Racist Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published

[ThisGuyTony 15,842]

 

[FentyGa 13,401]

work, does anyone know what’s in the book? i’ve never read it obv, i’m just curious

either way, i’m sure this is a great thing!

[alsemanche 17,236]

2 minutes ago, FentyGa said:

work, does anyone know what’s in the book? i’ve never read it obv, i’m just curious

either way, i’m sure this is a great thing!

Examples from the article:

But Dr. Seuss had a long history of publishing racist and anti-Semitic work, spanning back to the 1920s when he was a student at Dartmouth College. There, Dr. Seuss once drew Black boxers as gorillas and perpetuated Jewish stereotypes by portraying Jewish characters as financially stingy, according to a study published in the journal "Research on Diversity in Youth Literature."

"The three (and only three) Asian characters who are not wearing conical hats are carrying a White male on their heads in 'If I Ran the Zoo.' The White male is not only on top of, and being carried by, these Asian characters, but he is also holding a gun, illustrating dominance. The text beneath the Asian characters describes them as 'helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant' from 'countries no one can spell,'" the study authors wrote.

 

Edited March 2 by alsemanche

[Miss Dolly 3,496]

Snowflakes will be screaming about this. Love right-wing meltdowns. 

[TEANUS 5,899]

Wow some of the things in the books are really wild 

But I don’t see how this is shocking, newsworthy, or worth wiping off the face of the planet? Controversial opinion ahead, but it is mine, and I find it one that makes a lot of sense. Of course it has racist undertones, he was a man raised when there was zero education/ awareness really for minorities, you can’t blame the people who were just born during that era. 

Today, we have more education, awareness, and respect for minorities and have more and more means in place everyday to protect and celebrate them. Unfortunately, that was not the reality back then, and because of the grave impact of the outside world nurturing a child’s developmental track, that’s why lots of older people are inherently racist. It’s not hatred, it’s not dangerous as long as we can learn from it and acknowledge it, and luckily, their ways of thinking are going to pass with them to a large degree.

Nothing to say about modern white supremacy, get it out of here. Today people have the means and resources available literally everywhere to be educated and non-bigoted so if they choose the other way then they are truly the modern day racists we need to worry about

Edited March 2 by TEANUS

[ThisGuyTony 15,842]

1 minute ago, Miss Dolly said:

Snowflakes will be screaming about this. Love right-wing meltdowns. 

They already are.

 

[BUtterfield 8 24,611]

14 minutes ago, ThisGuyTony said:

They already are.

 

I hope they ban the bible lmao

Edited March 2 by BUtterfield 8

[alsemanche 17,236]

1 minute ago, ThisGuyTony said:

They already are.

 

He says it like it's a bad thing 

[littlepotter 46,747]

2 minutes ago, ThisGuyTony said:

They already are.

 

Let's light our Alejandro candles for that laid ease  

[Jose P 20,834]

6 minutes ago, ThisGuyTony said:

They already are.

 

The way he accidentally made a good point with the Bible thing

[Quartz 11,770]

If the author lived in our times, I'm sure this wouldn't have happened. 

[Chromatislaps 32,761]

Shouldn't they just add an epilogue or introductary chapter which says/explains that the book (these books) was (were) written in a time where jews and black people weren't treated equal, and that its disgusting that people used to have racist views like this? And not sell this book to kids anymore?

I honestly don't believe full erasure will help at all. If we go by that logic we should destroy books like Mein Kampf or destroy all concentration camps by the nazis... yet we don't because we confront people with the reality of a very evil regime from the past. Not to mention these books will still circulate in thrift stores/book markets/ebay, etc... its gonna be very difficult to erase it

I honestly believe mankind is going to repeat racist stuff like what happened in WW2, if we fully erase elements from the past that we don't like. The only way is to inform people what happened in the past, why it is bad and why things are different now and limit the distribution of the books to a select few.

 

Edited March 2 by Chromatislaps

[monster4life231 4,248]

10 minutes ago, Chromatislaps said:

should we really wipe this out? Shouldn't they just add an epilogue or introductary chapter which says/explains that the book (these books) was (were) written in a time where jews and black people weren't treated equal, and that its disgusting that people used to have racist views like this? I honestly don't believe erasure will help at all. If we go by that logic we should destroy all concentration camps by the nazis... yet we don't because we confront people with the reality of a very evil regime from the past. 

Interesting point! That's something I've also thought about.

On the note of To Kill A Mockingbird, why did people want it banning? From my memory of reading it, I thought that it included racism because that's the point of the book, to expose racism and racist structures. How could a book tackle such a subject without including characters that are overtly racist? 

[March34th 1,973]

15 minutes ago, Chromatislaps said:

should we really wipe this out? Shouldn't they just add an epilogue or introductary chapter which says/explains that the book (these books) was (were) written in a time where jews and black people weren't treated equal, and that its disgusting that people used to have racist views like this? I honestly don't believe erasure will help at all. If we go by that logic we should destroy all concentration camps by the nazis... yet we don't because we confront people with the reality of a very evil regime from the past. 

no. they should get rid of them, because children reading these books might adopt these stereotypes and racist views towards certain groups, not fully understanding that it's wrong or hurtful.

your comparison makes no sense. concentration camps were physical locations utilized by a former government to kill and torture people during wartime. they're kept as physical reminders of those who's lives were taken and the family members they left behind, and as a reminder of what bad can happen when the wrong people and wrong ideologies get into power. no 5 year old child knows what the holocaust was. and i doubt parents are taking their toddlers to a holocaust memorial.

these books are geared towards children. we should not allow people or publishers to distribute literature or other forms of media geared towards children who are still learning about the world if that media contains insensitive/racist/sexist/etc themes in it.

and saying "oh that was how it was back then, back then racism was okay" is not an argument

[Meruk Holland 1,485]

19 minutes ago, Chromatislaps said:

should we really wipe this out? Shouldn't they just add an epilogue or introductary chapter which says/explains that the book (these books) was (were) written in a time where jews and black people weren't treated equal, and that its disgusting that people used to have racist views like this? I honestly don't believe erasure will help at all. If we go by that logic we should destroy all concentration camps by the nazis... yet we don't because we confront people with the reality of a very evil regime from the past. 

It's the publisher's prerogative to choose how to handle it. They could have chose to do what Disney does and add a section that explains the context, or they could have put out a statement that all proceeds from a publication with racist tropes would go to a charity. But they've chosen to end production. 

As a side note, I see a lot of reaction to companies doing these things: removing problematic slogans, names, or mascots, and I really don't see a lot of people pushing for them - it seems more like something the companies are doing from within.