Difference between revisions of "Dr. Seuss"

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Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991, age 87) better known by the pen name of Dr. Seuss, was a liberal children's author who wrote over 60 books between 1937 and 1990, including such classics as Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat. All of his writings were in rhymed verse. The popular The Cat in the Hat book ends with a suggestion that children lie to their mother, which is not a great moral. Seuss also implied that the moral of the story was rebelling against authority, and said it's as revolutionary as Alexander Kerensky, though it doesn't quite go to the level of Vladimir Lenin.^[1]

During World War II, he was one of the writers of various Private Snafu short films, including Spies. The films featured a bumbling private ^[2] placing himself in danger by carelessness; they were intended as teaching tools to warn incoming military personnel of various dangers. Seuss admitted later that making Private Snafu shaped his approach to children's literature (simple and easy to understand).

He was married to Helen Palmer, who committed suicide in 1967 (her suicide was due in part to struggles with cancer, and in part to Seuss' affair with Audrey Stone Dimond); he would later marry Dimond in 1968. He had no children by either marriage.

Politics

Seuss identified himself as a liberal Democrat since the 1930s despite originating in a Republican family, and his political views often show up in his work. The Lorax, often considered a metaphorical piece on environmentalism, features a "lorax," who warns of impending doom, should the "Once-ler," a stand-in for corporate greed, continue in its destruction of the rare "truffula trees" to create "thneeds." The Once-ler ignores his advice, until the very last truffula tree is destroyed, and proceeds to spend the rest of his life regretting his choices.

In 1984, largely as a response to SDI and the Liberal view that it meant an acceleration of the nuclear arms race, he wrote what he deemed his best book yet, called "The Butter Battle", which implied that the Cold War conflict was merely an argument over different ways of "buttering bread". The book was subject to poor sales, largely because of the more cynical ending compared to other entries to his books.^[3]

On the other hand, Seuss's book Horton Hears a Who is heavily promoted in pro-life circles, mostly because of the repeated line "A person's a person, no matter how small!" Seuss denied any pro-life metaphors in the book and claimed that it was a metaphor for the Hiroshima bombing.

Despite being a well-known liberal, the modern left has accused his books of having "racial undertones." ^[4]

Phonics

Dr. Seuss's books use short, look-and-say words which are the opposite of the conservative, successful approach of using phonics to learn how to read.

Cancel culture

Despite being politically liberal, Dr. Seuss posthumously became one of the latest victims of "cancel culture" when it was announced that six of his books were being withdrawn from publication as a result of claims by thin-skinned liberals of those books containing "hurtful and wrong" and "racist" imagery.^[5] The targeted books were And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super! and The Cat’s Quizzer.

Notes