Read Across America -Dr. Seuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read the mulberry street one tonight to my kids. I wouldn’t consider it racist. It has a Chinese character who was a caricature (but so were the weird looking whites!) and said he eats with sticks. Truly the cartoon didn’t look offensive. It also was a Chinese person from the 1930s, not a modern looking person with western clothes on.

I’m very curious if actual Chinese people would be offended by these images.

Asian person here - yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious why is everyone is just focused on how the Chinese man is portrayed and no one touches on the shirtless African with a grassy skirt carrying an exotic animal?

But African tribes did dress like that. In the book they are meant to be from Africa. They aren’t African Americans depicted offensively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t we just keep the Dr. Seuss books that don’t depict people in a racist way, and not the ones that do?

This doesn’t seem that difficult.

And that's exactly what Seuss's company is doing. Loudon County is NOT banning any books, they're just removing the focus of Read Across America Week from just focusing on Dr. Seuss to focus on ALL authors instead. That's literally it. Stop watching Fox News and settle the F down.

I don’t watch Fox News. I wasn’t up on what this was all about.

I think you need to calm down.

[Anonymous]

I noticed on FB kids in other states and at private schools still celebrated Seuss’s birthday today with the hats, the green eggs and ham, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t we just keep the Dr. Seuss books that don’t depict people in a racist way, and not the ones that do?

This doesn’t seem that difficult.

And that's exactly what Seuss's company is doing. Loudon County is NOT banning any books, they're just removing the focus of Read Across America Week from just focusing on Dr. Seuss to focus on ALL authors instead. That's literally it. Stop watching Fox News and settle the F down.

Kind of sounds like YOU need to “settle the F down.” Hysterical much?
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are the cancelled books:

'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street', 'If I Ran the Zoo', 'McElligot's Pool', 'On Beyond Zebra!', 'Scrambled Eggs Super!', and 'The Cat's Quizzer'

Today is Geisel’s birthday and he is usually celebrated big time. He’s been cancelled by Biden! No mention of him whatsoever on a day when he is usually lauded as the giant of children’s literature that he is.

He was NOT a racist. How is it even racist to depict an Asian person in an Asian conical hat that is very culturally common and associated with Asians like cowboy hats are associated with Americans?

Geisel drew some ugly propaganda cartoons for adults during the pre WWII years to pay the bills and help push Americans toward the anti fascist war effort when Charles Lindbergh and others were pushing America First and happy to laud Hitler and his actions.

I am seriously astounded by the idiocy that is taking over American progressivism.

This is what I read this morning

As NPR's Code Switch team has reported:

"In And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, for example, a character described as Chinese has two lines for eyes, carries chopsticks and a bowl of rice, and wears traditional Japanese-style shoes. In If I Ran the Zoo, two men said to be from Africa are shown shirtless, shoeless and wearing grass skirts as they carry an exotic animal. Outside of his books, the author's personal legacy has come into question, too — Seuss wrote an entire minstrel show in college and performed as the main character in full blackface."

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972777841/dr-seuss-enterprises-will-shelve-6-books-citing-hurtful-portrayals

So other than being slightly inaccurate, whats the big deal? My kids once brought home a book where a polar bear befriended a penguin (they live on opposite ends of the earth) but the book wasn't being cancelled!

I don't blame Biden for this. He's got bigger fish to fry. This is the stupid super-liberal activists that make all liberals look bad.

I don't know if penguins and polar bears are a good analogy for non-white people.
So you'd have no problem with cihldrens books portraying Jewish people and their exaggerated noses?

No.

umm im not jewish but i am semitic and we all have long nobby noses that droop- a semitic nose in fact, since so many jewish people lived in europe they dont actually have them anymore & i would actually LOVE it of all teh characters in teh world weren't shown with the same d---ed button nose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are the cancelled books:

'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street', 'If I Ran the Zoo', 'McElligot's Pool', 'On Beyond Zebra!', 'Scrambled Eggs Super!', and 'The Cat's Quizzer'

Today is Geisel’s birthday and he is usually celebrated big time. He’s been cancelled by Biden! No mention of him whatsoever on a day when he is usually lauded as the giant of children’s literature that he is.

He was NOT a racist. How is it even racist to depict an Asian person in an Asian conical hat that is very culturally common and associated with Asians like cowboy hats are associated with Americans?

Geisel drew some ugly propaganda cartoons for adults during the pre WWII years to pay the bills and help push Americans toward the anti fascist war effort when Charles Lindbergh and others were pushing America First and happy to laud Hitler and his actions.

I am seriously astounded by the idiocy that is taking over American progressivism.

This is what I read this morning

As NPR's Code Switch team has reported:

"In And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, for example, a character described as Chinese has two lines for eyes, carries chopsticks and a bowl of rice, and wears traditional Japanese-style shoes. In If I Ran the Zoo, two men said to be from Africa are shown shirtless, shoeless and wearing grass skirts as they carry an exotic animal. Outside of his books, the author's personal legacy has come into question, too — Seuss wrote an entire minstrel show in college and performed as the main character in full blackface."

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972777841/dr-seuss-enterprises-will-shelve-6-books-citing-hurtful-portrayals

So other than being slightly inaccurate, whats the big deal? My kids once brought home a book where a polar bear befriended a penguin (they live on opposite ends of the earth) but the book wasn't being cancelled!

I don't blame Biden for this. He's got bigger fish to fry. This is the stupid super-liberal activists that make all liberals look bad.

I don't know if penguins and polar bears are a good analogy for non-white people.
So you'd have no problem with cihldrens books portraying Jewish people and their exaggerated noses?

No.

umm im not jewish but i am semitic and we all have long nobby noses that droop- a semitic nose in fact, since so many jewish people lived in europe they dont actually have them anymore & i would actually LOVE it of all teh characters in teh world weren't shown with the same d---ed button nose.

I am Jewish and the long, hooked nose is a core feature of anti-Semitic cartoons. No, I would not be ok with that.

[Anonymous]

PP her- i agree, the long "gargamel" depiction would be offensive to me as well but id like it if the noses were drawn a little less straight, with more of a bump and not all turn up at the end, its possible to draw non- european noses without descending in to caricature.

i actually love the mulberry street book but i think that they should have altered the image to make it inoffensive instead of getting rid of the book with no warning. Suess apologized after the war for his racism towards Japanese americans and wrote books to make up for it. He did "found" modern children's literature and i loved his work but my sister who is more conservative than me and honestly has a stick up her bum about most things always hated him bc it was too "creepy" for her so not liking dr. suss and nonsense words is a sign you are uptight and not particularly superior in any way. We dont have to focus solely on dr. suss but its frankly petty to push him aside like that.Also the Lorax is awesome. I think green eggs and ham could be problematic actually. . my husband who did not grow up reading american lit thinks so.. he thinks sam is too pushy and needs to buzz off and respect the other guy's choices. Also- julia donaldsons' books (which he buys by the boat load b/c "english") i absolutely HATE- they are the only ones that i refuse to read to my kids and tell them to go find their dad. Taste is all different i guess. the person who said that woke white people focus on this stuff instead of actually altering the systemic racism that is keeping asian kids in a quota system, appropriating their food and profiting off of it etc. . was spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are the cancelled books:

'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street', 'If I Ran the Zoo', 'McElligot's Pool', 'On Beyond Zebra!', 'Scrambled Eggs Super!', and 'The Cat's Quizzer'

Today is Geisel’s birthday and he is usually celebrated big time. He’s been cancelled by Biden! No mention of him whatsoever on a day when he is usually lauded as the giant of children’s literature that he is.

He was NOT a racist. How is it even racist to depict an Asian person in an Asian conical hat that is very culturally common and associated with Asians like cowboy hats are associated with Americans?

Geisel drew some ugly propaganda cartoons for adults during the pre WWII years to pay the bills and help push Americans toward the anti fascist war effort when Charles Lindbergh and others were pushing America First and happy to laud Hitler and his actions.

I am seriously astounded by the idiocy that is taking over American progressivism.

This is what I read this morning

As NPR's Code Switch team has reported:

"In And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, for example, a character described as Chinese has two lines for eyes, carries chopsticks and a bowl of rice, and wears traditional Japanese-style shoes. In If I Ran the Zoo, two men said to be from Africa are shown shirtless, shoeless and wearing grass skirts as they carry an exotic animal. Outside of his books, the author's personal legacy has come into question, too — Seuss wrote an entire minstrel show in college and performed as the main character in full blackface."

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972777841/dr-seuss-enterprises-will-shelve-6-books-citing-hurtful-portrayals

So other than being slightly inaccurate, whats the big deal? My kids once brought home a book where a polar bear befriended a penguin (they live on opposite ends of the earth) but the book wasn't being cancelled!

I don't blame Biden for this. He's got bigger fish to fry. This is the stupid super-liberal activists that make all liberals look bad.

I don't know if penguins and polar bears are a good analogy for non-white people.
So you'd have no problem with cihldrens books portraying Jewish people and their exaggerated noses?

You are keying in on something important: leaving out racist caricatures Seuss books are all white characters and animals. Schools prefer to show books in which all students can see themselves , not just white kids. Then students who aren’t white see themselves in books too. Which is why the focus is coming off Seuss to more diverse texts and authors . It’s 2021, not 1937.

But the characters barely look human at all. Lots of yellow and green humanoid beings, like the Simpsons. But while we're at it, I find the Simpsons way more racist than Seuss.

And we don’t watch the Simpsons in school or traditionally spend a whole week on the Simpsons.

No, but if you are antiracist and you or your kids watch the Simpsons, you are extremely hypocritical. The point though is that race isn't discernible in many of Seuss's books. That said, I don't think lack of diversity is a compelling reason to exclude a book from the classroom.

The supposed ‘white’ characters in Seuss books resemble deformed aliens. I am offended because that’s not what I want to be portrayed as. I do not look like these characters. All white girls don’t look like Cindy Lu or whatever. Seriously, I really don’t GAF.

No. There are regular white kids like the kids in Cat in the Hat and the people in Mulberry Street. There are weird fuzzy aliens and made up animals. There are no Black, brown or Asian people portrayed in a regular not racist way though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t we just keep the Dr. Seuss books that don’t depict people in a racist way, and not the ones that do?

This doesn’t seem that difficult.

And that's exactly what Seuss's company is doing. Loudon County is NOT banning any books, they're just removing the focus of Read Across America Week from just focusing on Dr. Seuss to focus on ALL authors instead. That's literally it. Stop watching Fox News and settle the F down.

+1

Low-information nitwits freaking out over nothing.

Haven’t the last four years taught you anything? Check your facts.

[Anonymous]

We can't celebrate any one author any more. Look at the JK Rowling controversy. A few years ago I took my kids to see Mo Willems. We were so excited. But it was obvious he cared more about selling books and moving the line along than the kids who came to see him. Maybe he was having a bad day but a librarian confirmed to me later that he has a huge ego. We are all imperfect so we either need to accept that or just focus on the stories and not the authors.

[Anonymous]

Just curious, is there a legal reason they cannot revise the books to remove the offensive terms and images? That way, kids could continue to enjoy them, without the offensive and inappropriate parts.

[Anonymous]

It's called the slippery slope guys. It always starts somewhere...eventually the line will cross something YOU enjoy and it will no longer be socially acceptable. That is what people are protesting over.

Everything can be viewed as racist today, but these books were not written today. There's a context and time they were created in. Let history be. No one is perfect. No one is a futurist and can perceive what is not acceptable in 50 years. View these books as a way for us to start conversations and say, hey, that picture, not so great...but we don't do that anymore, so we can LEARN from the past, not erase it from existence. We left a communist country that experience this and do not want this here.

I'm not white, but I sure feel bad for everyone who is right now. What I fear this is eventually going to do is to generate an even larger pushback from white identified groups who now feel like they need to gather and voice the protection for their own "kind" if you will. Appreciate your neighbors and view everyone as individuals. None of this will end well. Remember for every action, there's is an equal reaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, is there a legal reason they cannot revise the books to remove the offensive terms and images? That way, kids could continue to enjoy them, without the offensive and inappropriate parts.

I was wondering the same thing. It seems like most of the comments have to deal with the artistic depictions. Couldn't those be changed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, is there a legal reason they cannot revise the books to remove the offensive terms and images? That way, kids could continue to enjoy them, without the offensive and inappropriate parts.

I was wondering the same thing. It seems like most of the comments have to deal with the artistic depictions. Couldn't those be changed?

I guess his heirs would have to give their permission, so I guess that's not what they want.

"Should we fix your drawings Suess's head?"

"Uh, do whatever you want, I'm super dead!"

(Hamilton)