makes the decision to stop publishing six Dr. Seuss books a very sound business move.

Dr Seuss Enterprises are laughing all the way to the bank as those outraged by this decision are throwing money at the very people responsible.