Horton Hears a Who!
by Dr. Seuss · first published 1954
13% recommend88% neutral
A city of Whos on a speck of dust are threatened with destruction until the smallest Who of all helps convince Horton's friends that Whos really exist.
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Get a couple of the collections of Dr. Seuss. Can't help but think that in addition to "Yertle", that "Sneetches", "Horton Hears a Who", and "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" are all timeless masterpieces. https://www.amazon.com/Six-Seuss-Treasury-Dr-Classics/dp/067... https://www.amazon.com/Hatful-Seuss-Favorite-Sneetches-Barth...
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗…that's more than enough for my point). They've stopped publishing six of them. That's less than 10%. He hasn't been cancelled, it's just that a few of the more egregious books are being discontinued. Horton Hears a Who? Still a great message. The Grinch? Still great, both versions (there might be a third now, who can keep track). People making a big deal out of the cancelling are blowing it into a far bigger thing…
on “Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay” ↗I don't know, even as a kid, I remember the allegories being pretty obvious in The Sneetches and Horton Hears a Who. The stories generally weren't that subtle in their morals, so this story doesn't seem atypical for Seuss.
on “Dr. Seuss’ arms race allegory” ↗…https://www.gaiafoundation.org/app/uploads/2019/05/DSC_0150.... The book is explicitly depicting people from abroad, not African-Americans. As Dr. Seuss’s surviving family has attested to his character and wordliness, and his other books like “Horton Hears a Who” promote tolerance and the acceptance of minorities, I’m inclined to go with a simpler, more innocent explanation for these images.
on “Dr. Seuss books deemed offensive will be delisted from eBay” ↗From the article: "That shit would be too much," Gupta said. "It'd be like that Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears A Who and shit. I read that when I was, like, six, and it totally weirded me out." Nailed it.
on “At Multiverse Impasse, a New Theory of Scale” ↗In the 1954 book Horton Hears a Who its entire universe is inside a speck of dust.
on “The James Webb Space Telescope is finding too many early galaxies” ↗…stereotypes of native peoples—potbellied, thick-lipped blacks from Africa, squinty-eyed Orientals—may offend some modern readers, but in general, the book delights readers of several ages at several levels." Horton Hears a Who! is one of Dr. Seuss' books widely cited as promoting tolerance. . . . Regardless of the intention of the book, the impact is that it reinforces themes of White supremacy, Orientalism, and White saviorism.…
on “Dr. Seuss's complicated history as a political cartoonist” ↗…So copyright isn't a requirement for creation. > In this case: you claim that it's important for the public good to move works into the public domain. Well, how is it good for the public to move Horton Hears a Who or Sports Illustrated into the public domain? Well, in some cases, because that was the agreement at the time the work was created until the law retroactively changed the terms of the contract. And…
on “What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January 1, 2011?” ↗…For example, there's Horton Plaza, a five story open air mall in downtown San Diego that is built like that because there's so little rain down there. It reminds me of the architecture in stories like Horton Hears A Who: https://www.westfield.com/hortonplaza The bizarre trees that looked like sticks with something puffy on top (in The Lorax story, actually)? You can see similar trees (with pink bark, no less) in La…
on “The Source of Dr Seuss’ Lorax?” ↗…was resumed with the last 10-15 years. It’s an early book that honestly doesn’t deserve the attention of the later masterful works. I would think the right wing politicians would be more upset about “Horton Hears a Who”, “Yertle the Turtle” and the “Butter Battle Book”.
on “Banned Seuss” ↗I just finished reading my six year old “horton hears a who” and I have to say, I understand the book better than I did when I was younger. Sometimes to get the big people to hear you, you all have to shout at once. Dr. Seuss was very clever in how he put messages…
on “Amazon to face U.S. union push in year ahead” ↗…bitcoin smart contract? I say thought provoking. As a life long reader, especially sci-fi, this is hardly the first time I've encountered this concept of scale. I mean, even the normies have encountered "Horton Hears a Who". I'm not saying this provoked the thought for the first time, just that it provokes the thought. I see it, and I stop and dwell on that for a bit (and think of new things like the Amazon smart contract).…
on “Doom on Windows Task Manager” ↗…mock the individual’s concerns as fake, and actively endanger the same population, echoing Western reactions to persecution of Jews and eventually the Holocaust in the lead-up to and during much of WWII (Horton Hears a Who)
on “Putting the "J" in the RPG, Part 1: Dorakue” ↗Horton Hears a Who
on “Scale of the Universe” ↗…with dinosaurs?" or whatever. Or look out for the ones they're highlighting with placement. [FURTHER EDIT] Here's a new parents starter pack I guess, why not: 1) Suess — Hop on Pop, The Sleep Book, Horton Hears a Who!, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, The Lorax, et c. They almost all read smoothly despite all the gibberish (reading clunkily aloud is a real problem with books—I've had "easy" children's books…
on “AI is coming for your children” ↗