If Dr Seuss can be dented, who is safe from the diversity police?

Oh, the things you hear! Dr Seuss is under fire from the politically correct mob, writes Dom Giordano.

‘‘WALKING into the museum, opening to the public Saturday in the author and illustrator’s hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, is like walking into one of his beloved children’s books.’’

That’s how the Associated Press described the June 2017 opening of the Dr Seuss museum. Leagrey Dimond, one of his stepdaughters, said, ‘‘And to know that he’s going to be here permanently, safe, protected, that people who want to know more are going to make this trip here to see him, it’s perfect.’’

Of course, Dr Seuss is not safe and protected. He is the latest icon under fire from the politically correct hordes that wake up every day trying to be offended. A librarian at an elementary school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a foot soldier in this army when she rejected a gift of Dr Seuss books from First Lady Melania Trump. She was roundly attacked by many as an ungrateful nag.

However, she opened a line of attack on Dr Seuss that has been continued by higherranking members of the mobs threatening many historic figures. Mike Curato, Mo Willems and Lisa Yee, major authors of children’s books, declined an invitation to the museum’s inaugural children’s literature festival, because of a mural featuring illustrations from the author’s first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.

The library caved and pulled the mural. The authors claimed that the mural featured a ‘‘jarring racial stereotype of a Chinese man, who is depicted with chopsticks, a pointed hat and slanted slit eyes’’.

In a poll at www.masslive.com, more than 87% of people did not see the mural as offensive. I think this is really about the fact that Dr Seuss used his great talents as a cartoonist to help defeat the Nazis and Japanese during World War 2. He propagandised against both enemies using tough language and stereotypes. I have seen many of these and I look at them in the context of the times and the savagery of the enemy.

I see Dr Seuss as a patriot for his work. I recommend the documentary series on Netflix titled Five Came Back. It’s the story of five major Hollywood directors who put their careers on pause and went to the frontlines to make films and public service announcements to inspire and rouse the American public to fight during World War 2. Dr Seuss and these directors represent a time when artists were supportive of traditional American values.

This whole attack on Dr Seuss is centred on his depiction of Chinese and Japanese people. Why is there no movement to sanction President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s executive order to imprison JapaneseAmericans in internment camps? This action actually saw JapaneseAmericans as a group as disloyal and took away their liberty. Is there any movement to take away the prominent Roosevelt monument in Washington? Do prominent Democrats still not lionise him?

One of the best ways to evaluate this whole controversy is to look at the people attacking Dr Seuss. One of his leading critics is Katie Ishizuka, who is the director of The Conscious Kid Library. This outfit brands itself as the arbiter of books that are more diverse and appropriate for young readers. She claims Dr Seuss’ fans are trying to sweep under the rug the very negative aspects of Dr Seuss.

The bottom line of all this is that if the beloved Dr Seuss can be dinged significantly, who is safe from the diversity police? These people will never run out of targets. They are driven by a need to cleanse and, in some cases, destroy.

The best method to fight them is mockery. They deserve nothing better. — Philadelphia Daily News