Six books in the ever-rhyming Dr Seuss universe are no longer going to be published due to racist and insensitive imagery and themes, as accepted and announced by the Dr Seuss Enterprises team. And hoo boy it’s certainly put a bee in the bonnet of conservatives, and those who bloody love to whinge about things becoming “too politically correct these days”.
In a statement released on March 2 – the late author and cartoonist’s birthday – the company said that it would be ceasing the publishing and distribution of six titles after a review of the entire Seuss catalogue with a panel of experts.
“We are committed to action,” the statement read.
“To that end, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, working with a panel of experts, including educators, reviewed our catalogue of titles and made the decision last year to cease publication and licensing of the following titles: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer. These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.
“Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’s catalogue represents and supports all communities and families.”
All of the titles were originally published between 1937 and 1976, and it’s safe to assume that the conversation has progressed beyond what was acceptable (and what was swept under the rug) between then and 2021. But some conservative types have gone off like a frog in a sock about it, fixating on this move as some kind of flagrant affront to their personal rights.
Over in the US, Fox News has apparently gone into full panic stations, and have spent nearly the whole day losing their brains over six books they probably didn’t give half a shit about yesterday.
It’s just 10AM and Fox News has already had 8 segments on Dr. Seuss “quite literally being canceled” [Narrator: He wasn’t] pic.twitter.com/uSHnBT8sXn
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 2, 2021
Fox News: Charlie Kirk on Dr. Seuss
CNN: FBI director on insurrection
MSNBC: FBI director on insurrection pic.twitter.com/v9kXB5GS44— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) March 2, 2021
Fox News is still talking about Dr. Seuss pic.twitter.com/dkwpoMju5o
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2021
I think my favourite here is the news strap screaming that President Joe Biden has omitted Dr Seuss from the national Read Across America Day, simply because he didn’t quote the author’s work in his speech, like former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump have done previously.
Noted dry-ass p-word, Ben Shapiro, has also spent the better part of his day breathlessly tweeting and retweeting others getting all up in arms.
BRB buying all the Dr. Seuss volumes for the kids before the woke book burners can get to them all
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 2, 2021
The response to the decision is almost as if the Dr Seuss Enterprises company is actually hunting down the Cat in the Hat to euthanise him, not simply deciding to stop publishing a couple of books that don’t align with the company anymore.
Happy Wednesday, I guess.
