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

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

#911

Post by Wolfenstein98k » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

newacct583 wrote: post #758

h0l0cube wrote: post #726

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair these books ought to live on Archive.org, because they are basically 'classics' at this point. Plenty of problematic and dated books live there. While it has some Dr. Seuss books, it doesn't have the problematic ones, but for at least historical reasons, it should. https://archive.org/details/texts?and%5B%5D=dr+seuss&sin=

To be genuinely fair, the six books we're actually talking about are minor works that no one reads to kids anymore. We're not talking about Green Eggs or the Lorax here. Even absent any controversy about racially insensitive artwork (I mean seriously: there are africans drawn as half-monkeys and a chinese man whose eyes are slanted lines! This is not stuff modern kids should be presented with), these definitely aren'…

>this is not stuff modern kids should be presented with

Isn't that also true of violence in games and movies?

Or any morally repugnant behaviour, now that we mention it?

In fact, why let them read anything except the Bible?

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

#912

Post by eckza » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

jmull wrote: post #903

lgleason wrote: post #562

As dis-heartening as this story is, compared to a couple of years ago, it is encouraging to see lots of comments from people beginning to wake up to what is going on with this craziness and not being modded here. Free speech is about protecting the right of the un-popular and views that some may find utterly repugnant. Why? because, as we are seeing with all of the woke craziness, when you don't stand up for everyone…

If you believe in liberty as a principle don't you have to support ebay's decision to decide whether or not they want to sell a particular book? I don't understand their decision here, but so what? It's their store, why should you or I tell or anyone else them what to sell? Woke crazies try to impose their ideology on others by complaining and shaming on the Internet. I think you're doing the same thing here. The dif…

The problem here, as I see it, is that Silicon Valley is becoming increasingly interested in moderating and enforcing social policy.

If this doesn't scare you, it should.

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

#913

Post by chmod600 » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 3:40 PM UTC

jmull wrote: post #903

lgleason wrote: post #562

As dis-heartening as this story is, compared to a couple of years ago, it is encouraging to see lots of comments from people beginning to wake up to what is going on with this craziness and not being modded here. Free speech is about protecting the right of the un-popular and views that some may find utterly repugnant. Why? because, as we are seeing with all of the woke craziness, when you don't stand up for everyone…

If you believe in liberty as a principle don't you have to support ebay's decision to decide whether or not they want to sell a particular book? I don't understand their decision here, but so what? It's their store, why should you or I tell or anyone else them what to sell? Woke crazies try to impose their ideology on others by complaining and shaming on the Internet. I think you're doing the same thing here. The dif…

Nobody is suggesting that eBay should be forced to facilitate the sale of a patticular book.

The concern is over what society feels is shameful and how it's handled. Right now we are ashamed of things we shouldn't be and the remedy we're choosing is exclusion. That doesn't sound like a formula for success.

On top of that, this is all being pushed by a tiny minority that has gained more power than we realized. Surely some tiny fraction of people think Dr. Seuss is offensive. A tiny fraction of people overall, a tiny fraction of eBay employees/shareholders, etc. It's always concerning when these tiny minority views can push everyone else around.

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

#914

Post by suifbwish » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 3:44 PM UTC

lgleason wrote: post #562

As dis-heartening as this story is, compared to a couple of years ago, it is encouraging to see lots of comments from people beginning to wake up to what is going on with this craziness and not being modded here. Free speech is about protecting the right of the un-popular and views that some may find utterly repugnant. Why? because, as we are seeing with all of the woke craziness, when you don't stand up for everyone…

These viewpoints only exist because those who hold them are never held responsible for explaining why the last popularly held view they had is no longer valid and why they didn’t figure it out before it became unpopular.

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

#915

Post by NeverFade » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 3:58 PM UTC

chmod600 wrote: post #913

jmull wrote: post #903

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you believe in liberty as a principle don't you have to support ebay's decision to decide whether or not they want to sell a particular book? I don't understand their decision here, but so what? It's their store, why should you or I tell or anyone else them what to sell? Woke crazies try to impose their ideology on others by complaining and shaming on the Internet. I think you're doing the same thing here. The dif…

Nobody is suggesting that eBay should be forced to facilitate the sale of a patticular book. The concern is over what society feels is shameful and how it's handled. Right now we are ashamed of things we shouldn't be and the remedy we're choosing is exclusion. That doesn't sound like a formula for success. On top of that, this is all being pushed by a tiny minority that has gained more power than we realized. Surely…

Indeed, the arbitrariness of the leftist standards, and how easily and frequently they are liable to change, is in fact the point.

President Obama praised, quoted, and recommended Dr. Seuss's books in official press releases throughout his presidency, all the way to his last year as president - 2015:

https://nypost.com/2021/03/03/barack-and-michelle-obama-prai...

But now, barely 6 years later, the Leftist Mob has come for Dr. Seuss, and we're all bullied to recite that Dr. Seuss is racist, was racist, has always been racist.

To quote Orwell: "The past was alterable. The past never had been altered."

The real point isn't that Dr. Seuss is actually racist (he never was), but to condition us to reject, ban, erase and cancel "unacceptable" ideas, thoughts, and expressions - on social command.

The overarching theme here is control: in the leftist vision, society must control and regulate the consciousness of all its members, in order to create a perfect Utopian centrally-controlled society.

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

#916

Post by hntrader » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

yerwhat01010 wrote: post #804

krrrh wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does this means cartoon caricatures are only acceptable if they are of white westerners? They cancelled Apu from the Simpson’s without understanding that his presence on the show demonstrated a mainstreaming of Indian immigrants, in a similar way that the uncanceled Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, and McBain demonstrate the mainstream acceptance of Scottish, Irish, and Austrian immigrants.

I watched The Simpsons religiously growing up and I never realised Mayor Quimby is supposed to be an Irish immigrant. Where is that established? He doesn't have an Irish accent.

He has typically Irish middle names and has a Boston accent, so it's implied.

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

#917

Post by ceilingcorner » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:03 PM UTC

eckza wrote: post #912

jmull wrote: post #903

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you believe in liberty as a principle don't you have to support ebay's decision to decide whether or not they want to sell a particular book? I don't understand their decision here, but so what? It's their store, why should you or I tell or anyone else them what to sell? Woke crazies try to impose their ideology on others by complaining and shaming on the Internet. I think you're doing the same thing here. The dif…

The problem here, as I see it, is that Silicon Valley is becoming increasingly interested in moderating and enforcing social policy. If this doesn't scare you, it should.

Boy do I miss the days when SV was a libertarian paradise. I’d love to read a book or essay describing how we went from cypherpunks to left-wing moral crusaders in less than a generation.

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

#918

Post by hntrader » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:03 PM UTC

Black101 wrote: post #686

https://libgen.is/search.php?req=And+to+Think+That+I+Saw+It+... https://libgen.is/search.php?req=If+I+Ran+the+Zoo&open=0&res... https://libgen.is/search.php?req=On+Beyond+Zebra%21&open=0&r... https://libgen.is/search.php?req=Scrambled+Eggs+Super%21&ope... https://libgen.is/search.php?req=McElligot%E2%80%99s+Pool&op... The Cat’s Quizzer

Someone should build a scihub/libgen that contains an exhaustive catalogue of books cancelled by Amazon/Ebay/schools/etc.

Not that we can't already find these books online, but it'd be nice to have a centralized repo with just those.

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

#919

Post by jmull » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

eckza wrote: post #912

jmull wrote: post #903

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you believe in liberty as a principle don't you have to support ebay's decision to decide whether or not they want to sell a particular book? I don't understand their decision here, but so what? It's their store, why should you or I tell or anyone else them what to sell? Woke crazies try to impose their ideology on others by complaining and shaming on the Internet. I think you're doing the same thing here. The dif…

The problem here, as I see it, is that Silicon Valley is becoming increasingly interested in moderating and enforcing social policy. If this doesn't scare you, it should.

What scares me is the implication here that someone should be dictating social policy to companies and people.

What are you suggesting? If a company is branded "Silicon Valley" it should no longer be allowed to make their own content decisions? If not them, then *who will make those decisions for them?*

A political government board? Talk about scary.

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

#920

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 4:11 PM UTC

ceilingcorner wrote: post #917

eckza wrote: post #912

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem here, as I see it, is that Silicon Valley is becoming increasingly interested in moderating and enforcing social policy. If this doesn't scare you, it should.

Boy do I miss the days when SV was a libertarian paradise. I’d love to read a book or essay describing how we went from cypherpunks to left-wing moral crusaders in less than a generation.

[deleted]