Poll of the Day > 6 Dr. Seuss books to stop being published due to racist depictions

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-seuss-6-books-stop-published-racist-images/

"Research in recent years has revealed strong racial undertones in many books written/illustrated by Dr. Seuss," the school district said in a statement.

In 2017, a school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, criticized a gift of 10 Seuss books from first lady Melania Trump, saying many of his works were "steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes."

In 2018, a Dr. Seuss museum in his hometown of Springfield removed a mural that included an Asian stereotype.

---

Like no pics

at all?

---

Well that's a witty way to up your sales on those books at least

So children's books are problematic now?
---

ReggieTheReckless posted...

Well that's a witty way to up your sales on those books at least

They're ceasing production specifically to avoid profiting from these racist images. I haven't read anything indicating they plan to recall any of the books, so yes in the short term they do stand to profit, unless they donate proceeds from the sales of those books.

LeetCheet posted...

So children's books are problematic now?

No. This is a dumb take.

---

Worth noting that I only own 4 Dr Seuss books, and 3 of the ones I own are on that list of 6, lol

The ones I have:
On beyond zebra
Mcelligots pool
If I ran the zoo
If I ran the circus (not on the list)

Far-Queue posted...

They're ceasing production specifically to avoid profiting from these racist images.

I more so mean that any publicity is good publicity, and a story like this brings more attention to their brand in general. Using the news for free advertising is a hell of a thing

Far-Queue posted...

No. This is a dumb take.

So dumb

---

ReggieTheReckless posted...

I more so mean that any publicity is good publicity, and a story like this brings more attention to their brand in general. Using the news for free advertising is a hell of a thing

Ah gotcha

ReggieTheReckless posted...

Worth noting that I only own 4 Dr Seuss books, and 3 of the ones I own are on that list of 6, lol

The ones I have:
On beyond zebra
Mcelligots pool
If I ran the zoo
If I ran the circus (not on the list)

Maybe you can post pics for Fatal unless you think you'll get modded

---

Probably not being published cause they don't sell well

---

VioletMassacre posted...

Lets just erase all of history so well never learn.

Stupid take

---

VioletMassacre posted...

Lets just erase all of history so well never learn.

Another dumb take.

These books aren't being erased, or banned. They're simply stopping publication. They'll still be available and will likely always exist in some form or another.

---

Hardly an issue.

These aren't very popular Dr. Seuss books at all. I own nearly the whole gamut of Dr. Seuss, and I only have two of those listed. My guess is they don't sell at all, and this may be a way to drum up sales (similar to the Disney 'vault')

---

He was right all along, we SHOULD prejudiciously hate on green eggs and/or ham!

---

Cancel dr suess

---

Dr suess is a misogynist bigot racist xenogear

---

---

ArvTheGreat posted...

Dr suess is a misogynist bigot racist xenogear

Dr. Seuss was a giant mecha? :)

---

Shel Silverstein's better anyway.

---

Why are people incapable of reading the article

---

I never even heard of the dr Seuss books they find problematic.

except for cat in the hat which they ultimately found was not.

---

What's next? He-Man for "toxic masculinity"? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for "cultural appropriation and mocking their genetic condition"? TRANSformers?

We're already going after classic literature like TKaM, and Mark Twain. Half the old Looney Tunes library is "problematic". The Muppets have content warnings now when Jim Henson was arguably as Left as you could be in his time.

Now we're going after Dr Seuss?

What's next? Bob Ross? Mr. Rogers? Captain Kangaroo?

We won't let 7 year olds decide what to wear to school, but we'll demand that the most wholesome programming of the past indocrinate children as young as possible.

This shit is getting out of hand. This virtue signalling marxist cultural warfare needs to be put in check and called out for what it is.

Eventually we'll be asking Mario to attone for his mistreatment of Goombas and Koopas. Pac-Man will have to genuflect for his subjugation of Ghosts.

Think I'm being hyperbolic? Would you have ever called the Muppets or Dr fucking Seuss "problematic" just 5 years ago?

What's next? What major cultural cornerstone will be torn down next?

This is China's "Four Olds" all over again, but in America, and some of you are more than willing to slurp it all up uncritically.

Vote Giant Meteor/Solar Flare 2024.


---

LuciferSage posted...

This shit is getting out of hand.

it's really not tho

LuciferSage posted...

Would you have ever called the Muppets or Dr fucking Seuss "problematic" just 5 years ago?

PBS, for one. This article is from 2015.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/8-things-didnt-know-dr-seuss
"He also lambasted anti-Semitism and racism, although his depictions of Japanese people with exaggerated racial features proved problematic."

---

LuciferSage posted...

Waaaaahhhh! The world is changing and I'm afraid I won't be able to flex my ignorant prejudices any more waaaaahhhh!!

Need a safe space, buddy? A security bwankie?

All books that I never saw as a child and I read a lot of Dr. Suess. I'm sure those books were already avoided.

---

and I had read about Dr. Suess's racist political cartoons at some point in high school

idk why people are making a big deal out of this

---

LuciferSage posted...

What's next? He-Man for "toxic masculinity"? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for "cultural appropriation and mocking their genetic condition"? TRANSformers?

We're already going after classic literature like TKaM, and Mark Twain. Half the old Looney Tunes library is "problematic". The Muppets have content warnings now when Jim Henson was arguably as Left as you could be in his time.

Now we're going after Dr Seuss?

What's next? Bob Ross? Mr. Rogers? Captain Kangaroo?

We won't let 7 year olds decide what to wear to school, but we'll demand that the most wholesome programming of the past indocrinate children as young as possible.

This shit is getting out of hand. This virtue signalling marxist cultural warfare needs to be put in check and called out for what it is.

Eventually we'll be asking Mario to attone for his mistreatment of Goombas and Koopas. Pac-Man will have to genuflect for his subjugation of Ghosts.

Think I'm being hyperbolic? Would you have ever called the Muppets or Dr fucking Seuss "problematic" just 5 years ago?

What's next? What major cultural cornerstone will be torn down next?

This is China's "Four Olds" all over again, but in America, and some of you are more than willing to slurp it all up uncritically.

Vote Giant Meteor/Solar Flare 2024.

racism is bad fyi

---

More good ole Questionable Asian References...

Sad really enjoyed his books as a kid

What's the standard for "racist depictions" now though? Boston schools are literally phasing out the advanced programs because there were too many white and asian kids in them. Literally dumbing down an entire generation so we can "be less certain". So here, asians are clearly considered "white" now.

Meanwhile, there were two other "axis powers", "germans and italians".

Punching Nazis, and screaming about fascism is all the rage these days, yet those powers were also "white".

Seems to me this comparing everything to WW2 has totally jumped the shark, and we're left with a bunch of progressive lunatics looking for the next thing they can impose "progress" on without fuck all in terms of consistency or critical thought.

---

LuciferSage posted...

Boston schools are literally phasing out the advanced programs because there were too many white and asian kids in them.

I live in Massachusetts and this is not accurate.

They're putting the program enrollment on a 1 year hiatus while they work to improve equity in the admissions process. The program is still very much alive, students who are currently enrolled will continue with their curriculum. Not at all being "phased out."

---

https://www.wgbh.org/news/education/2021/02/26/citing-racial-inequities-boston-public-schools-suspend-advanced-learning-classes

---

It's no secret Dr. Seuss was racist against Asians, particularly Japanese. He made a lot of anti-Japanese propaganda with racist depictions during WWII. One might have been able to forgive this considering the tension of the war at the time, but then he, uh, just kept up with the racist depictions and descriptions.

I don't care if these books cease publication. They were already in the bottom tier of Seuss's work. Personally, I'm more in favor of the disclaimer route, but I don't really see these books as a loss to the grand pantheon of human creation.

Edit: it's also unsurprising that this is picking up steam right now, the Rise Up Against Asian Hate movement has been growing a lot in recent weeks.

#AllHamMatters

Worth the moderation

---

Far-Queue posted...

I live in Massachusetts and this is not accurate.

They're putting the program enrollment on a 1 year hiatus while they work to improve equity in the admissions process. The program is still very much alive, students who are currently enrolled will continue with their curriculum. Not at all being "phased out."

His posts here are unsurprisingly full of misinformation, but what do you expect from someome who cries about the cUlTuRaL mArXiSm boogeyman. Like, where he says they're going after Mark Twain and To Kill a Mockingbird? Those books have topped the list of banned books in America since before Whiskey was born. It's not a new thing that idiots are trying to cancel them. What's more, it's almost always been racist Southerners trying to get it cancelled. Whiskey just needs to fill misplaced rage quota for the week.

The majority of Dr Seuss books are fine and nobody is trying to get rid of those

these are some obscure titles with questionable content that teachers have issue with. Flipping out about headlines like this and the potato head nonsense are exactly why everyone thinks that conservatives are nutcases and they have no finger on the pulse of the culture of our country

---

I actually think I owned the book(s) in the last two pictures as a kids, as I vividly remember those parts. In fact knowing how little of most stuff I owned they were probably the only things of Dr. Seuss I actually owned.

Not sure if I still have them, a lot of my childhood books were either sold or given to my cousins.

---

every single anti-war cartoon about ww2 is racist by this standard
you don't see a chinese man in a book and think that people look like cartoon characters

like is the jackie chan cartoon now considered racist?


---

RoboXgp89 posted...

every single anti-war cartoon about ww2 is racist

not exactly surprising

RoboXgp89 posted...

like is the jackie chan cartoon now considered racist?

literally no one thinks it is

---

So they're about as harmful as the Redskins logo then.

That is to say, not really. Just more outdated than anything.

Those drawings to me also seem like a fascination with the perception of Asian culture at the time(which is to say very stereotypical), rather than mockery.

Stop publishing them, fine. But there's no reason to get up in arms over it.

---

RoboXgp89 posted...

every single anti-war cartoon about ww2 is racist by this standard
you don't see a chinese man in a book and think that people look like cartoon characters

like is the jackie chan cartoon now considered racist?

God, I miss that show all of a sudden.

---

idk, partly it feels stupid, but I'm also sure there are also changing sensibilities and... idk, it's probably mostly stupid.

Far-Queue posted...

In 2017, a school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, criticized a gift of 10 Seuss books from first lady Melania Trump, saying many of his works were "steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes."

Oh ffs, so it's not actually about Seuss, it's being driven by anti-Trump propaganda? (And anti-Trump stereotypes?) Honestly, I should have fucking known. #NeverTrumpers will literally find any reason to criticize anything anybody associated with the family does. Meanwhile if it came from the Obama or Biden family, they'd be getting a handwritten "thank you" note instead of these ass clowns slamming them in the press.

FatalAccident posted...

Like no pics

at all?

They couldn't include pics, they're too offensive! CBS would be canceled!

MrMelodramatic posted...

it's really not tho

Because it got well out of hand ages ago, yes.

LeetCheet posted...

So children's books are problematic now?

Everything is "problematic" now, because society keeps giving into nonsense.

Far-Queue posted...

Another dumb take.

These books aren't being erased, or banned. They're simply stopping publication. They'll still be available and will likely always exist in some form or another.

Another dumb take.

These works aren't simply being removed from publication, they're also being removed from libraries. And if something is being removed as such, you have the same end result as it being banned and the same external motivation is behind it. Not to mention that being removed from publication effectively removes it from circulation anyway.

ReturnOfFa posted...

and I had read about Dr. Suess's racist political cartoons at some point in high school

idk why people are making a big deal out of this

Which is the first real example of propaganda mentioned >_> Offhand, I can't recall if Seuss did any real political cartooning. Or maybe it's just a matter of the hidden messaging in Green Eggs & Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Oh the Places You'll Go, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (that last one has some serious social messaging relevant to the modern day). Even the Lorax is more social than political... and hilariously subverted through its usage now.

---

Arv went to a Chinese resteraunte and they gave Arv chop sticks really!? Just cause you own a Chinese shop you dont have to stereo type it and give out chop sticks ignorant people

---

Zeus posted...

Oh ffs, so it's not actually about Seuss, it's being driven by anti-Trump propaganda?

You didn't for a single moment consider that it might have been Seuss's books, rather than Melania Trump, that made the librarian question the appropriateness of the gift?

---

Krow_Incarnate posted...

So they're about as harmful as the Redskins logo then.

That is to say, not really. Just more outdated than anything.

Those drawings to me also seem like a fascination with the perception of Asian culture at the time(which is to say very stereotypical), rather than mockery.

Stop publishing them, fine. But there's no reason to get up in arms over it.

the redskins logo is a little different
they used to call drunk indians red skins lol

---

So... Ummm... Here's a question. It mentions things like 'a Chinese man who eats with sticks'. What... is actually wrong about saying that? The vast majority of China and Japan eat with chopsticks.

Like, I get the idea they're going for, and I know full well he WAS a racist especially against asians (I've seen some of the WWII posters), but I'm wondering what depictions can actually be done of a people group now when it seems like any depictions of a non-white people group get lamblasted as racist regardless of what they actually say or do. Like, they were complaining that the Karate Kid didn't have an asian teaching martial arts IIRC but now they're mad that a childrens book mentions a chinese person using chopsticks?

I'm not gonna defend the art but you can change the art easily. I certainly get why the 'wear their eyes with a slant' is offensive. It's just the 'Chinese man who eats with sticks' that confuses me when I've had to ask for a fork multiple times at japanese and chinese places because I can't, for the life of me, use chopsticks. Not to mention that that's... sort of what they do over in those places. Like, should I refuse to watch Naruto now because it reinforces racial stereotypes every time Naruto scoffs down a bowl of noodles with chopsticks?

---

Zeus posted...

they're also being removed from libraries.

Nope. Maybe school libraries? Not sure where you're getting this info from. Like to see a source.

---

Unbridled9 posted...

I certainly get why the 'wear their eyes with a slant' is offensive.

yet you posted so many other words

---