Out-of-Touch: Universal Cancels Dr. Seuss

  Universal Orlando's latest episode of virtue signaling: canceling Dr. Seuss. The theme park giant removed several of Dr. Seuss' books from shelves out of concern that the contents contained offensive material. The corporate behemoth is also 'evaluating' the possibility of scrapping Seuss Landing's "If I Ran the Zoo" as well. In the book, an Asian person is pictured with a conical hat, holding chopsticks, and eating from a bowl. The book also depicts two africans in grassy outfits.

'These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,' the company said in a statement. This might come as a surpise, however, to many traditional and indigenous Asians and Africans themselves who often don the very same wardrobe.

Above: Asian man wearing traditional conical hat, similarly shown Dr. Seuss "If I Ran the Zoo" children's book

  But why 'evaluate' now and not act years ago? After all, the books were sold in the parks for decades. Islands of Adventure established the play area in 1999, over two decades ago. No normal person, of any race, creed or religion in the world, truly cares about the "offensive" nature of Dr. Seuss' works, or Universal's Seuss play area, mainly due to the books' intrinsically light-hearted contents and obviously inoffensive theming. 

  Universal decided to reach for its moral compass at this exact moment for one reason only: greed, and foolhardy greed at that. Truthfully, Universal doesn't care about being offensive or even racist. Their main focus centers on keeping customers happy. Anything that appears to be a red flag for business gets the sack, even while most of the reasons for the changes don't add up to reality.

  This trend is not just isolated to so-called racist or offensive aspects of the parks. Many older rides, the company's leadership determined, were obsolete and needed to be purged to make way for the newer, fresher attractions audiences really wish to see. A classic example: the elimination of the Back to the Future attraction, serving for years as one of Universal Studio's most popular rides. But alas, the closure of the ride seemed to be for naught. Among long-time fans of the park, the ride's expulsion generated condemnation. The "Simpsons" ride, which replaced Back to the Future, seems to be on par with its predessor, doing almost nothing to increase ridership, despite the company's best efforts.

  Universal competitor Walt Disney World recently scrapped several attractions for the same reasons: Spash Mountain, for being too "racist" to continue, and the Great Movie ride for allegedly being far outdated. The parks' erasure of books and attractions disliked by a handful of rabble rousers in the press doesn't hold much weight with the average joe or jane. Universal and Disney, both run by out-of-touch greed-meisters, will never succeed in the long-term unless they somehow navigate their way back to reality and stop their flirtation with Nazi-style säuberungs.