Why the Dr. Seuss 'cancellation' is chilling

If these transgressions can get an author moved to the "problematic" list, who and what will escape the purges?

Dr Seuss erasure.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

The latest culture-war battle is raging around "Dr. Seuss," the American children's author and artist whose whimsical and warm-hearted work has won him a global following. On March 2, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which licenses and publishes his books, announced that it is dropping six of the 60-plus titles because of "hurtful" racial stereotypes. This has been met with an outcry about "cancel culture" and book-banning from conservatives as well as some centrists and liberals worried about "politically correct" excesses. Others counter that there is no "cancellation," just a corporate decision to stop reprinting books that are jarringly dated due to evolving cultural attitudes (and that will remain widely available even without new editions).

As often happens, each side has a point.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a columnist for Newsday and a contributing editor at Reason magazine. Her book Ceasefire!: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality was published in 1999.