'You can't make this stuff up': Outrage as eBay REMOVES listings for canceled Dr Seuss books 'because they glorify violence' but allows copies of Mein Kampf and Louis Farrakhan's books to be sold
Outraged Americans are demanding to know why eBay has banned them from reselling the six 'offensive' Dr Seuss books that are being canceled when copies of Hitler's Mein Kampf and Louis Farrakhan - whose anti-Semitic remarks are well known - are still available.
Ebay on Thursday started removing listings for the six Dr Seuss books that are no longer going to be produced. They emailed people who had listed the books, saying that the post violated their 'offensive materials policy'.
The company has not released any kind of statement about it, nor have they responded to inquiries.
Now, they are being accused of censorship, virtue signaling and 'big tech book burning' by angry internet users who are demanding to know why they can't sell items that they own, just because Silicon Valley no longer thinks they are appropriate.
Dr Seuss Enterprises announced two days ago that it would no longer reprint six books which contained racist imagery. The books are 'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street', 'If I Ran the Zoo', 'McElligot's Pool', 'On Beyond Zebra!', 'Scrambled Eggs Super!', and 'The Cat's Quizzer'.
It came after a school district removed them from its curriculum. President Joe Biden then snubbed Dr Seuss in his remarks about Read Across America Day, in a certified sign that they'd been 'canceled'.
People then started buying up the suddenly limited-edition books on Amazon and other sites. Some then posted them on eBay for exorbitant prices to turn a profit and cash in on the row.
One person who had their listing taken down bought a copy of And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street on Amazon for $33. He then attracted bids on Ebay for $100.
That seller - who went by the name Chad - posted on Twitter when eBay emailed him to tell him they'd removed his post.
Ebay on Thursday said it would not allow people to sell them online. But it didn't just ban people selling them for high amounts
Ebay on Thursday said it would not allow people to sell them online
'WOW' he said.
Another quipped: 'You can't make this up.' They also said it was unfair those books were not allowed to be resold when Louis Farrakhan's books are still online.
Farrakhan is the Nation of Islam leader whose antisemitic comments and attitudes are well-publicized.
A vintage copy of 'If I Ran the Zoo' was priced at $510 after receiving 54 bids, while a copy of 'Scrambled Eggs Super!' was at $565 after 58 bids.
eBay claimed the reason it removed the post was not because of price gouging, but because the books were not being reprinted anymore.
The company did not respond to DailyMail.com's inquiries about Mein Kampf and why a copy of the book is online for $475.
The move to cease publication of the books drew immediate reaction on social media from those who called it another example of 'cancel culture.'
'We've now got foundations book burning the authors to whom they are dedicated. Well done, everyone,' conservative commentator and author Ben Shapiro tweeted.
Others, however, approved of the decision.
'The books we share with our children matter. Books shape their world view and tell them how to relate to the people, places, and ideas around them. As grown-ups, we have to examine the worldview we are creating for our children, including carefully re-examining our favorites,' Rebekah Fitzsimmons, an assistant teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon University, tweeted.
Those angry about the decision also directed their fury at President Biden after he omitted Dr. Seuss from Read Across America Day, which is held annually on the children's author's birthday on March 2.
The prices of six Dr. Seuss children's books are now skyrocketing online after it was announced on Tuesday that no further copies will be published because the company that owns the rights to them said they contain racist and insensitive imagery
Almost immediately after the announcement, the prices of those books surged hundreds of dollars on eBay as people placed dozens of bids for new and vintage copies. A vintage copy of 'If I Ran the Zoo' was priced at $510 after receiving 54 bids
Biden broke presidential tradition when he left out any mention of Dr. Seuss during his proclamation on Monday. Both former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump have recognized Dr. Seuss' contributions several times in their proclamations each year.
Dr. Seuss, whose real name is Theodor Geisel, had been the face of the annual Read Across America day for more than 20 years.
Explaining the decision to stop the publication of the six books, the company said: 'These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.'
In 'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,' an Asian person is portrayed wearing a conical hat, holding chopsticks, and eating from a bowl. 'If I Ran the Zoo' includes a drawing of two bare-footed African men wearing what appear to be grass skirts with their hair tied above their heads.
'Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises' catalog represents and supports all communities and families,' the company said.
The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was made last year after months of discussion, the company said.
'Dr. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process. We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalog of titles.'
Random House Children Books, Dr. Seuss' publisher, issued a brief statement on Tuesday: 'We respect the decision of Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the work of the panel that reviewed this content last year, and their recommendation.'
As adored as Dr. Seuss is by millions around the world for the positive values in many of his works, including environmentalism and tolerance, there has been increasing criticism in recent years over the way blacks, Asians and others are drawn in some of his most beloved children's books, as well as in his earlier advertising and propaganda illustrations.
His step-daughter, Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, came out on Tuesday to say he didn't have 'a racist bone' in his body.
'There wasn't a racist bone in that man's body - he was so acutely aware of the world around him and cared so much,' she told the New York Post.
Dimond-Cates, whose mother Audrey Geisel was Dr. Seuss' second wife, said she was informed a day earlier about the decision to pull the six books.
'I think in this day and age it's a wise decision,' she said. 'I think this is a world that right now is in pain, and we've all got to be very gentle and thoughtful and kind with each other.
'We're taking that into account and being thoughtful. We don't want to upset anybody.'
She said she's hopeful the books can one day go back into print.
The National Education Association, which founded Read Across America Day in 1998 and deliberately aligned it with Geisel's birthday, has for several years de-emphasized Seuss and encouraged a more diverse reading list for children.
School districts across the country have also moved away from Dr. Seuss, prompting Loudoun County, Virginia, schools just outside Washington, D.C., to douse rumors last month that they were banning the books entirely.
'Research in recent years has revealed strong racial undertones in many books written/illustrated by Dr. Seuss,' the school district said in a statement.
In 2017, a school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, criticized a gift of 10 Seuss books from first lady Melania Trump, saying many of his works were 'steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes.'
In 2018, a Dr. Seuss museum in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, removed a mural that included an Asian stereotype.
'The Cat in the Hat,' one of Seuss' most popular books, has received criticism, too, but will continue to be published for now.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, however, said it is 'committed to listening and learning and will continue to review our entire portfolio.'
These six Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published because of racist and insensitive imagery, according to the company that preserves and protects the author's legacy
It comes just one day after President Biden omitted Dr. Seuss from Read Across America Day, which is held annually on the children's author's birthday on March 2
Books by Dr. Seuss, who died in 1991, have been translated into dozens of languages as well as in braille and are sold in more than 100 countries.
He remains popular, earning an estimated $33 million before taxes in 2020, up from just $9.5 million five years ago, the company said.
Forbes listed him No. 2 on its highest-paid dead celebrities of 2020, behind only the late pop star Michael Jackson.
The decision to stop publication of the six books was announced just one day after President Biden broke with tradition and left Dr. Seuss out of the 2021 Read Across America Day proclamation.
The White House has not explained why Dr. Seuss was left out of this year's proclamation.
Read Across America Day had traditionally featured on Dr. Seuss books including classics like The Cat In The Hat and The Grinch.
In Obama's 2014 proclamation, he had said: '[Dr Seuss'] tales challenge dictators and discrimination. They call us to open our minds, to take responsibility for ourselves and our planet.'
In 2015, Obama stated: 'The works of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to us as Dr. Seuss, have sparked a love for reading in generations of students. His whimsical wordplay and curious characters inspire children to dream big and remind readers of all ages that 'a person's a person no matter how small.'
This image appears in the 1937 book 'And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street', which shows an illustration of a 'Chinaman who eats with sticks' - a caricatured picture of an Asian man with slits for eyes carrying a bowl of rice
'If I Ran the Zoo', which was published in 1950, includes a drawing of two bare-footed African men wearing what appear to be grass skirts with their hair tied above their heads
The following year, Obama said in 2016 that Seuss was 'one of America's revered wordsmiths' who 'used his incredible talent to instill in his most impressionable readers universal values we all hold dear.'
Former first lady Melania Trump celebrated Read Across America Day in 2017 by reading Dr. Seuss books to hospitalized children.
'Dr. Seuss has brought so much joy, laughter and enchantment into children's lives all around the globe for generations,' Melania said at the time.
'Through his captivating rhymes, Dr. Seuss has delighted and inspired children while teaching them to read, to dream, and to care.'
Trump, in his 2018 proclamation, urged Americans to 'always remember the still-vibrant words of Dr. Seuss: 'You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.'
Trump also referred to Dr. Seuss in his 2019 proclamation.
Numerous other popular children's series have also been criticized in recent years for alleged racism.
In the 2007 book, 'Should We Burn Babar?,' the author and educator Herbert R. Kohl contended that the 'Babar the Elephant' books were celebrations of colonialism because of how the title character leaves the jungle and later returns to 'civilize' his fellow animals.
One of the books, 'Babar's Travels', was removed from the shelves of a British library in 2012 because of its alleged stereotypes of Africans. Critics also have faulted the 'Curious George' books for their premise of a white man bringing home a monkey from Africa.
And Laura Ingalls Wilder's portrayals of Native Americans in her 'Little House On the Prairie' novels have been faulted so often that the American Library Association removed her name in 2018 from a lifetime achievement award it gives out each year.
There has been increasing criticism in recent years over the way blacks, Asians and others are drawn in some of Theodor Geisel's most beloved children's books, as well as in his earlier advertising and propaganda illustrations
Presidents Clinton, Obama and Trump have all mentioned Dr. Seuss in conjunction with Read Across America Day, which is designed to encourage school children to read more. The Obamas are pictured in April 2010
In 2017, a school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, criticized a gift of 10 Seuss books from first lady Melania Trump, saying many of his works were 'steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes.'
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