Now do fraudulent GPU listings.
Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
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Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#12This is what the fall of an empire looks like. If you’re bearish on this being a Chinese century, ponder where this unchecked neo-McCarthyism leads to.
...because China has such a open, free culture?
This take feels pretty left field, to be honest.
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#13Am I not alone in thinking this Neo-puritanism is going too far?
No. Seems a minority gained too much influence. No idea why they are perceived as influential in the first place? They exhibit horrible behaviour. Letting go of Seuss seems like a small price to pay to get rid of them. But the sum total is censorship.
The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small Minority
It suffices for an intransigent minority – a certain type of intransigent minorities – to reach a minutely small level, say three or four percent of the total population, for the entire population to have to submit to their preferences. Further, an optical illusion comes with the dominance of the minority: a naive observer would be under the impression that the choices and preferences are those of the majority.
https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dict...
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#14It's weird that these books got pulled from circulation in the first place; the offensiveness is relatively mild (especially for the time), and quite a few of these have historical and literary significance (including the very first children's book published under the "Dr. Seuss" pen name). eBay deciding unilaterally that people can't buy or sell already-printed copies is just icing on the weirdness cake. This is the…
I agree with you that it's a little weird that eBay has decided to draw the line there, but you might give a second thought to what constitutes "relatively mild offensiveness".
These racist caricatures have a long and ugly history, and they persist. They may seem mild to you, but to people who have to deal with racist caricatures every day of their lives, it's unpleasant. Not just having to explain to your children why they've been presented like that in this book targeted to them, but why all of the other children they know will have been exposed to the same images.
I don't think you intended to diminish that in your post, but I think it's worth taking note when you tell other people that they shouldn't be offended by something when you don't experience it.
Take a look at the images, and you can see why the publishers felt that they were better off without them. As for why eBay decided to glom onto that... that I can't say.
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#15This is what the fall of an empire looks like. If you’re bearish on this being a Chinese century, ponder where this unchecked neo-McCarthyism leads to.
gentle reminder that in China currently if you want to create audiovisual fiction you cannot portrait an extramarital affair that ends well. There are about a bazillion such rules.
Also I'm unsure what that has to do with the American Empire, does Darpa and the military run on Dr Seuss comics?
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#16Surprised by the majority of comments here. How many of you have actually looked at these pictures? A private entity decided to stop publishing certain things. Another private entity is declining to sell old copies of said things. This is not “cancel culture” like conservative commentators want to make it out to be - and I think the publisher and now eBay are making the right call - children are impressionable, and presenting racial caricatures like these to them is not good.
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#17The thing seems a bit silly. Curious what was offensive I found the books are on youtube and I'm guessing it's drawing Chinese https://youtu.be/Vl6wD6EGOVk?t=228 and tribal Africans https://youtu.be/Vl6wD6EGOVk?t=519 looking like cartoon versions of those. Does this means cartoon caricatures are only acceptable if they are of white westerners? I mean I can understand the publishers thinking they may get in trouble an…
They're not just cartoons. They're caricatures associated with racist tropes, which have been used in conjunction with discrimination and even violence. The African pictures in particular look like minstrel shows, which were deliberately intended to demean black people in America.
It's not that the publishers were afraid of getting in trouble. It's that they were ashamed of their own book -- with good reason.
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#18eBay still sells Mein Kampf. Banning books is stupid.
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#19Surprised by the majority of comments here. How many of you have actually looked at these pictures? A private entity decided to stop publishing certain things. Another private entity is declining to sell old copies of said things. This is not “cancel culture” like conservative commentators want to make it out to be - and I think the publisher and now eBay are making the right call - children are impressionable, and p…
A handful of companies influencing the overton window of the entire nation in response to easily upset Twitter mobs is precisely what I consider to be part of cancel culture.
Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay
#20Am I not alone in thinking this Neo-puritanism is going too far?
No, you are not. A substantial majority of people consider this foolish
Just think of it as a weird entertainment show that doesn’t have to be rational. There are crazies in all historical eras; the various social justice people are ours :)