A walk down memory lane. Some things never change. 1935 Dr Seuss (I believe)

[icymist]

[Ohiogal]

1. Wow, is that frightening or what!

Was this an editorial drawing in a newspaper?

[htuttle]

3. Dr Suess (Ted Suess Geisel) did a lot of political cartoons for a newspaper during WWII

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dswenttowar/

?w=480&ssl=1


Did some movies for the war effort, too:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/The_Goldbrick.ogv

[lunasun]

4. +++ I have a collection book of his work from that era

[Aristus]

6. Dr. Suess's contraptions were always a wonderful mixture of Rube Goldberg and Steampunk.

n/t

[TreasonousBastard]

2. This is our history-- google around for the "No Nothing Party" for a shining example of...

pre-Civil War hospitality. Ant-immigration laws have been around since the founding of this nation of immigrants.

We refused Jews under attack from Nazism, Chinese and Japanese with specific anti-Oriental laws, and many others depending upon the prejudices of the time.

Edit-- Forgot to mention that what truly frightens me is that Trump and his minions are reversing history and taking us backwards. We were supposed to lead the world toward peace and tolerance, but look where we are going.

[d_r]

5. some of his world war 2

propaganda cartoons are horribly racist, using stereotypes that were common in propaganda at the time.


But even though times have changed, you can tell that some things stay the same-

[cojoel]

7. OMG: Mitch McConnell in drag

erase erase erase erase

didn't work...

[Archae]

8. He was viciously anti-Japanese...

[Squinch]

10. Everyone was.

[Hekate]

9. There was a nasty kerfuffle at DU year before last over the book collection of Seuss's WW II toons

According to some, his wartime efforts on behalf of the US could only be viewed through today's sensibilities, with no reference to historical nuance or to the fact that there might be some lessons to be drawn for our time. No, no, all those beloved children's books from The Cat in the Hat to The Butter Battle Book to The Lorix needed to be thrown on the ash heap of history as the products of a nasty racist mind.

It kind of bemused (and disheartened) me to see the ignorance on display. My after school cartoon fare in the 1950s was well-sprinkled with reruns of WW II era Loony Tunes (and others) characters kicking Tojo's ass and punching out Hitler. As of 9-11 all those old themes returned in new dress.

I picked up a copy of the WW II Seuss book at the public library a few months ago and leafed through it, shaking my head. All those cartoons about the America First movement could be printed today, and then some. The US has always had a strain of (white) nativism, ignorant populism, and isolationism, some eras worse than others. Seuss drew what he saw. We see it back again today, bolder and nastier than ever.

Seuss was no more racist than any propagandist. He caricatured ignorant Americans as well as our (then) mortal enemies. To a great extent He drew what he saw.