From Brazos Monthly:
JOHN LOWMAN: Librarian who rejected Seuss a politically correct, silly ol’ goose (Source: The Facts, 17 Oct 2017)
Who’s ever seen a cat in a hat? A racist and bigoted cat, at that.
The FLOTUS! The POTUS! The author who wrote us One fish, blue fish, Hortons and Whos. The icon who told us for a century, too, “Today you are you, that’s truer than true. There’s no one alive who’s youer than you.”
The first lady sent books to schools ‘cross the land for youngsters who might like some “Green Eggs and Ham.” But a librarian in Mass., a Sam-I-Am lass, decided her students don’t need the free class. So she sent them all back with a nasty, mean note, calling the Doc a bigoted bloke.
She accused Seuss of hating! Of baiting! A boor! And the FLOTUS of being a girl to deplore. But maybe, just maybe, there’s a little bit more.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s a political score. Imagining hate inside every pore must be an exhausting and miserable chore.
Political correctness stinks to the sky. It fills up the house and the yard and the flies. It smells of dishonesty swimming in mean. It’s drenched with a Grinchy, dark jealousy green.
The FLOTUS is lovely, an immigrant, see? She’s fluent in English, Slovene, Germany. In two other tongues does the first lady speak, and she earned a degree from the top of the heap. She stands up to bullies and teaches to read, lessons that every one of us need.
When hoping for flaw based only on race, why pick a brawl with a Seuss-diverse face? Green ones, red ones, brown ones, too. Polka dots, yellow ones, gray ones, blue.
Dr. Seuss, a racist? A leader of Klans? It’s starting to smell like McCarthy’s new brand.
Crying color each case a debate’s taking place is moving U.S. to a very bad place. It’s silly, Ms. Mass. Yes, silly indeed. Push away from “The View” and Gates NBC and listen to just one great Seuss decree. “With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.”
Don’t stop there. You’re learning so much! Take in another helpful nonesuch. “The more that you read, the more things you’ll know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
It’s not that hate is a thing of the past. There are Whos who hate slow and Whos who hate fast. Whos who hate me and Whos who hate you. Whos who’ll hate all folks whatever we do. But those Whos are small. Small-minded indeed. We shouldn’t project them to all that we read.
The boy who cried wolf, he cried a whole bunch. When real trouble came, he was wolf-crying lunch.
No Who is perfect, and that includes Seuss, but sanitized history does not make it truth. What’s next? A ban list? A book burn or two? Who gets to choose what Whos think and do? The FLOTUS? The POTUS? The media? You?
We were tricked off the tracks by a political hook, but look where we are since Seuss’s first book. Turn off the FOX, the fake CNN, look up from the phone and start thinking again. Unique doesn’t mean we all must agree. It gives us the freedom to be me and not we.
Let children be children and drop the fake gall. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Stop being so catty and try being kind. Open your eyes and make use of your mind.
“If you read with your eyes shut, you’re likely to find that the place where you’re going is far, far behind.”
John Lowman is a Brazos Monthly contributor.
JOHN LOWMAN: Librarian who rejected Seuss a politically correct, silly ol’ goose (Source: The Facts, 17 Oct 2017)
Who’s ever seen a cat in a hat? A racist and bigoted cat, at that.
The FLOTUS! The POTUS! The author who wrote us One fish, blue fish, Hortons and Whos. The icon who told us for a century, too, “Today you are you, that’s truer than true. There’s no one alive who’s youer than you.”
The first lady sent books to schools ‘cross the land for youngsters who might like some “Green Eggs and Ham.” But a librarian in Mass., a Sam-I-Am lass, decided her students don’t need the free class. So she sent them all back with a nasty, mean note, calling the Doc a bigoted bloke.
She accused Seuss of hating! Of baiting! A boor! And the FLOTUS of being a girl to deplore. But maybe, just maybe, there’s a little bit more.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s a political score. Imagining hate inside every pore must be an exhausting and miserable chore.
Political correctness stinks to the sky. It fills up the house and the yard and the flies. It smells of dishonesty swimming in mean. It’s drenched with a Grinchy, dark jealousy green.
The FLOTUS is lovely, an immigrant, see? She’s fluent in English, Slovene, Germany. In two other tongues does the first lady speak, and she earned a degree from the top of the heap. She stands up to bullies and teaches to read, lessons that every one of us need.
When hoping for flaw based only on race, why pick a brawl with a Seuss-diverse face? Green ones, red ones, brown ones, too. Polka dots, yellow ones, gray ones, blue.
Dr. Seuss, a racist? A leader of Klans? It’s starting to smell like McCarthy’s new brand.
Crying color each case a debate’s taking place is moving U.S. to a very bad place. It’s silly, Ms. Mass. Yes, silly indeed. Push away from “The View” and Gates NBC and listen to just one great Seuss decree. “With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.”
Don’t stop there. You’re learning so much! Take in another helpful nonesuch. “The more that you read, the more things you’ll know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
It’s not that hate is a thing of the past. There are Whos who hate slow and Whos who hate fast. Whos who hate me and Whos who hate you. Whos who’ll hate all folks whatever we do. But those Whos are small. Small-minded indeed. We shouldn’t project them to all that we read.
The boy who cried wolf, he cried a whole bunch. When real trouble came, he was wolf-crying lunch.
No Who is perfect, and that includes Seuss, but sanitized history does not make it truth. What’s next? A ban list? A book burn or two? Who gets to choose what Whos think and do? The FLOTUS? The POTUS? The media? You?
We were tricked off the tracks by a political hook, but look where we are since Seuss’s first book. Turn off the FOX, the fake CNN, look up from the phone and start thinking again. Unique doesn’t mean we all must agree. It gives us the freedom to be me and not we.
Let children be children and drop the fake gall. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Stop being so catty and try being kind. Open your eyes and make use of your mind.
“If you read with your eyes shut, you’re likely to find that the place where you’re going is far, far behind.”
John Lowman is a Brazos Monthly contributor.
