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> So, calm down—Dr. Seuss hasn’t been “canceled.” This talking point keeps getting repeated over and over online in what I assume is an attempt to downplay "ca
by stolenmerch 6y ago
> So, calm down—Dr. Seuss hasn’t been “canceled.”
This talking point keeps getting repeated over and over online in what I assume is an attempt to downplay "cancel culture" and portray mostly conservatives and concerned liberals as knee-jerk reactionaries. However, Dr. Seuss got dropped from Read Across America Day despite the annual tradition of him being included.[1] Many schools have said they're not technically "banning" Dr. Seuss, just not talking about him much anymore.[2] And online bookstores and resellers have made some of his books forbidden and have exercised their power to deem some of his images offensive or not.[3]
It's unclear what the status of Dr. Seuss will be in a year from now, but it's not hard to imagine his very name becoming just toxic enough not to bother with. This is textbook cancelation. Yet any attempt to point out that this is how it begins is routinely given dismissive "slippery slope fallacy, bro" type arguments. Yes, we know Dr. Seuss Enterprises can protect its IP and not publish whatever they like. Not the issue at hand. We're talking about a slow (or not so slow) reframing of the author's entire reputation. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's also ok to be a frog in the water and wonder out loud whether the temperature is rising and we might get boiled someday.
[1] https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-joe-biden-break-dr-seuss-tradition-read-across-america-day-1573202 https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-joe-biden-break-dr-seuss...
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/01/us/loudoun-county-public-schools-virginia-dr-seuss/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/01/us/loudoun-county-public-scho...
[2] https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-03-05/dr-seuss-read-across-america-los-angeles-county-schools https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-...
[3] https://www.wsj.com/articles/dr-seuss-books-deemed-offensive-will-be-delisted-from-ebay-11614884201 https://www.wsj.com/articles/dr-seuss-books-deemed-offensive...
- scsilver 6y agoAs long as its not the government doing it, its seems like free choice of association.
- cramey 6y agoI'm not sure I fully understand what your outrage is. It seems like you're concerned that judgements of acceptability change over time. Is that not to be expected?
- stolenmerch 6y agoNot outraged, just politely criticizing the all-or-nothing attitude. As I cited, the cancelation of Dr. Seuss as an author may have begun. Maybe not. It's fair to wonder about this. I don't much care for some obscure, racist books that will no longer be published. I do care about these obscure books now standing in for his entire oeuvre and making him a de facto, toxic author not worth teaching or associating with. Wanting to tap the brakes on this "cancel culture" is a reasonable response, in my opinion.
- tlholaday 6y ago> ... in what I assume is an attempt to downplay "cancel culture" and portray mostly conservatives and concerned liberals as knee-jerk reactionaries. Question your assumptions.
- 8note 6y ago> We're talking about a slow (or not so slow) reframing of the author's entire reputation. The author's reputation to who? Clearly the author already had this new reputation, and it's just becoming more widely adopted.
- alisonkisk 6y agoDoes Dr Seuss have a right to be the centerpiece of children's literature for all time? What's wrong to moving on to other books? Why is it OK to "cancel" everything that isn't Dr Seuss?