OPINION:
Is nothing sacred any longer? A Massachusetts museum that was created in honor of Dr. Seuss is under fire for a mural of a Chinese character from one of his books that critics say is stereotypical to the point of offensive.
Specifically, as Fox News noted, the “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” character represents a “jarring racial stereotype” to three other authors — Mo Willems, Mike Curato and Lisa Lee.
The Chinese man in the Dr. Seuss book is shown in the mural with chopsticks, a pointed hat and slanted eyes.
Apparently — what? He should’ve been blond-haired and blue-eyed?
“We find this caricature of ’the Chinaman’ deeply hurtful,” the three authors wrote, in a letter to the museum. “We have concerns about children’s exposure to it.”
So they asked the museum to remove it.
The museum, Fox News reported, caved to the politically correct demands and offered to remove the mural — caved, without even pointing out the book was written in 1937, without even trying to fight the ridiculous censorship.
For shame.
The Dr. Seuss books were all about whimsy and fantasy, poetry and humor, childhood creativity and imagination — and now these three overly sensitive writers have managed to taint even that innocence. What’s next — attacks on Frank L. Baum’s Oz, and his drug-pushing poppy fields?
Criticisms of Pooh Bear for eating too much sugary honey?
Not everything in life has to be political in nature. Not everything has to have some sort of hidden, subtle partisan message.
Leave Dr. Seuss alone. Some things are just sacrosanct. And this museum ought to have fought harder to preserve that ideal.
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