Let me ask you Bill... did you look at the pages that are considered offensive? "A chinese man that eats with sticks"..... hmmm.. when you go to Asian countries or Asian restaurants (or our house on Chinese or Japanese dinner nights) what do you see? people eating with chopsticks. That's not offensive, that's reality. Was it the picture then? A man, in cartoony fashion as all Dr Seuss people are, wearing an Asian sun hat, and eating from a bowl with chopsticks. Do you think that is racist or inappropriate? What about 1 fish 2 fish red fish blue fish. Should we be offended that the fish are identified by color? THIS IS CRAZINESS !!!! Y'all gonna have to stop perpetuating division like this... you know what they're doing right? Divide and Conquer. We're all just human. Quit being so damn sensitive... SMH.
No, I didn't go read any of it, it's kind of the point. Everyone is laughing all the way to the bank -- the company that has Seuss's copyrights, the professional outrage industry. This is by far the most attention that many of us have paid to Dr. Seuss in years, right when he's supposedly getting "canceled." Pretty amazing to watch.
Some of us have continued to pay attention to Dr Suess!! It's my go-to gift for kids/grandkids birthdays, friends have babies, etc. :-) But my point was about making this an issue of offense. And people pick it up and run with it. New/media continues the narrative about 'racist Dr Seuss'. :-o It's getting worse by the week, and now Amazon quietly choosing what books it finds offensive and cancelling them . Scary times..
I agree with you on the second part, about Amazon selectively deciding a book is offensive and not carrying it, as a supposedly neutral platform. Amazon isn't doing that with Seuss. This is the company that owns Seuss's copyrights saying, you know what, these six books have outdated and racist imagery, and we're going to stop publishing. The other 55 are still doing fine.
But again, what's truly amazing is that people want to "punish" the company for discontinuing these old books (not the popular ones though). And the way they're punishing them is by buying thousands of other books from the same company?
It isn't a hat alone; it is the stereotype that all Asian people wear that and work in patty fields. It would be like representing Americans as money-hungry businessman. We aren't all like that. And they are being shown to our children as a representation of an entire culture.
I totally disagree with your reasoning. In Asia, sun hats are worn by many/most including brightly painted hats worn by women, not just farmers. They keep out sun and rain and keep you cool. Is it racist to wear a beret? How about a cowboy hat? Does that offend people who's families used to ride the dusty plains? We just gotta stop the craziness...
It isn't that people don't wear these hats or that anything is wrong with them. It is the fact that the culture is not just people wearing those hats. It is the fact that when someone only sees that image of an entire culture, it shapes stereotypes and limit exposure to individualism. I would not like everyone to think that Americans wear cowboy hats and French people only wear berets. It isn't crazy to look at how we present the world to our children and make adjustments as we learn better. If it was a book about Asian culture and showed that image along with others that represent the Asian population as a whole I would have no problem with the hat.
Have to agree to disagree because I think this reasoning is crazy. No one picture can ever represent an entire people or culture... so do we need to do away with all pictures in books? Can't have a picture of a woman or men will have their feelings hurt bc someone might think it favors women. Can't have a picture of a Frenchman in a beret because someone might incorrectly assume that everyone in France wears a beret. I don't understand how, as an educator, you wouldn't see the value of using these as teaching moments, instead of trying to cancel history and anything that might let children learn about differences and thinking through the things they see and experience in their lives.
So sad that money is the basis for everything. Instead of calling out what could be a teaching moment, we are again hurled into an overdramatic and silly spin that those who have not really thought about it, latch onto for their own purposes. Publishing company is laughing all the way to the bank. As you said, they give up 2 titles to promote tons of others. Win win for them. Any author/publishing house who wanted to make scads of money would be thrilled.
The slew of sales reminded me of the days that Disney would announce a movie was going into the vault forever? Maybe they didn’t say forever but it was the 90’s and we’d rush to buy the $25 VHS tape. I still have said VHS tapes in the attic because it was a lot of money in the day. Sitting beside those VHS is a shelf of Dr. Seuss.
I know none of the books that were pulled and I can probably recite all the ones on the best sellers list.
Current day does anyone know if Baby Shark is a book? 🙃 Have a great day Y’all!
What? You never read If I ran the Zoo?? :-o I agree, most of the ones pulled were ones no one ready anyway. But sad that they had to make it 'to be inclusive'... :::eyerolling:::
I might not have made my point very well with this Seuss thing. The analogy wouldn't be canceling Jay Z, it would be like trying to get people outraged at him for whatever reason—and then "punishing" him by going out and spending tons of money on his music.
I have to weigh in on the Dr. Seuss book ban. I have worked in elementary school libraries and I do not believe in book bans. However, in this case I think it is appropriate to reevaluate the books we share with our children.
Many classic children's books are filled with stereotypes and verbiage that are not appropriate. We have learned and we need to apply that to what we expose growing minds to. We read to our kids to help them learn about the world, choices and consequences. So why would we have those lessons be mixed with hurtful images and out of date ideas?
I think the addition of a disclaimer on The Muppets show is great. Kids can learn to evaluate the evolution of our culture. The key is parents and kids have conversations about that evolution.
Good comment Kathy, I appreciate it. I wish I'd thought of this line for the article, but maybe it's not about "bans" so much as it's about "bandwidth." However, just letting some texts wither on the vine wouldn't bring with it the professional outrage, "buying as revenge" behavior, etc. Maybe this is the point I should have made better -- everyone buying Seuss books because six old titles are out of print in order to make a statement is literally putting money in the pockets of the people they're supposedly upset with.
It is not that different than when Charles M. Schulz decided to add Franklin to his Peanut cast. It was pointed out that the cartoon was missing an important representation of a culture. He got with the times and evolved his cartoon. While we do not have the ability to ask Geisel if he would approve changes/updates, his goal was to create books for children that created positive messages.
9 out of 10? This settles the question on the difference between coincidence and irony!
Let me ask you Bill... did you look at the pages that are considered offensive? "A chinese man that eats with sticks"..... hmmm.. when you go to Asian countries or Asian restaurants (or our house on Chinese or Japanese dinner nights) what do you see? people eating with chopsticks. That's not offensive, that's reality. Was it the picture then? A man, in cartoony fashion as all Dr Seuss people are, wearing an Asian sun hat, and eating from a bowl with chopsticks. Do you think that is racist or inappropriate? What about 1 fish 2 fish red fish blue fish. Should we be offended that the fish are identified by color? THIS IS CRAZINESS !!!! Y'all gonna have to stop perpetuating division like this... you know what they're doing right? Divide and Conquer. We're all just human. Quit being so damn sensitive... SMH.
No, I didn't go read any of it, it's kind of the point. Everyone is laughing all the way to the bank -- the company that has Seuss's copyrights, the professional outrage industry. This is by far the most attention that many of us have paid to Dr. Seuss in years, right when he's supposedly getting "canceled." Pretty amazing to watch.
Some of us have continued to pay attention to Dr Suess!! It's my go-to gift for kids/grandkids birthdays, friends have babies, etc. :-) But my point was about making this an issue of offense. And people pick it up and run with it. New/media continues the narrative about 'racist Dr Seuss'. :-o It's getting worse by the week, and now Amazon quietly choosing what books it finds offensive and cancelling them . Scary times..
I agree with you on the second part, about Amazon selectively deciding a book is offensive and not carrying it, as a supposedly neutral platform. Amazon isn't doing that with Seuss. This is the company that owns Seuss's copyrights saying, you know what, these six books have outdated and racist imagery, and we're going to stop publishing. The other 55 are still doing fine.
But again, what's truly amazing is that people want to "punish" the company for discontinuing these old books (not the popular ones though). And the way they're punishing them is by buying thousands of other books from the same company?
It isn't a hat alone; it is the stereotype that all Asian people wear that and work in patty fields. It would be like representing Americans as money-hungry businessman. We aren't all like that. And they are being shown to our children as a representation of an entire culture.
I totally disagree with your reasoning. In Asia, sun hats are worn by many/most including brightly painted hats worn by women, not just farmers. They keep out sun and rain and keep you cool. Is it racist to wear a beret? How about a cowboy hat? Does that offend people who's families used to ride the dusty plains? We just gotta stop the craziness...
It isn't that people don't wear these hats or that anything is wrong with them. It is the fact that the culture is not just people wearing those hats. It is the fact that when someone only sees that image of an entire culture, it shapes stereotypes and limit exposure to individualism. I would not like everyone to think that Americans wear cowboy hats and French people only wear berets. It isn't crazy to look at how we present the world to our children and make adjustments as we learn better. If it was a book about Asian culture and showed that image along with others that represent the Asian population as a whole I would have no problem with the hat.
Have to agree to disagree because I think this reasoning is crazy. No one picture can ever represent an entire people or culture... so do we need to do away with all pictures in books? Can't have a picture of a woman or men will have their feelings hurt bc someone might think it favors women. Can't have a picture of a Frenchman in a beret because someone might incorrectly assume that everyone in France wears a beret. I don't understand how, as an educator, you wouldn't see the value of using these as teaching moments, instead of trying to cancel history and anything that might let children learn about differences and thinking through the things they see and experience in their lives.
Love the clarity on the Seuss books.
So sad that money is the basis for everything. Instead of calling out what could be a teaching moment, we are again hurled into an overdramatic and silly spin that those who have not really thought about it, latch onto for their own purposes. Publishing company is laughing all the way to the bank. As you said, they give up 2 titles to promote tons of others. Win win for them. Any author/publishing house who wanted to make scads of money would be thrilled.
The slew of sales reminded me of the days that Disney would announce a movie was going into the vault forever? Maybe they didn’t say forever but it was the 90’s and we’d rush to buy the $25 VHS tape. I still have said VHS tapes in the attic because it was a lot of money in the day. Sitting beside those VHS is a shelf of Dr. Seuss.
I know none of the books that were pulled and I can probably recite all the ones on the best sellers list.
Current day does anyone know if Baby Shark is a book? 🙃 Have a great day Y’all!
What? You never read If I ran the Zoo?? :-o I agree, most of the ones pulled were ones no one ready anyway. But sad that they had to make it 'to be inclusive'... :::eyerolling:::
Do you share the same sentiment with the likes of Jay Z too? His work along with other rap stars doesn’t seem to concern “the cancel culture.”
I might not have made my point very well with this Seuss thing. The analogy wouldn't be canceling Jay Z, it would be like trying to get people outraged at him for whatever reason—and then "punishing" him by going out and spending tons of money on his music.
I have to weigh in on the Dr. Seuss book ban. I have worked in elementary school libraries and I do not believe in book bans. However, in this case I think it is appropriate to reevaluate the books we share with our children.
Many classic children's books are filled with stereotypes and verbiage that are not appropriate. We have learned and we need to apply that to what we expose growing minds to. We read to our kids to help them learn about the world, choices and consequences. So why would we have those lessons be mixed with hurtful images and out of date ideas?
I think the addition of a disclaimer on The Muppets show is great. Kids can learn to evaluate the evolution of our culture. The key is parents and kids have conversations about that evolution.
Good comment Kathy, I appreciate it. I wish I'd thought of this line for the article, but maybe it's not about "bans" so much as it's about "bandwidth." However, just letting some texts wither on the vine wouldn't bring with it the professional outrage, "buying as revenge" behavior, etc. Maybe this is the point I should have made better -- everyone buying Seuss books because six old titles are out of print in order to make a statement is literally putting money in the pockets of the people they're supposedly upset with.
It is not that different than when Charles M. Schulz decided to add Franklin to his Peanut cast. It was pointed out that the cartoon was missing an important representation of a culture. He got with the times and evolved his cartoon. While we do not have the ability to ask Geisel if he would approve changes/updates, his goal was to create books for children that created positive messages.