Six Dr Seuss books pulled over racist imagery

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3123822/six-dr-seuss-books-pulled-over-racist-imagery

by etiam • 5 years ago

30 33 5 years ago

I was thinking the other day about what books and movies I need to save for my kids before they are all censored. It's really sad that availability is limited by people's sensitivity, and now that so much is subscription based, it will only get worse.

maxwell• 5 years ago

Why I'm keeping/copying the DVDs and VHSs, creating archival SD cards and drives, and so on.

How long until more Simpsons episodes get pulled?

"We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light. We have all the magic of the digital age to do that with."

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m...

coolspot• 5 years ago

New neuralink update will fix these intrusive thoughts.

headhuntermdk2• 5 years ago

Its called accountability

mcphage5• 5 years ago

what books and movies I need to save for my kids before they are all censored

Are you keeping them because they're books and movies that mean something to you, or are you keeping them because they have objectionable content?

diggernet• 5 years ago

How about because they are good stories, often with important messages, and any objectionable content is often a reflection of the times and not intended to be hurtful?

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, features a “Chinese boy” with a rice bowl and chopsticks

This is the level we've stooped to now? Should Chinese restaurants stop offering chopsticks?

IAmWorried5• 5 years ago

Your definition of objectionable isn't my definition of objectionable. There was once a time when having a thick skin was lauded. Now, it seems we are in a race to pander to the most thin skinned people around.

sigmaprimus• 5 years ago

Which ever way You decide which to save is fine, as long as You don't use "Eeny,meeny,miny,moe" that method was canceled a decade ago.

klipklop• 5 years ago

This is exactly why I bought a copy of Tropic Thunder on blu ray. I suspect that one day this movie will not be on streaming services.

loukrazy• 5 years ago

I feel like the more sane way to do this is to add disclaimers / explanations at the beginning ala Disney Plus or others

thatswrong0• 5 years ago

I would prefer this as well, as the books could then serve as an educational tool. But at least it doesn't seem like Seuss enterprises is doing this to necessarily bury / hide these depictions. Here's an excerpt from the Seuss website:

"While the vast majority of the works he produced are positive and inspiring, Ted Geisel also drew a handful of early images, which are disturbing. These racially stereotypical drawings were hurtful then and are still hurtful today. However, Ted’s cartoons and books also reflect his evolution. Later works, such as The Sneetches or Horton Hears a Who!, emphasize inclusion and acceptance. Ted would later edit some of his inappropriate images, depicting his characters in a more respectful manner."

https://www.drseussart.com/dr-seuss-use-of-racist-images

mcphage5• 5 years ago

Or if it's a page or two in the entire book—hire someone to redraw those pages without the offensive content.

mcphage5• 5 years ago

I have a lot of complicated feelings about this—3 of the 6 books are ones that I love, and have happily read to my children. On the other ... not really a surprise. Racist caricatures abound in older books written for children, and I'm glad that we are now more respectful in how we treat people from other cultures.

IAmWorried5• 5 years ago

The thing I hate is headlines like this WaPo headline: "If curtailing racist imagery in Dr. Seuss is ‘cancel culture,’ what, exactly, is your culture?"

Let's get over the clickbaity title and look at their actual argument. They think that it is worth cancelling these things because of "racist imagery." But who are they to decide what is and isn't racist? The goalposts literally shift on this every day. I grew up saying "I don't see color", and now this isn't even OK to say anymore.

Are we really going to let a bunch of totalitarian journalists anoint themselves as the ministry of truth? Does anyone seriously want to live in a world where journalists have the power to decide the definition of racism and immediately convict those who don't meet the new criteria?

I don't really see a way out of this for now, because it appears that Twitter and journalists have the CEOs of America by the balls. I think we are pretty much going to see a major economic civil war in this country, with mass quittings and firings, before people actually come to their senses.

dragonwriter2• 5 years ago

They think that it is worth cancelling these things because of "racist imagery." But who are they to decide what is and isn't racist?

The people who made the decision about problematic content here were Seuss Enterprises, LLC, the owners of the content.

I grew up saying "I don't see color", and now this isn't even OK to say anymore.

Um, it was never okay to say: this has been mocked in popular culture for decades as a signal of privilege and avoidance of real racial issues.

AnimalMuppet2• 5 years ago

Then, if you legitimately want to say that you treat people as individuals, not as members of a "color" or "ethnicity", what do you say?

IAmWorried5• 5 years ago

If you think it isn't OK to treat people the same regardless of who they are, you must live in Portland. I seem to recall someone saying "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Must have been Trump, right?

ilyaeck3• 5 years ago

Curious: why was this post flagged?

headhuntermdk2• 5 years ago

Good question.. you would think that this is a discussion worth having

gremlinsinc• 5 years ago

Wouldn't it be better for race-relations as a nation to keep the books, but move them into some sort of lesson plan around why these books are not good, pick apart what's wrong with them and use that as a teaching about how those who came before us weren't as tolerant and maybe we can learn to be better?

Six Dr Seuss books pulled over racist imagery

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