There is misogyny and homophobia and patriarchy and racism and classism and sexism and every other “ism” and “obia” under the sun. There is certainly much that is offensive in the human cultural record. Second, I have deep concerns about the project of scrubbing history of any book or piece of music or work of art that does not map on to what we deem acceptable right now. Seuss story and the broader trajectories it represents. And I worry that innocent, even laudable human curiosity about difference will be among the casualties of the Dr.
I know that when I travel abroad, I am often honoured to be asked to share my story when it’s rather obvious that I am not from the place I am visiting.
I know that I am endlessly curious about human beings, where they’re from, what they do, why they do it, what influences formed them, etc. But I think that at least as often, it can simply be curiosity.
One often hears today that inquiring as to someone’s ethnicity is offensive because it implies that they are “other” or “not from here.” Sometimes, clearly. Seuss) mocking and belittling difference? Or was he opening a window to a world beyond what many children would have known about, even if in ways we would not choose today? One can imagine that a child growing up in America in the mid-twentieth century had not encountered many Chinese or Arab or Inuit people or had little exposure to chopsticks or people riding elephants or whatever else. As far as I can tell-and I am open to being corrected on this-the reason these six books were discontinued mostly had to do with portrayals of ethnic difference. At any rate, I don’t run the zoo, but if I did, here are three things I might say.įirst, I wonder what will become of simple curiosity if we continue to eliminate anything that highlights difference in what we deem to be clumsy or offensive ways. She wasn’t interested in writing a guest post, strangely. I reminded her that I had a platform, modest though it may be. “I need a platform to protest this!” she said. My wife does not normally have much interest in the culture wars, but, like many, she grew up on Dr. Evidently, six books from the well-known author and illustrator will no longer be published due to “racist and insensitive imagery.” Classics like The Cat in the Hat and The Sneetches are safe (for now), but And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and If I Ran the Zoo did not make the cut. Seuss running afoul of the cultural gatekeepers that broke yesterday. No, the object of her displeasure this morning was the story of Dr. My wife got a little heated over breakfast today.
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