Company registered four domain names yesterday that state that Dr. Seuss was racist.
A company registered four interesting domain names yesterday: DrSeussIsRacist.com, DrSeussIsaRacist.com, RacistDrSeuss.com, and DrSeussRacist.com.
The domain names were registered using brand protection registrar MarkMonitor. The whois records are protected by MarkMonitor’s whois privacy.
There’s some controversy around Dr. Suess being racist. This stems, in part, from the inclusion of stereotypical imagery that was commonplace when he wrote and illustrated his books. His views seemed to change over time.
The current publisher for Dr. Seuss books, Penguin Random House, uses CSC as its domain name registrar. However, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, LP uses MarkMonitor.
In fact, it registered the domain name DrSeussHorseMuseum.com yesterday at MarkMonitor. Dr. Seuss Horse Museum is a posthumous Dr. Seuss book. So my money is on these being defensive registrations.
Ken says
I say it is simply a PR stunt. I do not see any other reason for this registration.
Charles Christopher says
It is interesting how Edward Berneys, “Father of Public Relations”, is never mentioned … For example Dr Suess’ Green Eggs and Ham seems to be a response to Berneys success at making Bacon and Eggs the standard American breakfast.
“I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.”…which eventually becomes… “I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you. Thank you, Sam-I-Am.”
https://medium.com/afterthought/how-bacon-and-eggs-tells-you-whats-wrong-with-the-news-industry-c9f53d188ac1
https://www.nku.edu/~turney/prclass/readings/bernays.html
Edward Berneys was paid by the US Government to “sell” the world wars to the US population. Dr Suess, living at the same time, was also interested in having a roof over his head and food on his table, was also paid for his illustration skills to create unflattering caricatures. But Green Eggs and Ham says a lot, as he pointed to the “engineering consent” that Edward Berneys was so vocally proud of and successful at. Lets not ignore the father of public relations book Propaganda:
https://www.amazon.com/Propaganda-Edward-Bernays/dp/0970312598
Edward Berneys was to the masses that his uncle, Sigmund Freud, was to the individual. Money is what drove them, not morals or values. It seems clear Dr Suess was pushing back against their influences, morals and values did play a role in his thinking. Dr Suess’ books used in school on MLK day:
https://www.rlacf.org/1517405-2/
Nothing new here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6e1riShmak
“You are being programmed” ….
Sadly, demonizing Dr Suess will lead to more racism, not less.
John Colascione says
Seems a decent waste of about $50 bucks.
Myke O. says
You don’t really need to read between the lines to find a racist strain in a small sampling of Dr. Seuss’ work; he created some overtly racist imagery in his political cartoons. Though he did write a lot of anti-Axis Power editorial cartoons before and during the war (as well as some very unflattering Hitler caricatures before it was in vogue), the degree to which his cartoons depicted and demonized Japanese-Americans would be considered pretty unacceptable these days. Given the overall body of his work, though, I still find him a strange target for the accusation.
Charles Christopher says
“the degree to which his cartoons depicted and demonized Japanese-Americans would be considered pretty unacceptable these days.”
And yet insignificant to the racists works of US Government funded Edward Berneys and team ….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHlv9XowNcw
Which Dr Suess was likely trying to expose.