As a parent of a now-grown Asian child, if I were to have read her a book that included a ridiculous caricature of an Asian, I’d be ashamed and horrified. It’s all well and good to just assume it’s not a big deal as long as there’s a new foreward or a bibliography of less racist books at the end. The audience for the book is preschoolers, not adults looking for historical context. Who is the adult going to be reading the book to, if not small children? The books’ problematic illustrations aren’t appropriate for any kid to see (regardless of a new foreward).
I found a pdf of it. It’s not as bad as the crazy-ass black stereotypes in Zoo, but it does have some figures that appear to be Eskimos (not especially awful to my eyes), and a character named Ali who’s all beturbaned and silk-pantalooned, which is a little “Oh look at the silly Arab!”. To my eyes it’s not as bad as, say, Aladdin.
This is really concerning. The only news stories I’ve read have talked about a publisher’s decision to stop publishing a few of the stories of a dead man. Would you mind linking the article in which someone is having a cage of hungry rats fastened to their face?
Somebody needs to rile up the Republicans to have a big televised protest where they read The Butter Battle Book, Yertle the Turtle, and The Sneeches in public with absolutely zero sense of irony.
Oh, I read the part where you suggested changing the art in a frigging Dr. Sess book as if it were in any way remotely equivalent to changing the illustrations in a Dickens story. I was being merciful by not touching on that. Like the cultural baggage or not, the Seuss art is as fundamentally a part of his own work as the text from the very beginning, it isn’t an afterthought tossed in by a different artist ordered by a publisher. (My thought about the illustrations in Dickens was “There are illustrations in Dickens?”)
So if they put a sticker on the cover saying, “This book was written a long time ago. Some of the images/descriptions may be considered offensive. Please consider whether you find it appropriate to read it to your child.”
Somehow or another you are prohibited from being the parent in the room?
You also have the New York Times saying Brian Sicknick was beaten on the head with a fire extinguisher while his family says he died on a stroke in the January 6th Reichstag fire event on Capitol Hill. Bu Times columnist Nichola Kristof says it is Fox News that should be criminally prosecuted
Of course the thing is Asian Americans have have had higher incomes than any other ethnic group in America for decades. A large part of that is their parents are married. But when people like Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Dan Quayle point out the problems of single parenthood, they are demonized.
But, hey, murder rates are up 20-40%in Democratic run cities thanks to Defund the Police and Soros-supported district attorneys because to them :No Lives Matter
Whatever happened to liberals who supported Lenny Bruce and thought labeling record records was wacko?
Again, is it okay to read it to young kids that it won’t personally offend, even if it shows offensive images of other cultures, cultures of kids they’ll be going to preschool with? You’re good with that? As long as there’s a warning sticker?
I think some of us are looking back nostalgically at these books because they hold a place in our hearts. But we grew up in different circumstances and different cultures, and things are very different today. There’s no place for racist pictures in picture books anymore, even with a warning sticker.
A lot of media, have you listened to music lately?, is problematic. Banning a few, relatively obscure Dr. Seuss books is only going to lead to ridicule and a rise in value in the secondary market for the taboo literature.
Instead of a quixotic movement sanitizing the world, what’s wrong with proper parenting and the teaching of age appropriate critical thinking?
You can put that sticker on a copy of Huckleberry Finn. On a Dr. Seuss book it’s not likely to have any meaningful impact to the target audience.
The publishers and trustees of the Seuss legacy were the ones who decided not to publish those titles anymore. They said
Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families
They believe that removing offensive materials that were created at a different time with different sensibilities is the correct course of action. It’s extremely difficult to present insulting images in context when you’re reading to a 4 year old. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of other Dr. Seuss books available.