Cancel Culture Strikes Dr. Seuss, Yes, Dr. Seuss!

By Steve Lagoon

There are several news stories reporting that Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss “Ted” Geisel, and his books are coming under the attack of the cancel culture.

Why? Well, as a young man, Geisel had performed as a character in a minstrel show in black face. More to the point, many of his earlier drawings and cartoons produced before and during the World War 2 period reflected the stereotypical images common during the times (i.e., showing a “Chinaman” carrying chopsticks and a bowl of rice etc.).

For the record, I don’t believe that his earlier works reflected any racism or xenophobia on Geisel’s part.

To some extent, we all reflect the times in which we lived, and I think that rather than judging those in the past by our present values, we should ask two important questions.

First, how did a person advance the cause of human rights in their own time? Did they simply comply with the moral status quo, or did they step out and try to further the cause in their own day?

For example, is it fair to scour President Lincoln’s life in an attempt to find anything that falls short of today’s standards of racial justice, or should we applaud the many ways he valiantly fought racism in his own life, even to his“last full measure of devotion” at the hand of an assassin.

Second, how does a person grow and evolve through the course of their life? No doubt, by osmosis, we all accept the basic cultural values in which we are raised. But what is important is how we change, grow, and evolve as we move through our lives.

By all reports, he evolved and grew in his thinking over his life.

It is widely-known that his book “Horton Hears a Who” was an allegory about America’s changing post-war relationship with Japan, and was dedicated to a Japanese friend of his.

He wrote the book, “Sneetches” in 1961, during the Civil Rights struggle, and I have never read a more powerful parody of racism than in that book. It is simply inconceivable to me that the author of “Sneetches,” Dr. Seuss, could possibly have been a racist. Indeed, Geisel himself, and his family knew what it was to be persecuted for his ethnicity, for they were caught up in the anti-Germany persecution that arose in American during World War 1.

A review of the record shows that Dr. Seuss, Mr. Theodor Geisel, was an honorable man, having served in the United States, even earning the “Legion of Merit.”

More to the point, he devoted much of his life to writing stories for children that have been beloved by generations, and I predict that Dr. Seuss’ books will continue to be esteemed long after the cancel-culture has faded into the footnotes of history books.

Americans need to know the true facts of our history: the good, the bad, and the ugly. But at the same time, we must also resist the “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” cancel-culture approach to our past.

We must understand that past historical figures were products of their times, and that they deserve to be honored, not for being perfect, but for how they advanced the cause of human civilization in their time, and thus, serve as an example of how we can face our own shortcomings and advance the cause of justice in our own day.

Let us aspire, then, to make our world a better place, just as Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Seuss did in theirs!