This week, Dr. Seuss Enterprises basically announced that six books from the famed author would be cancelled because they deemed them problematic.
They say the books “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong” and thus must be wiped off the face of the earth forever.
The six books are:
- “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street”
- “If I Ran the Zoo”
- “McElligot’s Pool”
- “On Beyond Zebra!”
- “Scrambled Eggs Super!”
- “The Cat’s Quizzer”
Yesterday, eBay said they are cancelling any resale of the those books.
An eBay spokesman said in a statement, “EBay is currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items.”
The Wall Street Journal reports:
“Retailers frequently make decisions to remove products from their platforms for a variety of reasons. The move made by eBay comes at a time when there is rising concern, especially in conservative quarters, about how major tech platforms decide which content is acceptable...
After the announcement, one woman said she listed two titles, “On Beyond Zebra!” and “McElligot’s Pool,” for sale on eBay on Wednesday. Later that day, she said, she received an email from eBay explaining that “On Beyond Zebra!” had been removed from sale because it violated eBay’s “offensive material policy.” The second title was pulled Thursday morning, she said.
Plenty of controversial items—including Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries,” a novel popular with white-supremacist groups—were available on eBay as of Wednesday evening. When asked, the spokeswoman said these two books also fell in the “offensive material” category and would be removed. On Thursday afternoon it appeared that “The Turner Diaries” was no longer available on eBay.”