Yes, we know, the Republicans are giving prime time coverage to what they call “Cancel Culture” referring to the decision by a private company, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, to not publish its property. Republicans are placing the blame totally on the backs of those snowflake Democrats. No more Mr. Potato Head. No more Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup. All because of the Democrats and their cancel culture.
Well, excuse me, but can any of these Republicans or talking heads ion Fox point to any legislation or policy or rule into effect by Democrats that prohibits the owners of the copyright to Dr. Seuss from publishing their property and make it available to the public? The quick answer is: NO.
Who or what is at fault, what is at the root of our tragic loss of McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer.? The simple answer is, to use the parlance of Republicans: Big Government and Regulations.
The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.
Why are Republicans simply calling for smaller government and limited regulations? How about copyright protections that only last for the life of the author? If that were the case, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer could be printed and sold by anyone on the free market. No more “Cancel Culture” Problem Solved.
I have yet to hear any Republican cry out against these regulations that are in full force, protected by a Big Government, and I wonder why? Maybe it’s because the wealthy class makes a ton of money because of this sort of big government and regulations, so there we have the Dr. Seuss Excuse: Big Regulations are No Motivation for Cancellations when the Realization affects Campaign Funds and Big Donations.
They have no actual ideas these days, so they need something to whine about. I’m not convinced this decision was absolutely necessary myself, but then it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a new copy of any of these books. It’s not as if there is going to be a mass book burning.
This illustrates the laziness of the media and even the “liberal” media for not calling out the truth. Instead of “liberals offended” about Mr. Potato Head, why not “Conservatives Demand that Private Businesses Conform to their vison”..
I’ll just keep this in my quiver the next time one of my few remaining conservative friends go off about “cancel culture”.
My late mother was a professional children’s librarian and lifelong Democrat (like me). She championed the civil rights movement for as long as I can remember — this in a MD suburb of Washington DC, where her views were not widely well-received.
She grew up reading me a little children’s book that was well-loved at the time, certainly as much as any Dr. Seuss title — “Little Black Sambo”.
My mother, as a librarian, was horrified at the decision of the Montgomery County MD library system (where she was a high-ranking administrator by this time) to pull “Little Black Sambo” from the library shelves. It was not that long ago that similar outrage accompanied criticism of “Amos and Andy” or of Jack Benny’s “Rochester”.
These Dr. Seuss titles are all in our library, I’ve read it to all five of my children. I no longer have “Little Black Sambo”, and did not read it to them. I now wince at the portrayal of blacks and women that was commonplace in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
I think this is a time for deep breaths.
There may well be an argument for terminating copyright protections at the death of the author — this is not it.
It’s impossible to make sense of republicans based on what they say. lol
There is a great book called Seuss Goes to War, which has a lot of his political drawings from WWII. He was fully capable of mocking the Nazis, Japan and Italians, and humor and degradation of the enemy has always been a component of war. There was also biting insight into the hypocrisy of the victors, the challenge of ‘reprogramming’ minds, etc. I have never read any of the books that are being withheld, so I have no way of knowing if this self-censorship is wise or foolish.
As far as the copyright thing goes, he stopped the commercialization of his characters as long as he was alive. He wanted children to read his books, not buy t-shirts or stuffed animals with the characters. His body was barely cool before the onslaught began. It makes me think that he would disagree with this decision to withdraw the books. He may well have been mocking the racist norms, not advocating them.