03-02-2021, 11:59 PM
(03-02-2021, 11:54 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Anything written more than a few decades ago (or less) runs the risk of being "problematic" by today's standards. The works discussed certainly display stereotypical images, but, as always, I think intent is important. I don't think one can infer that Dr. Seuss was trying to offend.
I can see where people would be bothered by this though, Dr. Seuss was a huge part of my childhood and having his works labeled in this manner isn't exactly pleasant.
Some of the cartoons he did during WW2 were pretty bad. He later regretted it, and the war played a role as it was propaganda in terms of depictions of the Japanese, however, some of those undertones hung around a little longer than they probably should have in later works of his.
All that said, it is tough as you pointed out looking at how things age as “off color” becomes offensive. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t always offensive, but I think things just get more attention now and it snowballs past what is probably a called for amount of offense to be taken.
