And to Think That This Was Big News in March

 

ABC News

      Back in early March.  There was a lot of buzz about books by Theodor Seuss Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss.  There was a lot about racist undertones from one side.  The other side complained about the Woke and Cancel Cultures being out of control.  It was all the news and people were raging in praise and complaint for a few days.

Then, like many things we get all stirred up about it calmed down, became yesterday’s news, and went away.   

Part of the news was that some libraries had pulled some Dr. Seuss books off the shelf.  What really triggered it was an announcement that six Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be published because of offensive and hurtful images. 

I was compelled to write about this because book banning is dangerous under any guise.  At first glance, it appeared to be equivalent of a ban.  As usual, I had to read about this cessation of publication to get the full gist of what was happening.  In doing so, I found the issue to be less black and white than that first glance.

It seems Dr. Seuss Enterprises LP, an organization that manages the image and works of the beloved children’s author, called for these books to no longer be published.  The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was made last year after months of discussion, the company, which was founded by Seuss’ family, told AP.

“Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles,” it said. ~ Associated Press

Random House for Young Readers, the primary publisher of Dr. Seuss’s work, agreed last year to cease publication of the books.  It was announced to the public on March 2, which was the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

The books 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

They, per Random House, are not the best sellers or the books Dr. Seuss is best known for.  I have only read two of these when I was a youngster:  And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street and On Beyond Zebra.  I could not recall any offensive images in the books, but then I last read them sixty years ago. 

I do recall If I Ran the Zoo but never read it.  The other titles I never heard of them.  Some of these are already out of print and only available in used book outlets and some libraries.

So, I googled some of the offensive photos.  Were the offensive?  Yeah, kinda sorta in my view.  Borderline.  But, being an older white male, I have been told I am incapable and not permitted to judge. 

I can see where the Seuss family might want to get ahead of any criticism and proactively trim the product line to preserve the overall health of the brand.  It is their right to do so.  It seems from this perspective to be a prudent business decision.  It seems before Dr. Seuss became a beloved children’s author, Theodore Seuss Geisel drew political cartoons that were definitely derogatory to blacks.  These cartoons are easily considered to be racist by today’s standards and probably even when he drew them. (I did not include any of these images here.  I will let this interested reader seek them out and make their own judgements.)

So, one could interpret a decision to no longer publish the books already out of print and those that sell very little as a way to protect the books that sell.  After all, Dr. Seuss is the top selling dead author having generated $32 million in sales last year.  That is a brand worth protecting. 

Even though this was all initiated by the organization established to manage the Dr. Seuss brand, there is still a taint of book banning.  

There was a video titled, The Woke Left Comes for Dr. Seuss.  I decided not to watch it.  Before I looked into this issue, I assumed that the woke left indeed came after Dr. Seuss.  I thought it was another case of political correctness run amok.  I no longer believe that.

There is an excellent article in Politico.com, Confront Dr. Seuss’ Racism, Don’t Cancel it.  There is another in the Los Angeles Times, Opinion, If ‘Mein Kampf’ can sell on EBay, why not discontinued Dr. Seuss books?, is a very balanced view showing the hypocrisy involved in some of this.  One in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, OPINION: Why schools should rethink Dr. Seuss, takes another point of view.  They are all worth reading and should help form or solidify your view on this subject.

Me?  I think maybe an even stronger force was at play here:  the free market.  Mein Kampf is still in print and sold because, duh…, people are still buying it.  This is disturbing but true.  These six Seuss books were being pulled from the market because, double duh…, they weren’t selling.

Books go out of print all the time.  That’s what happens when they don’t sell.  Ban a book and sales will skyrocket.  It actually happened in this case:  Dr. Seuss dominates USA TODAY bestseller's list amid controversy, takes six of Top 10 spots.  I was tempted to buy them, especially the two I remember reading, simply because I thought folks were telling me I couldn’t.  Heck, I never thought about buy a gun until there was serious talk about limiting my right to do so.

We have the interplay of two important tenets of this great country interacting here:  Free Speech and the Free Market.  We must vigilantly protect both.

One last thought here is that whatever controversy there was about this in March dissipated quickly and completely in a matter of days.