The Real Dr. Seuss Scandal
The problem is not a publisher’s decision to discontinue some titles; it’s the ascendancy of a cultish version of “social justice”
If you roll your eyes at the mere mention of the Dr. Seuss controversy, I don’t blame you. No, it’s not “book-banning” when Dr. Seuss Enterprises, a private corporation, discontinues new printings of six mostly obscure books; yes, we have far more important things to worry about right now. That the Battle for Dr. Seuss features such sublime silliness as the dramatic reading of Green Eggs and Ham by House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) is certainly an added incentive for eye-rolling.
And yet there are good reasons to care — not because of the direct impact of the publisher’s move, but because this skirmish actually does have alarming implications for both freedom and culture.
If your response is “it’s the free market at work,” consider a different scenario. Let’s say that in 2031, a less deranged version of QAnon succeeds in whipping up a moral panic about alleged pedophile propaganda and targets books and films that show adolescents dealing with sexuality…
