Who Is Running the Zoo Now?
Source: flickr; License: Creative Commons
By now you have heard, no doubt, that Dr. Seuss Enterprises withdrew six Dr. Seuss titles from publication because “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” The announcement came on March 2, which happens to be Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America Day. Ironically, Read Across America Day occurs on March 2 in honor of Dr. Seuss. According to Wikipedia, Dr. Seuss Enterprises was a partner with the NEA in support of this day from 1997 to 2018, when their partnership ended. According to some sites, when newly elected President Biden made a proclamation for Read Across America Day this year, it was the first time the presidential proclamation didn’t mention Dr. Seuss.
When we first heard about the Dr. Seuss Enterprises decision, my initial thought was, “Well, they own the copyright, they can do what they want with it.” I also noticed a remark somewhere (didn’t save the link, sorry!) that the withdrawn titles were among the lowest grossing titles in the Dr. Seuss pantheon. The cynic in me wondered if that had anything to do with it. I also noticed that following the announcement, sales of Dr. Seuss books started going through the roof. The cynic in me had some thoughts about that headline, also. Perhaps someone is a marketing genius.
The issue produced a lot of chatter. I read numerous pieces on it and began to wonder what Christians should think about this. Is this just one more corporate citizen bowing to the woke mob? What can we do about it? Should we care?
From a corporate or business perspective, I can’t get too worked up about it. Businesses make decisions all the time about discontinuing (or even reviving) brands and product lines. They can announce whatever reason they like, for whatever motivation they choose. In this case, they are either sincere or pandering. It doesn’t much matter in that sense. They own the product.
A bit more disturbing is the reaction in the broader corporate world. Not only is Dr. Seuss Enterprises withdrawing these titles from publication, eBay announced that it is purging its listings of every instance of them they can find. (Of course, headlines cynically note you can still find Mein Kampf on eBay, but I digress.) Some public libraries have begun a process of evaluation, weighing whether to pull or at least recategorize the titles (moving them to the “adult” section so adults can do “research.”) At least the New York City Public Library will keep them. The story started with the corporation, but the ripple effect is reaching much further.
However, the issue isn’t simply a consequence of a corporate board making a business (or political) decision. The following paragraph reveals that the grievance culture of the “woke” is behind the scenes, agitating against all kinds of slights, real or imagined. The withdrawn titles are not the only Seuss titles in the sights of the woke, the much more profitable Cat in the Hat is also in the crosshairs.
No less disturbing, much of the current pushback against Dr. Seuss is based on a 2019 paper by Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens that consistently interprets his work in the most negative light and peddles extreme ideological dogma. Take Dr. Seuss’s 1961 book The Sneetches, which has been widely praised for its anti-racist message: Birdlike creatures with stars on their bellies scorn and bully their plain-bellied cousins until a wily salesman brings a device that can add or remove stars, and all the sneetches change so many times they get thoroughly mixed up and decide to treat everyone equally. But Ishizuka and Stephens attack the poem as insidious because it teaches that color shouldn’t matter. Echoing Kansas State University scholar Philip Nel, they also read a sinister racist subtext into The Cat in the Hat: The magical cat supposedly resembles images from Black minstrelsy and exists only to entertain two white children. (Source: Why the Dr. Seuss ‘cancellation’ is chilling)
It appears that the Seuss story is yet another in the long line of maddening cases attacking our culture, especially the expressions that formed the societal moral conscience up to the middle or three quarter mark of the last century. No doubt you also heard that plain old math class is under attack, because getting the right answer is “too white.” The tentacles of oppression are everywhere!
Note that the six withdrawn Seuss books are lesser titles; the Woke Brigades for Cultural Sanitation haven’t come for the really beloved ones yet. But they’re just getting warmed up, aren’t they? No one who acquires immense power ever says, “I’ve had enough of control now.” Babar the Elephant, Curious George, Little House on the Prairie, et al. are now in the crosshairs. The progressive Left enjoys greater control over the educational establishment than any other institution, and it senses an opportunity to revise the canon of young people’s literature so that every title in it advances the propaganda imperatives of today. (Source: Dr. Seuss Gets Blindsided by a Moral Minority | National Review)
Well, enough of the reporting, what should we think and do?
The Bible puts the onus on parents for the education of children. A classic passage is this one from Deuteronomy.
Dt 6.4-7 ¶ “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Many writers since the battles for Christian schools in the 1970s and beyond emphasized parental educational responsibility. Many warned about public education and the impact “secular humanism” had on young minds. Today, secular humanism is passé. The “woke” stream of consciousness flows from Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. These terms are new to me, too. It is just in the last year or two that I’ve really become aware of them. “Cancel culture” finds its roots in this philosophy. It seems we are way behind the curve in understanding the latest spirit of this age.
Personally, I think Christian parents should do everything in their power to thoroughly educate their own children. That might mean home-schooling for some (many?) or finding and supporting strong Christian schools. At the very least, parents who send their children to public schools will have to watch the propaganda their children are exposed to, and do their best to combat it.
Christian parents will have to educate themselves about our culture as well. We need to gain discernment about all the cultural inputs flowing into our homes. The school textbooks, the television programs (how yesterday!), the streaming videos, the Netflix, the on-demand TV, the library books, the newspaper, the world wide web… (Are you exhausted yet?) … the list goes on and on.
However, most important is faithful church attendance and discipleship. The most counter-cultural thing you can do is be a disciple of Jesus Christ. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you will make disciples, including of your own children. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and teach your children to love Him too.
We live in fearful days, they are not days of our choosing, but God put us here for such a time as this. You are the cultural bastion of your home. Love God, teach your children to love God.
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.