Thread by @danielradosh

I know I’m a broken record here but the problem with this argument is that no one can even say what the offensive images are in On Beyond Zebra

https://twitter.com/pbump/status/1367224669506596871

As far as I can determine it’s 2 or 3 illustrations like this, for orientalism, even though there some very much like it in Oh The Places You’ll Go, which has not been delisted

https://twitter.com/danielradosh/status/1366868823853391879

And here's one more article that claims to want people to deal not in generalities but with "six specific books containing vile racist depictions" -- yet makes no effort to point to any such depictions in On Beyond Zebra huffpost.com/entry/cancel-c…

It's not at all difficult for me to make the case for On Beyond Zebra. It's funny, entertaining, encourages kids to think about the origins of everyday things, question prescribed limitations, and imagine new realities. But I've yet to see anyone make a case against it.

To be clear I mean I've yet to see anyone who is currently dismissing it as irredeemably racist and not worth defending make a case against it. I have seen the report that reasonably includes it among several works that indulge in exotification, a pretty low bar for delisting

Now @jaketapper is on board w the argument that all the delisted books contain indefensibly racist images but he won't point to what they are in Zebra. Here's one. It's a fantastic book that shouldn't be delisted for a couple of mildly problematic drawings

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1368228846953238531?s=20

The other books do have blatantly racist illos and are also just bad & @jaketapper is right that the Right wants to avoid those facts but if you're gonna make a case that it's important to show the pictures you can't then ignore the ones in OBZ-a MUCH more borderline case at best

To hold myself to my own standard here is the other problematic illo in OBZ. Some people consider it worse than the one I posted. I think they're both equally problematic, but mildly so. Certainly not so bad that they can't be redrawn to keep an otherwise excellent book in print