Cancelling Culture, by Dr. Seuss

Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam I am. I do not like greens and ham. Would you like them here or there? I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere.

Those are words most of us grew up with… the words of Dr. Seuss. Well, today the company that controls Dr. Seuss’ works, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, decided to pull six of his older titles from the catalog. Right-wing media is positively apoplectic. I thought Tucker’s head might explode.

The decision, however, makes total sense and is not an effort to cancel anything. At least not anything that matters. The six titles pulled are old, one was written in 1937, and the company said that they made the decision because they say the books contain racist imagery of Asians and Africans. (Here’s the company’s statement.)

In one of the books, “If I Ran the Zoo,” the three Japanese characters are carrying a white male on their heads… who is holding a gun. The accompanying text describes the three characters as “helpers who wear their eyes at a slant from countries no one can spell.”

That’s at least kind of racist, wouldn’t you say?

According to CNN, another Asian character, found in “The Cat’s Quizzer,” has a yellow face and is standing in front of Mt. Fuji, so it shouldn’t be hard to imagine that a company who markets to elementary school age children, would consider eliminating these sorts of things from their catalog.

They’re doing it because they want to keep up with our nation’s changing demographics and attitudes, not because they want to cancel anyone’s culture. And I promise that what Dr. Seuss did today won’t matter to anyone ever. It’s cancelling nothing.

First of all, the obvious. Dr. Seuss is a private company and as such, I have to point out that it’s none of anyone’s business why they did anything as long as it’s legal. Two… it’s not a slippery slope. There’s no slope. Private companies will make decisions they believe are in their own best interests. That’s the way things work in a free market, right?

The ‘N’ Word, by Mark Twain

I remember, about 10 years ago, when the debate over whether the ‘N’ word, which is used 219 times in Mark Twain’s classic, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” should be changed. Thankfully it was, and today instead of seeing that hateful and harmful word used incessantly, kids see the word “slave.” The word “Injun” was replaced with “Indian.”

People freaked out about that too, but the arguments were different. It wasn’t about cancelling culture, it was about protecting the literary integrity of Twain’s valuable work.

At least I understood that argument. Mark Twain’s work, as originally written, is important and should not be erased from history. It would be a little like renaming Harriet Beecher Stowe’s iconic novel, that had a lot to do with starting the Civil War in this country, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, because “Uncle Tom” is a derogatory slur to African Americans.

But, let’s understand the difference here. I’m pretty sure there aren’t any fourth graders reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Tom Sawyer, however, is an elementary school staple. There’s a big difference between what we allow 15 year-olds to read and the fare we make available to students at age 10.

So, changing the ‘N’ word to “slave” isn’t hurting anyone’s journalistic integrity. And, for whatever it’s worth, I personally would find it horrific to find a YouTube video showing a class of 10 year-olds reading “Tom Sawyer” aloud, ‘N’ word after ‘N’ word , so I’m glad it was changed.

Maybe no one cared about stuff like that in 1955, but isn’t that what we’re still trying to recover from today? We didn’t know then. We know now.

It makes sense for Dr. Seuss

So, Dr. Seuss wanted to update the company’s catalog by dropping a few older titles that are now out of step with how we view different races or ethnicities in this country. What’s so earth shattering about that? What is being cancelled? Not a thing.

Imagine if there were a Jewish character in an old Dr. Seuss book. It wouldn’t be a surprise, by the way, Seuss was known to have created antisemitic and overtly racist cartoons while a student at Dartmouth. So, what if there were a Jewish character in one of his children’s books and he had a huge nose and glasses, shown miserly sitting atop his pile of gold and money?

Would it be cancelling anything were the company to decide that perhaps it was time to retire that little gem of a title? Instead of “The Cat in the Hat,” it could have been “The Jew in the Shoe.” (Hey, it’s possible.)

The point is that right-wing media has become obsessed with firing up the base, shoveling red meat about how their country is being overrun by minorities at every opportunity. Maybe it is, in some ways, and maybe it isn’t… I don’t really know.

It depends on your perspective, I suppose. Things in this country are definitely changing, there’s no question about that and for some, the changes are troubling and scary. To others, less so. It seems to me that both sides have their points.

But, this is right-wing news nonsense, fodder for Tucker and Sean to feign outrage over. An easy show to make, like when they’re gleeful at finding some high school teacher in New Jersey who won’t let kids sing Christmas carols one year.

Consider this: If there is a “war on Christmas,” then Christmas is winning. Don’t worry about Christmas, it’s doing fine. And by all means, keep saying “Merry Christmas,” if that’s what you want to say. No one really cares about that either.

I’m Jewish, in case that fact escaped you, and I say Merry Christmas all the time. Even when talking to other Jews. And you certainly don’t need to say “Happy Holidays,” ever. We know which holiday you’re talking about.

Stereotypes don’t help

There’s no good reason for elementary school children to be exposed to images that are based in a racist view of the world. Just like they don’t need to see mustached Italians making a pizza or slurping spaghetti in an apron. Or, Irish people always drunk. (That was a joke, don’t freak out.)

There’s nothing wrong with a company updating its product line as it sees fit to do so. Often, it’s caused by changing times and demographics, so what? Nothing is being cancelled because of it, so calm down.

Don’t let cable news suck you in. Nothing of consequence is happening and we have a lot of other pressing things to deal with, the pandemic comes to mind, but the economy would be a strong follower.

Tucker and Sean could be devoting airtime to helping their viewers understand the new vaccines (that you can bet both of them will be taking of have already received) or making a case for or against economic stimulus… or complaining about immigration policies under Biden, I really don’t care.

Anything that actually impacts someone somewhere. Instead of Fox News’ headline today: “Republicans Blast Biden, progressives for trying to cancel Dr. Seuss.”

Just stop doing this. I do not like it in a tree. I do not like it on TV. I do not like it in a box. I do not like seeing it on Fox. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.

One final thought…

Lastly, I feel I have to mention that although I raised a daughter and read all the Dr. Seuss books along the way multiple times, I’ve never even heard of any of the titles being pulled from the Seuss catalog. “And to Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street,” isn’t exactly a classic. Neither is “McElligot’s Pool.” I think we’ll survive those two unknown works being out of print.

So, if the Fox News vigilant crusader hosts hadn’t made a federal case out of the Seuss news, I’d never even have noticed it happened… and neither would you.

Let’s stop being manipulated by these sorts of things. We’ll feel better if we do, I promise.

Mandelman out.