Cancel Culture Isn’t Something New. It’s Conservative Media’s Obsession With It That Is.
Well, they finally went too far. They came for Dr. Seuss. Is nothing sacred in this politically correct, overly-sensitive world? Cancel culture is destroying America!
Except that it isn’t.
Fox “News” has spent the last few days blaming the left and cancel culture for attacking the beloved children’s book writer and forcing the sale of six of his books to be halted. They’ve spent so much time being offended by the decision that they could have written six of their children’s books to replace Dr. Seuss’.
The big detail that most conservatives happen to forget when they’re throwing their tantrums is that it was the estate of the late author that decided to stop the publication of the books. They were not forced to do so by any crazy social media outcry or strong outside force. The estate realized that works portraying people of color in a racist manner, while acceptable when the books were first published, is something that is not condoned in today’s day and age.
For all the people who will rail against this decision, they seem to forget that other authors have made similar moves in the wake of changing social situations.
Rage, a novel written by renowned author Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, was pulled from publication by the author in the early 2000’s. A story about a student who takes his class hostage at gunpoint, King decided to remove it from print after a string of school shooters in the late 1990’s were found to have the novel in their possession and presumably took inspiration.
Conservative media would have you believe that the so-called cancel culture is a new phenomenon, a product of some leftist push to rid the world of anything they find offensive. They casually forget the long history in America of trying to censor all types of works, many of them considered classics.
Some of Samuel Clemens’ books are often criticized to this day, even though they were published over a century and half ago. If you’re unfamiliar with the name Samuel Clemens and his works, you might know him better by his pen name Mark Twain. His novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are rife with racist language and imagery and have long been scrutinized by critics. They are also considered some of the greatest works of American literature ever.
Judy Blume gave a voice to adolescent girls whose transition through puberty was often seen as a dirty secret that should be kept quiet. Her books have been praised for their role in new generations of young women becoming educated about their own bodies and empowering them. They have also been criticized as immoral filth and have been repeatedly tried to be banned from libraries and schools by various groups.
Books are not the only works that have faced extreme criticism and have been attempted to be censored or banned.
N.W.A’s album Straight Outta Compton is considered by many as one of rap’s earliest classic albums despite receiving heavy criticism for harsh language and imagery, often violent and misogynistic. The song “Fuck tha Police” even spurred the FBI to write a letter to the group saying the song condoned “violence against and disrespect for the law-enforcement officer,” leading to officers around the country refusing to act as security for the group.
Straight Outta Compton became the first rap album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and has also been entered into the Library of Congress as part of the National Recording Registry, meeting the criteria of being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Other works in the registry include President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Fireside chats and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Even before the release of Straight Outta Compton, music had long been under the attack of those looking to censor or ban works they deemed offensive.
Parental Advisory stickers on music albums were first introduced in 1985 after Senate hearings were held about the perceived offensive nature of certain songs by the Parents Music Resource Center. The PMRC was founded in part by Tipper Gore, wife of then-Senator and future Vice President Al Gore.
The crux of the Senate hearings was the perception of new forms of music, such as heavy metal, to be harmful to the country’s youth.
Senator Paula Hawkins said of the new types of music, “Much has changed since Elvis’ seemingly innocent times. Subtleties, suggestions, and innuendo have given way to overt expressions and descriptions of often violent sexual acts, drug taking, and flirtations with the occult.”
Senator Hawkins seems to have forgotten the massive outcry sparked by Elvis’ gyrating hips and sexually charged persona during his meteoric rise to fame.
Artists Dee Snider from Twisted Sister, John Denver, and Frank Zappa testified during the hearings on behalf of artists. Zappa said that “the PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretation and enforcement problems inherent in the proposal’s design.”
The history of music censorship goes further back with such classics like Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”, a song that depicts the horrors of lynchings in the Deep South, being banned from radio. “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones is one of the band’s most popular songs and has had an indelible influence in pop culture. It was censored for sexual innuendo and criticism of commercialism.
Examples of “cancel culture” trying to censor works of art throughout the decades are too vast to cover in any reasonable amount of time. The idea that society today is too sensitive and is quick to stifle anything it seems offensive is a straw man argument from conservatives to try and cast aspersions against a changing culture that no longer identifies with many of the outdated ideals from the right.
The fact of the matter is that push back against works and people that have run counter to certain ideals that some groups hold has always been a part of American and world history. It’s the reason why the First Amendment is a cornerstone of American society. Artists and critics alike are free to express themselves and spark conversations that hopefully further understanding among the population.
It’s also the same reason why the Dr. Seuss’ estate is free to censor itself and make a statement through its actions. To say that freedom is invalid because it offends you is simply un-American.
