Dr. Seuss Books in Racist Row…
Six Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published owing to racist images and references within them, specifically in regards to black and Asian people. Not to excuse or condone such things, but they were common stereotypes of the time, and I did grow up with them while never becoming a white supremacist. I far preferred the surreal iconoclasm of Dr. Seuss to the exclusive vanilla wholesomeness of the Dick and Jane readers, plus he drew awesome anthropomorphic animals!
Objectionable racist portrayals in kiddie lit and entertainment of the time were not by any means restricted to Dr. Seuss. Consider Elmer Fudd as a ludicrous Native American in Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt. Remember Disney’s Song of the South. Visit the 1961 Dick Tracy cartoon series for stereotyped crime fighters Joe Jitsu and Go Go Gomez. These are but a few examples, to be sure.
The discontinued Dr. Seuss titles are but a few books among many that do not have objectionable content, and generally are among his lesser-known works. Dr. Seuss got a lot of kids reading, and eagerly so. His art had furry roots, and could be quite thematic while wildly entertaining. It largely holds up well today. While Theodor Geisel was a product of his times as are we all, he was a pretty cool dude whose legacy remains a good one.
And all I know is that I’m keeping and cherishing my Fox in Socks book forever, even if the fox does appear to have some kind of strange unknown disease or genetic affliction…
Explore posts in the same categories: absurdities, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, cartoons, controversial, furry, furry literature, twisted reality
Tags: Dr. Seuss books banned, six Dr. Seuss books dropped
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
FOXSYLVANIA 
March 3, 2021 at 7:55 pm
I can’t blame you for being incredulous. I am, too! The so-called whipping scene in his very first book AND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET? It’s the driver of a circus band wagon. And he’s not whipping a non-Caucasian. He’s flicking the tip of the whip at the backside of a blue elephant towing the wagon!
So, at the very worst, you have him (arguably!) being cruel to animals.
As to the so-called person of color riding the elephant? He is dressed like an Indian maharajah of the 19th century. A racist caricature, some might say? Then, so are the illustrations in works like 19th century editions of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS!
And the Chinese gentleman eating with sticks? To my personal knowledge, they still do so in China, itself. It’s only the red robe-and- conical hat ensemble that could be misconstrued as racist. But, again, that image is simply an unfortunate hold-over from 19th century artistic depictions.
To summarize how out of hand political correctness is getting? Back in the 1970’s, Johnny Carson related a news story about a town in Rhode Island that narrowly defeated enacting a bill that would have made it mandatory to refer to manhole covers by the far-less sexist term…
…person-hole covers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 3, 2021 at 10:10 pm
Person-hole covers treads too closely to referring to bodily orifices for my liking…
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 3, 2021 at 10:31 pm
Exactly!
LikeLike