Steve Hawley wrote:
It’s a shame how context seems to matter so little anymore. Amen brother!
I'm gonna continue to decry this silencing and erasure of history---whether it be a Budda; a song; a book; a work of art. It's erasure of history. Who are we in our smug self-righteous little temporary spot in history to assume we know what's best and right about all that has gone before us and all that will come after us. What arrogance. Exemplified by comments of many of the smug self-righteous on this current forum. Nattering Nabobs of Negativism indeed.
Doesn't matter whether the good Dr's estate was bludgeoned into self-censorship or the mob took the books out the library and burnt them. They're no longer available!? EBay won't even let you sell them now!? Ain't that some modern shit?
Somewhere The Lorax (and MattinSF) is breathing a sigh of relief he escape the purge---for now.
Regarding the last picture by Dr S that Slowguy posted. Take it in context of WWII. Not saying it's right or wrong. Take it in the context of when it was written and where.
Very good book (it's academic so pretty dry stuff but wonderfully researched and exhaustively written) by John Dower----War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. Dower shows the racism used---by both sides---playing to their respective populaces' deepest fears so as to further national war aims. We're talking playing to deepest collective fears here to manipulate a national populace The picture Slowguy cited above come directly from that genre. Here are a couple more:
US Propaganda
Japanese propaganda---seems sophomoric at best to our current eye but understand the psyche of the Japanese populace back then and the intent and impact is very large
So the banning---or self banning--of six of Dr S's books doesn't seem like a big deal. In the micro it's not. In the macro it's yet another small step towards a dark future. And we've only to look back a few decades to see how bad that future can be
*Shout out to a personal stab to my heart by Woke Liberals where one of my childhood favorites was stripped of a prestigious book award title because a few lines she wrote. Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prarie" series
https://www.npr.org/...emoved-from-book-awa
Who is erasing history? Are these books gone, can you not find them anymore? Are they being burned in the town square? Not putting something out for public consumption on a daily basis does not equate to erasing history. They aren't banned, they just aren't being published further. You do see the difference? The example you gave regarding the history book pretty much shows how that information can be used in the future.
Most of the libraries I've read about are keeping the Dr. Seuss books on the shelf but may be moving them to different areas instead of the children's section. There are a few who are looking at, or have removed them, but my guess is that will change and those who did remove them will put them back as historical information.
With the stab to your heart, did they destroy all of her books or just take her name off an award? What history was erased? With that being said, I think it's silly to remove her name but I have not been in any position to be offended by her writing.
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