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Republicans have spent the last week griping about "cancel culture getting to Dr. Seuss" while the Democratic party spent that time passing historic and possibly game-changing measures for millions of people.
And New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was not about to let people forget it.
To understand the Cat In The Hat jab, we have to back up to a decision made independently by Dr. Seuss Enterprises—the estate and foundation put in place to protect the Dr. Seuss name and brand after the beloved children's author died.
Many people don't know this, but Theodor Seuss Geisel (the real man behind Dr. Seuss) was a talented illustrator who worked on much more than just children's books. He also worked on political cartoons, short films, poetry, animation, etc...
Not all of that work, and in fact not all of his children's books, are in line with the image of the whimsical children's author we love. In fact some of the political cartoons feature disturbing amounts of racist imagery that was common at the time.
Those racist depictions weren't just in Dr. Seuss' political cartoon work and the author spoke out about the racism in especially his WWII work and in some of his early children's books.
In order to protect the brand, Dr. Seuss Enterprises opted not to continue putting out new copies of six specific books. The books contain racist illustrations and hurtful ideas the brand does not believe is in line with the Dr. Seuss name or the artist's wishes.
The Cat In The Hat is not on that list. Hop On Pop is not on that list. Green Eggs And Ham is not on that list.
Indeed none of the works people consider to be Dr. Seuss' classics were on the list.
So to recap:
- Dr. Seuss' estate decided not to continue publishing these six already obscure books.
- They are doing so because they can and they want to.
- The left did not call for these halts.
- Nobody asked anyone to start a book burning or anything like that.
- The Cat In The Hat nor Green Eggs and Ham were not included and were never in any danger.
Still, the GOP went into melt-down mode over Democrats, President Joe Biden and liberal "cancel culture" and how much it is hurting beloved Dr. Seuss. Even though that is literally the opposite of what happened.
Ted Cruz tweeted repeatedly blaming Joe Biden for "trying to cancel Dr. Seuss." House minority leader Kevin McCarthy decided to read a portion of Green Eggs And Ham aloud because he "still likes Dr. Seuss."
Ben Shapiro pledged to buy all Dr. Seuss' books to stick it to the libs. Fox News obsessed over it. Multiple GOP figures aside from those mentioned have tweeted about it.
While all of this faux cancel culture outrage was happening within the GOP, it essentially meant they were busy canceling something much more relevant than obscure Dr. Seuss books—like doing their jobs.
Something AOC very clearly outlined in her tweet ... but she wasn't the only one who noticed. Once again, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to be speaking for the people.
The people are less than thrilled with these GOP Seuss shenanigans already.
Luckily for the Republicans, Dr. Seuss is the only crisis facing the United States and nothing like a global pandemic or the aftermath of a violent White supremacist attack on the Capitol is going on. So their "cancel culture" outrage can safely take up all of their time.