Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay • Hacker News Board

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#471

Post by krrrh » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:15 AM UTC

marshmallow_12 wrote: post #430

Dr Suess was undeniably a racist, but i think at this stage people are looking to find stuff that may be offensive to someone, somewhere and then ban it. What next? Mr Potato Head has gone gender neutral. i think we are overestimating children.I doubt the next Suess free generation will be less racist as a result. What they will have is no appreciation of one of the most talented childrens writers ever. The only auth…

He was actively campaigning against racism well before he adopted the name Dr Seuss, even if he occasionally fetishized foreign cultures along with caricatures of local cultures.

https://twitter.com/daBookdragon/status/1366572785015943169?...

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#472

Post by ntsplnkv2 » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:15 AM UTC

lettergram wrote: post #317

dmix wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you get downvoted on HN for even mentioning “slippery slope”.

I get flagged all the time on HN these days... For pointing out facts typically. But even as you suggested “slippery slopes” etc. For example yesterday I pointed out everything from the COVID numbers on the CDC website (showing death rates are not as bad as they seem) or that covid vaccines are 100x more dangerous than standard vaccines lol https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/saved/D8/D124F787 Frankly, it’s become exha…

The quality of HN has decreased considerably over the last 4 years or so, much like the rest of society sadly. Posts like this, to me, should just be removed. There is little valid discussion, it's drowned out by nonsense and political pandering. Posts like these are no better than r/politics or r/conservative.

HN used to be above this drivel, and actually had thoughtful replies. I hope dang and company push for a less politics focused approach because it's degrading here, rapidly. I have flagged this post, but I doubt it will do much.

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#473

Post by carapace » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:15 AM UTC

rufus_foreman wrote: post #44

Wait till they find out about his views of women: https://www.drseussart.com/secretandarchive/booby-trap . Joking of course, but if all you've seen of Seuss is the kids books, take a look at his other artwork: https://www.drseussart.com/secretandarchive

Oh wow! Cheers! I had no idea Dr. Seuss did all that. These are amazing! Puts me in mind of Dali!!

The very first one is "The Abduction of the Sabine Women"!!! By Dr. Seuss!!!!

It was SOOOOOOO worth wading through all the sturm und drang in here just to find your comment. You have enriched my life rufus_foreman. Thank you!

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#474

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:18 AM UTC

Igelau wrote: post #288

snicksnak wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hypersensitivity all started at universities. Eventually those bubble-wrapped students will enter the workforce and eventually will end up in higher positions in HR or PR departments driving those decisions. No surprise there.

Too late. HR has been moving to make us to stop using: blacklist, whitelist, sanity check, and master. It's a frighteningly difficult exercise in doublethink to take a required security course (produced by a third party) that refers to blacklist and whitelist and then having to self censor your own peer discussions about it.

[deleted]

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#475

Post by thrownaway564 » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:19 AM UTC

Igelau wrote: post #288

snicksnak wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hypersensitivity all started at universities. Eventually those bubble-wrapped students will enter the workforce and eventually will end up in higher positions in HR or PR departments driving those decisions. No surprise there.

Too late. HR has been moving to make us to stop using: blacklist, whitelist, sanity check, and master. It's a frighteningly difficult exercise in doublethink to take a required security course (produced by a third party) that refers to blacklist and whitelist and then having to self censor your own peer discussions about it.

My company has a list of over 80 banned and 'discouraged' words without listing obvious slurs

"wife" is one of the new ones. Not inclusive

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#476

Post by Covzire » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:22 AM UTC

carapace wrote: post #458

cyounkins wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little confused. Are you actually referring to the word "okay"? What is CNL?

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/okay-h... > In 2017, the “okay” hand gesture acquired a new and different significance thanks to a hoax by members of the website 4chan to falsely promote the gesture as a hate symbol, claiming that the gesture represented the letters “wp,” for “white power.” The “okay” gesture hoax was merely the latest in a series of similar 4chan hoaxes using various innocuous…

>Since 2017, many people have been falsely accused of being racist or white supremacist for using the “okay” gesture in its traditional and innocuous sense.

This can only happen in a toxic mono-culture or a corrupt dictatorship. This kind of thing is coming straight out of academia and there are little to no checks and balances on the kinds of insane cultural shifts are being made. The left and far left absolutely dominate that space and they have lost touch with reality, as anyone can clearly see when 99% of their accusations are unjust and hasty and simply ridiculous to anyone who isn't part of the cult.

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#477

Post by tjs8rj » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:22 AM UTC

unityByFreedom wrote: post #102

supernova87a wrote: post #55

Now this part is getting a little too carried away. It is one thing for libraries and bookstores to decide not to offer for borrowing or sale things that they disagree with. It is another (and overstepping imo) for Ebay to restrict individual people from selling to others goods that are not illegal or in violation of their other practical rules (no selling jewelry, monetary equivalents, etc). This falls into the cate…

> It is one thing for libraries and bookstores to decide not to offer for borrowing or sale things that they disagree with. Ebay is a private merchant. They can choose what to list too. Maybe this presents a copyright problem with clones, we don't know. I found the books by googling the title and PDF because I was curious about why they were removed. Curiosity satisifed and I still love Dr. Seuss.

Maybe a year or two ago I would have completely agreed with the public vs private argument, but the pace of change has clearly accelerated, and when private institutions can easily have just as much impact with their decisions as public institutions, the lines blur.

From first principles, the public vs private division is about preserving freedom. When a private company can exercise its freedom to infringe on the freedom of others to such an extent, we act. Private businesses can’t do a lot of things because they harm freedoms (civil rights act and its additions among others).

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#478

Post by hannasanarion » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:24 AM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #171

o_v_o wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 6 of Dr. Seuss's books, and ones that most people haven't heard of. If you actually look at the content of the books, they are clearly racist and demeaning to those they make caricatures of. And in any case, it was not a sudden "canceling" or anything approaching that. Seuss's estate, managed by his family, made the decision after much deliberation to cease the publication of only six books due to the content. Y…

You'd think people would be tired of being unnecessarily outraged by everything by now?

Idk, you're the one deciding to be outraged by an authors children following through on a decision they made last year to stop printing a selection of their father's work. Are you tired of it yet?

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#479

Post by refurb » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:25 AM UTC

Clewza313 wrote: post #174

snicksnak wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hypersensitivity all started at universities. Eventually those bubble-wrapped students will enter the workforce and eventually will end up in higher positions in HR or PR departments driving those decisions. No surprise there.

s/will/has already/, as anybody who's worked at a FAANG in the past 5 years can attest.

Not just tech. My Fortune 500 company is actively sending out emails on critical race theory.

Re: Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay

#480

Post by krrrh » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:26 AM UTC

harry8 wrote: post #441

TedShiller wrote: post #260

All these outlets say the books are "offensive" but they don't say why. Has anyone actually looked at these books? I have. Nothing in there is even remotely offensive. It would help to explain what is offensive, so we don't just take their word for it.

It sucks that there are over 100 news sites, including the big ones reporting it but none will actually show the offensive images for fear of being offensive themselves or even describe the images. I'm with you, that is a huge worry.

Canada’s National Post delivered on this front, but generally speaking the media have been significantly more absurd than when they were all afraid to publish the Mohammed cartoons.

https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/here-are-the-wr...