The other day someone questioned whether the 2019 Katie Ishizuka/Ramon Stephens study exposing alleged racism in "Dr. Seuss" was related to the anti-#DrSeuss push. Why, yes it is. (It began in 2017 when Ishizuka's first version of the paper appeared.)

learningforjustice.org/magazine/its-t…
The Ishizuka paper is not only a paranoid exercise in decoding "harmful" tropes everywhere, it's also wildly fraudulent. Here, for instance, is a passage about the racist symbolism of ink stains in a Cat in the Hat sequel... which forgets to mention that the ink is PINK.
Am I concerned about what a rights holder does with some mostly minor works? Maybe not, but I'm certainly concerned when a classic author is targeted for a takedown that peddles lies and omits important details such as Dr Seuss's anti-racist work.
FWIW, here is Ishizuka's 2017 paper, *specifically* prepared as a presentation to argue for uncoupling Dr Seuss from Read Across America (which, remember, was originally started *in tribute to him*).

pragmaticmom.com/wp-content/upl…
Seriously, read the section called "Racial Analysis of The Cat in the Hat as Blackface Minstrel."
It's about as sane as "If you play certain rock 'n' roll Vinyl records backwards, you can hear Satanic messages."
Yet this is treated seriously by the National Education Association.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Cathy Young

Cathy Young Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @CathyYoung63

5 Mar
This piece is a good example of how crazy, paranoid & potentially authoritarian social justice discourse about "embedded" or subtly "inscribed" racist images/tropes can be.

washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sh…
Let's say that the Cat in the Hat really was partly based on images from black minstrelsy. (Dr. Seuss, apparently, said he was based partly on a real-life, black elevator operator, Annie, who wore gloves & had a mischievous smile.)
So what? How does this make the book "harmful"?
1. It's very unlikely that anyone would associate the Cat in the Hat with black people.
2. Even if they did, the Cat is a *positive* figure. (He's only there to entertain/inspire two white kids? Yeah, so are a lot of other magical figures in kid lit who are clearly white.)
Read 8 tweets
17 Feb
I decided to investigate. Here's the passage from the review. ImageImage
Intrigued even more, I got the book on Kindle. Here are the offending passages. ImageImageImageImage
Oh, and McNeil's comment about his "attraction" to women in a Zika seminar in Puerto Rico? He describes the seminar leader as "an attractive young woman." STRING HIM UP!
Read 6 tweets
30 Jan
It's kind of hilarious that these guys would pick a still from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" for their glorious image of trad manhood, because, well....

(stop reading now if you haven't seen the film and don't want to be thoroughly spoiled. also, go see it!)
What we see here is a young lawyer, Ranse Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart -- not exactly *young* here, but he's supposed to be), taking shooting lessons from rancher Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) to fight back against the thug Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), who has robbed & humiliated him.
But ... Ranse sucks at shooting & other trad macho stuff. He's a college boy who insists on the rule of law & starts a local literacy program. Before his law practice takes off, he washes dishes & waits table at the tavern, wearing an apron, & is mocked as "the new waitress."
Read 6 tweets
30 Jan
As you may have seen, @ArcDigi, the Medium-based publication where I am an associate editor & regular contributor, has taken a bit of a financial hit in terms of Medium support for our budget for authors' fees.

Why should you support @ArcDigi? No, not just because I'm involved. 😃 In today's partisan media environment, @ArcDigi has a rare commitment to intellectual pluralism as a foundational value. There may not be "both sides" to all issues, but there certainly are to most.
Take, for example, the recent controversy over the white girl who was shamed in the social media (& lost admission to a university) after the reveal of a 4-year-old Snapchat video in which she uttered a racial slur. Arc published four different, interesting takes on the story.
Read 10 tweets
7 May 20
ICYMI: A look at the legacy of #VladimirLenin for his recent 150th anniversary, and why Lenin was not (as some modern-day socialists still think) "the good communist."

arcdigital.media/the-man-who-st…
Also, I strongly recommend the Robert Service biography of Lenin, which I'm reading now (and wish I'd had time to read before writing this piece -- some devastating stuff there). A few tidbits:
(1) Lenin himself admitted on occasion that he knew very little of the Russian people or Russian life beyond his hometown, Kazan (where he went to the university) and St. Petersburg. He showed no interest in personal interaction with actual workers or peasants.
Read 6 tweets
28 Apr 20
Several problems with this article.

1. COVID-19 death rates in Sweden are growing much faster than in most other countries -- I don't have the day-to-day numbers, but the rate per million has passed the US & is on track to pass the UK.
2. Belgium, France & Spain comparisons are apples to oranges: very different population density and culture, earlier outbreaks in those countries, different death counting in Belgium
3. A lot of reports suggest that social distancing in Sweden has been much more extensive than this piece suggests. Public transit use has been cut in half. Bars & pubs are open but revenues down drastically

reuters.com/article/us-hea…
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!