03-05-2021, 02:12 PM | #31 | |
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Someone eating with chopsticks would have been remarkable to the market the book was aimed at, at the time it was published. |
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03-05-2021, 02:17 PM | #32 |
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I would be offended if the chopsticks where changed to a fork. I'm not offended by the chopsticks.
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03-05-2021, 03:04 PM | #33 |
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I am sorry but have to laugh at this. Personal think people are looking of excuses etc. At the time of of the writing it was an innocent comment or observation.
What surprises me is the new Black writers Guild, does that mean we can create a White Writers Guild ? Hell no, as that's rasist. Personally I don't judge a book by the colour of the author's skin or some innocent comment or pictures, yes if they are trying to push rasist ideals on me then yes I have a problem then. |
03-05-2021, 03:12 PM | #34 | ||
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None of this is about “what bothers me.” It’s about what’s problematic to present to children and what it says about race and attitudes toward race. |
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03-05-2021, 03:16 PM | #35 | |
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Why specifically mention anti semitism, I see far more examples of anti Muslim, anti Catholicism, and rarely see period settings (in general literature, written by non middle easterners) where Turks, Arabs, orientals etc were mentioned with anything other than disdain. I read history, and I also read general literature, of the middle east through the ages, and I read modern literature with aspects in the middle east. Some interesting works have been written on the topic of attitudes towards that region, Orientalism by Edward Said comes to mind. |
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03-05-2021, 03:59 PM | #36 | |
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Edit: I may influenced by my place of residence given there is no majority ethnic group here. Last edited by DNSB; 03-05-2021 at 04:10 PM. |
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03-05-2021, 04:03 PM | #37 | |
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The Mulberry Street book was published round about 1937. That's not so long after the fall of the Qing dynasty. The queue hairstyle was quite common in China up until about 1911. There is even a photograph on the Wikipedia page about the queue hairstyle of a Chinese man in San Fransisco sporting it and dressed fairly similarly to the character Dr. Seuss' book. So it is perhaps not unnatural for Dr. Seuss to have chosen such an image to represent a person from China. If the picture were making fun of the Chinese person, it would be different. But I don't see that in the image. It's a bit goofy, but not any more so than many of the other pictures in the book. Just look at the elephant and the zebra. Would a child of today understand the cultural history of the queue hairstyle? Likely not. That's what teachable moments are for. That's also why it's good to read books with one's children. |
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03-05-2021, 04:23 PM | #38 |
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A general comment on the subject of chopsticks, there have been 'çhina towns' in many many cities around the world for centuries. Anyone who ate in those places used chopsticks, no matter what the background of the person was. To suggest chop sticks were a novel idea to all persons in any given country is a nonsense, to suggest some people may not have either seen them or used them before is obvious, and they would learn about them through Dr Seuss in that case.
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03-05-2021, 04:26 PM | #39 |
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Not unusually, the Babylon Bee makes a point
https://babylonbee.com/news/ebay-fin...cks-in-margins Spoiler:
Last edited by Lynx-lynx; 03-05-2021 at 04:37 PM. |
03-05-2021, 04:46 PM | #40 |
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Frankly, some of the comments here make me think people don’t understand the story and the purpose served by the Chinese man and his eating utensils.
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03-05-2021, 05:03 PM | #41 | |
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Is Dr. Seuss pointing fun at magicians or men with ten foot beards? They seem to be dealt with in much the same way as the Chinese man. I suspect some people may be reading a little too much into the image. |
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03-05-2021, 05:47 PM | #42 |
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Please post the image into this discussion
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03-05-2021, 05:56 PM | #43 |
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03-05-2021, 05:59 PM | #44 |
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03-05-2021, 06:12 PM | #45 |
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Have attached the image in question. If you do decide to click on it, you will discover that the Chinese man is running in exactly the same manner as both the magician and the man with the lengthy beard.
There is nothing strange about magicians doing tricks. There is nothing strange about a man with a long beard. There is nothing strange about a Chinese person eating with chopsticks. They are treated in the same manner. There would, however, be something strange about any of them running down a residential street. I have studied in China. I have worked in Taiwan. I have passed through Hong Kong a good number of times. I have eaten at night markets and in side alleys. I have seen Chinese people standing, sitting and squatting while eating with chopsticks. I have done so myself. I have never seen anybody running while eating with chopsticks. That would be strange, even in China. As strange as a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat while running down a street. |
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