Steve Breen for March 04, 2021

We should ban racist politicians, of course that would mean banning most republicans…

Republicans would rather ban voting access.

For the most part I agree with part 2 and think Breen’s blowing the 1st part all out of proportion even though there are some excrescences that I’ve seen going by.

Apples to fruitcakes FALSE EQUIVALENCE. DR SEUSS has NOT BEEN CANCELED.

Before becoming a beloved children’s writer, Theodore Geisel was a political cartoonist. Very liberal, especially for his time. He wrote more than 60 books under the pen name “Dr Seuss” and several more under the pen name “Theo LeSieg” and other names. ONLY SIX have been discontinued for future reprints.

Many of his most popular children’s books also include subtle messages of advancing harmony among people, including The Lorax, Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!, Horton Hears a Who!, Yertle the Turtle, The Sneetches and others. He was all about inclusion and diversity, even if he sometimes fell short of his own values.

He was also a product of his time, and included some demeaning and hurtful stereotypes in work from the 1920’s to the mid 1950’s. It is doubtful that any hate or malice was intended, but the stereotypes were nevertheless demeaning and hurtful.

This decision was made by those entrusted to preserve Dr Seuss’ legacy. I have no doubt that, if Dr Seuss were still here today, he would absolutely agree with this decision and, with a heartfelt apology, would likely edit those early works to remove the offensive images.

Or maybe it was work like this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/RespectableLaw/status/1366830622552043527

The decision to not continue printing some of Seuss’s work was made by the Seuss Foundation; not some government entity.

Nothing like getting mad over literature written in the 1940’s when the publishers themselves decide it’s not appropriate for today.

Maybe the “cancel culture” people should take a hard look at the Bible!! Now there’s a “book” that’s full of objectionable material!! Let’s start with all that smiting and move on from there!!

:-O

Breen’s an idiot. Dr. Suess was no racist. & we’re idiots if we fall for this bilge coming from the left.

Political Correctness was originally an idea to simply treat people with respect. It has instead become a way to bash anyone who doesn’t agree with you and bow down to tunnel-vision logic. One of the problems with the Seuss book was a Chinese person drawn with slanted eyes and chopsticks. Why is this a problem? Chinese people do have slanted eyes… and they very often use chopsticks. Hell, when I go to a Chinese restaurant I am often asked if I need a fork. Why is simply showing a generalized truth automatically racist? It isn’t – but we are being told it is. Example: I bet that if you ask a Chinese 8 year old to draw three people – a white, Chinese and black person – that (s)he would represent the Chinese with slanted eyes. Why? Because that is an automatic and realistic difference. It isn’t racist – it is truthful. The black person would almost certainly be drawn with a darker colour (altho not every black person IS of a darker colour). Also possibly with thicker lips. Or frizzy hair. Is this racist, or simply an acceptable fact? How ELSE draw a visual difference? Where such things COULD be (and often were) racist is when all the Black people looked the same – and were represented as stupid or lazy. The INTENT is racist – Dr Seuss’ choices almost certainly weren’t. Dr Seuss’s black person was in a grass skirt. If he wanted to represent an American Black pictorially – he almost certainly wouldn’t have used a grass skirt. But if it was an African black he wanted to depict – how DOES one do this? At the time that this book came out – grass skirts were quite possibly a typical native dress in some parts of Africa – which would immediately be understood by everyone as African as opposed to American. The choice is neither mocking nor racist – simply pragmatic. Why can’t people stop creating victimization narratives, and THINK for a second?

O.K. Reich-wingnuts, go online and order a copy of Disney’s “Song of the South” on DVD. Oh wait… YOU CAN’T, since the company VOLUNTARILY decided to not release it due to it’s outdated stereotypes. I don’t seem to remember hearing any of you screaming about that!

First it was 3 Stooges shorts on tv in the late ’50s turning me into a homicidal maniac. Now I learn that “racist” and “offensive” Dr. Seuss books warped how I view others. How did I ever grow up?

and most Democrats lol

Trevor Noah showed some of the pictures in the books on his show. To cease publishing them is a good idea. Trouble is, in time they will become collectables.

Geisel’s depictions of people of African and Asian descent, like such depictions by others during the 1940s and earlier, certainly weren’t done to entertain or amuse African Americans or Asian Americans. They represented white racist stereotypes. The publisher has every right to discontinue publishing them if they want (it’s called the free market). And it really doesn’t affect my life. Conservatives object to it for the same reason they object to taking down Confederate statues or renaming Aunt Jemima pancakes: because they have a tendency to be unable to give up any nostalgic remembrances of the past, even if it’s based in bigotry or prejudice.

Is this Dr. Suess’ birthday or something? This is second cartoon I saw depicting him. It’s great that his books are still classics among children! My favorite ones were of course, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop On Pop, and One fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Not necessarily banned; there is scientific merit in showing how out of touch they are but certainly not shown to children.

Let’s hope they don’t read Twain or Haley or whoever.

Were it not for Sonny Bono, some of those would have already passed into the public domain and this wouldn’t be a discussion.

In To Think I saw it on Mulberry Street there is a Chinaman with chopsticks! GAH! Racist and hurtful! Not to Chinese people, just the snowflakes afflicted with cancel culture syndrome.

Let’s be clear, these books were not banned. They were pulled by the very people who profit from them, a noble gesture by people who care more about society than money.

The Seuss company did it not liberals. Right wingers lie about everything.

Double standards on display, yet again.. The publishers of Dr. Suess yielding to public pressure yet that righteous public seems just fine with the stories in the bible.

Wouldn’t it be possible to edit the books to omit the offensive parts? The Sneeches should prove that Suess wasn’t a racist, at least not in his books, and throwing out a whole book for one racist picture isn’t reasonable.

I believe that it is right to push back when people spread misinformation and lies. It is true that people have the right to say what they want, that does not mean that there will never be consequences to those words. If one feels the need to unburden themselves in public, the public has a right to have its feelings about it. That being said, we as "the public’ need to consider the source as well. Dr. Seuss, from my memory, has not preached hate or division. I’m not saying that some images couldn’t be considered offensive, and that moving forward more care can be taken, but let’s think a bit.

Sorry Rags, the cancel culture movement was started by liberal idiots!!!

Whatever the Seuss heirs feel they need to do… Dr. Seuss will always occupy a part of my brain.

My favorite Dr. Seuss book has always been “On Beyond Zebra.” It’s so imaginative, both rhymes and pictures, that I once had it all memorized and often imitated the pictures in my notebooks while in class. I suppose Dr. Seuss has corrupted me to that extent.

I fear a future where everything is explained via short catch phrases, 3 word chants, and hash tag tailgating….oh wait

Cancel culture is supposedly very powerful. Therefore, I hereby cancel Ted Cruz. That’s it. He’s canceled. No more Ted Cruz.

I thought that “cancel culture” happened when others banished something or somebody because they didn’t like its message, usually by some kind of force against the will of what or who was being banished. In the Dr. Seuss books case, it it the owners of the publishing rights that made the decision to stop printing their own books – and I did not hear any pressure from outside against them that caused them to make their decision. But I suppose today any time a decision is made that involves opinion or culture, and conservatives feel threatened, conservatives scream “cancel culture”…

Best solution is for the parents or an adult to read first whatever they intend to give to a child. One of my favorite movies is “No Time For Sergeants” from 1958 starring Andy Griffith based a book written by Mac Hyman in 1954. Years ago I purchased the book on eBay to give to a young family member in grade school. I decided to read the book before sending it. Glad I did. In the movie Griffith’s character sees a woman officer and says he only sees ‘an officer’ and pays no attention to her being a woman. In the book the officer is an African-American male and Griffith’s character is asked if he sees the “N” word officer.

Learned a valuable lesson that day . . .

Shouldn’t all books espousing slavery be banned?One popular book says that if your slave has a wife and children, he can go free at the end of 7 years, but he can stay if he loves his wife and children, he can decide to stay with you, you hold his ear up to the doorpost and drive an awl through his ear. Gotta hurt. If you sell your daughter into slavery she is not freed after 7 years as the men are. But her owner can’t sell her to a foreigner.Well, I guess that’s better than what happens to a girl who is raped. She is sold to her rapist as his wife.

In a victorious war, kill all the males and mothers.Then can keep the young virgins “for youselves” as the Omnipotent Commander of the Universe saith.

I know people who want to make this book the law of the land.

The list of Seuss books banned is ZERO. The copyright owners in our capitalistic system decided to cease publication.

Which is the worse? Breen lies or Breen ignorance?

Seems like small edits could have been done instead of just stopping publishing.

Fox news is 24/7 Dr Seuss and Mr Potato head, they finally reached the level of their audience.

Books should never be banned, don’t read them you Book Burning Nazis.

These books were NOT banned. The estate CHOSE unsolicited to no longer publish them. Moreover, I believe that the author himself would agree with that decision. Before his death, he said he was embarrassed by many of the depictions he made of others. It only surprises me that it took this long.