So several of the Dr. Seuss children’s books have been withdrawn because of perceived racial stereotypes in the illustrations. Cue the outrage and clutching of pearls. Dr. Seuss cancelled! Dr. Seuss! Is nothing sacred?
While this may fit the contemporary narrative of cancel culture controversy, it’s nothing new. Thirty years ago a guy I used to know led a campaign by the National Stuttering Project to cancel Porky Pig.
People who stutter have a long-standing relationship with a stuttering cartoon character. Porky is an engaging character, stutter and all, and appeals to everyone including most people who stutter. It was not always so, however. Early cartoons from the 1930s showed Porky being ridiculed for his stutter and are difficult to watch. Some people who stutter have painful memories of being compared to Porky Pig as children.
The campaign to cancel Porky Pig, with publicity stunts such as picketing Warner Brothers, raised awareness about stuttering but otherwise went nowhere. Much of the news coverage was negative because by the 1990s Porky had evolved into a more positive character. One of the reasons we changed the organization’s name to the National Stuttering Association several years later was that being identified as the anti-Porky soreheads was getting in the way of our growing national reputation as a stuttering support organization.
Media portrayals of stuttering were a frequent topic of discussion during the years I handled public relations for the National Stuttering Association. We were quick to condemn anything that clearly disparaged stuttering or reinforced false stereotypes. But consensus often was difficult because the way people who stutter react to a movie or TV show can be a Rorschach test of their own attitudes and degree of self-acceptance. Some of our members were offended by movies like A Fish Called Wanda and My Cousin Vinny but many others thought they were hilarious.
In recent decades opinions of people who stutter have shifted toward more openness and self-acceptance, and Porky Pig now is practically a folk hero. When I attend National Stuttering Association conferences it’s not unusual to see Porky buttons, t-shirts, ballcaps and wristwatches. The version of Porky that’s familiar to most people today is an endearing character who is respected by his friends and does not let his stutter get in the way of a good time. And he does not have to wear pants.
Fictional characters can evolve along with society. The classic children’s book Little Black Sambo had illustrations and character names that reinforced practically every racial stereotype of the Jim Crow era. It had largely disappeared from libraries by the 1970s (over the objections of my mother). But the story itself was not in the least racist and eventually was reincarnated with more appropriate names and pictures.
We haven’t seen the last of Dr. Seuss. It’s possible to quibble about perceptions of racism in the handful of withdrawn books or criticize the Seuss organization’s decision, but sales of the other Seuss books are soaring. So you can still order Green Eggs and Ham from Amazon and do not have to buy one of the copies that Sen. Ted Cruz is autographing as a fundraiser.