As you may know the estate of Dr. Seuss decided to stop publishing, and profiting by, six Dr. Seuss books that contained racial stereotypes. This outraged segments of the vast right wing of American politics because of... reasons. Really big reasons you can read about... somewhere... else. And that would be the end of it if it didn't effect the public library I work at.
This, let's face it, fake, controversy has created a run on these Dr. Seuss titles at my library. Our one copy of If I Ran the Zoo has 21 people waiting in line to take a gander at its racist imagery. And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street has six copies and 19 people waiting in line for them. Most of these people I'm sure just want to see what all the fuss is about (spoiler alert: it turns out there's a bit of racist stereotyping in the books, so... enjoy). But we at the library also do have our coterie of far right lunatics for whom we stock Sean Hannity books, and Atlas Shrugged, and Mein Kampf, and this group is also now curiously driving the sudden intense demand for Dr. Seuss books.
It seems pretty sure these Republicans are doing it to "show support". That's their strange business I guess. I work at the library. All I can do is to try and help:
"I'm sorry, all the Dr Seuss books with racist imagery have a long request line for them right now. Would you like the one about protecting trees instead? Or would you maybe like the one about how all people are the same and equal no matter the nature of their skin? Perhaps you would like this readily available one about listening to, believing in, and taking care of the helpless among us?"
No? Not interested?
"Are you sure? That last one has an elephant in it."
Still no?
Ah well, you can lead a horse to water...
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