Many of us grew up reading the books of Dr. Seuss. Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat In The Hat, Hop on Pop. So recently 6 books from his library are being removed from circulation because of racist imagery. They portray people in hurtful and wrong ways.
Those 6 titles are:
And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street
If I Ran the Zoo
McElligot's Pool
On Beyond Zebra
Scrambled Eggs Super!
The Cat's Quizzer
I had never heard of these titles until this story came out. If you were honest, I bet you had not either. When these stories were published, we lived in different times, and some of this content was accepted, or tolerated without much thought. I am sure there was no mal-intent from Dr. Seuss. None the less, that material just isn't appropriate.
So the publisher of the books, Dr. Seuss Enterprises said it made the decision after speaking to educators and reviewing its catalog. They want to represent and support all communities and families. Which is what they should do.
This DOES NOT mean that Dr Seuss is being cancelled. No matter what the Right Wing would have you believe. This is a private company. They realize in this day and time, that some of this material is just not appropriate for kids. And it isn't. There are plenty of his books that can still be read or given to kids from Dr. Seuss's library.
An argument can be made that these books could be left alone and just provide a disclaimer that this material has images that are inappropriate. But I think the majority of people would not have noticed if these books had even been removed.
This, again, is NOT #CancelCulture. This is a private company changing with the times, and realizing that in 2021, this is not appropriate for kids. If you believe the Dr. Seuss is being cancelled, you would be incorrect. If you got removed from Twitter for constantly spreading lies, and the private company chooses to remove you, that is their right. You can say what you want, and they also have the right to prevent you from using their platform to do so.
Dr. Seuss's books will still be here for a long time, and will still be enjoyed by kids world wide. They have sold more than 650 million copies. I don't think removing these 6 books will change that. I think I will reinvest in reading Green Eggs and Ham. You should too.
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