David Ball: ‘Nobody ever became a racist by reading Dr. Seuss’
Published: 4/6/2021 2:41:15 PM
John Stifler’s column, “Dr. Seuss and Atlanta,” in the March 26 Gazette is interesting and sometimes moving, but it contains a glaring inconsistency.
He pinpoints the anti-Asian stereotypes he saw when he grew up reading Dr. Seuss, yet he obviously doesn’t have an ounce of anti-Asian prejudice in his body. He explains this away by saying that his father “admonished him” that the Chinese don’t really look like that. Was that the reason he didn’t become a racist? Surely he instinctively realized, as all kids realize, that the caricatured happy Chinese running down the street in “To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” are no more like real Chinese people than the brass band on Mulberry Street is like a real band or the cat in the hat is like a real cat in another book.
My Turn: Dr. Seuss and Atlanta
In this May 4, 2017, file photo, a mural that features Theodor Seuss Geisel, left, also known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, covers part of a wall near an entrance at The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, in Springfield. AP FILE PHOTO/STEVEN SENNE
Published: 4/3/2021 7:21:50 AM
My father spent the first five years of his life in China. I have a niece and a nephew who are half Japanese. Nothing about either of those pieces of family history seems abnormal to me although at some point each posed a problem for one or two family members. I’m also pretty much as P.C. as your average Massachusetts liberal progressive. And I grew up with Dr. Seuss.
Guest Columnist John Stifler: Dr Seuss and Atlanta gazettenet.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettenet.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.