Rip It Up Ep4: The Cancellation of Dr. Seuss

Rip It Up Ep4: The Cancellation of Dr. Seuss

We explore the recent removal of six titles of Dr. Seuss stories and how that has a future impact on creativity.

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* 1. Do you agree with the cancellation/removal of six Dr. Seuss titles?

Yes

No

If your answer was "Yes", please state why.

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* 2. You may have grown up reading or watching some of the shows with these stories included. Thinking about how social attitudes have moved on and changed, what would your reaction be today to seeing these inaccurate racial stereotypes?

I would be pretty upset and shocked to see these things published today.

I would be upset but I would need to explore why they might still be being published.

I'm not sure, it doesn't impact me or anyone I know.

I would be ok with this if I found out further reasoning and importance behind it.

I would be totally fine with this, it's just a book. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

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* 3. Ok, so you may not be fully aware of the reasons behind the removal of the stories but they relate to outdated racial stereotypes that are hurtful to people from those parts of the world or with that heritage. Knowing this information, is there a case that we should not be removing literature from history, in order to ensure we can learn from it? (E.g, Imagine you are a parent or teacher and these stories are no longer available. How do you help to explain to a young person that certain stories were written in a time when people were less aware or treated people much differently? Is removing these stories an act of trying to clean up the company image and forgetting about their past association with racist stereotypes?) Please feel free to use the example above or your own experiences in the comment section below.

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* 4. In the creative world, has it now become quite difficult to express anything without offending someone or something? E.g, Of course, any racial stereotyping is unacceptable but looking at the wider picture, does this mean that today, we are more unable to create something that by the time it makes the final cut, it is stripped of any personality, humour, satire and so on? (We aren't talking anything that is intentionally offensive or provocative but as we evolve within the world of cancel culture, are we eventually going to suppress creativity to a point where everything ends up replicated and looks the same? By design, are we slowly destroying creativity?) I must stress this isn't to enable people who intend to spread hate, more focussing on the wider evolution of creativity. Please use the example above or your own experiences and comment below.