The Lorax contains adorable Dr. Seuss graphics and fun sound effects; however, in my mind, its purpose appears to be more propaganda than entertainment. The message: Big Business will destroy our land and kill our creatures unless you do something about it.
Big Business is producing Thneed by chopping down Truffalo trees. It cares not that its forcing Bar-ba-loots to leave their homeland (sound effects include growling stomachs as they march off). All Big Business cares about is money – get rich quick. The customers who buy the Thneed are portrayed as stupid.
I agree that there are businesses that are damaging the environment and need to be fined. However, in this story, it appears that all companies are that way. There is no mention about the good that many large companies do: provide jobs and create products that make our lives better. There is also no mention that not all companies are ruining our environment. This makes me think that this is more agenda than entertainment.
If you are interested in convincing your children that business is bad, then this is the book for you. Otherwise, you might go back to the original Dr. Seuss books which were all about entertainment, not propaganda.
NOTE: This is my opinion – not the opinion of iPhone Life magazine.
Addendum: Yes, I stand corrected that this is an original book written by Dr. Seuss; however, I continue to stand by my opinion that the book, whether in book form or app form, is more propaganda than entertainment.
Green Eggs and Ham
Green Eggs and Ham has been an oft-used model for conservatives in recent years: Keep repeating the same thing over and over until people accept it as truth and consume your tainted offerings.
The Lorax
Cindy, what in the world are you talking about when you write "go back to the original Dr. Seuss books"?! The Lorax IS an original Dr. Seuss book! It's clear you don't LIKE this particular story, but it is definitely a part of the whole amazing Dr. Seuss collection.
Are you implying that the iPad version is different than the "original"? Not true. Both contain exactly the same words, although they are formatted differently with the drawings. I prefer the look and feel of the physical book, but the electronic version is the same book.
The Lorax tells a powerful story that our world might well heed today. But it's a story, not an article in a magazine about business practices. Children know what this story is about, and I think they are a lot smarter than adults in sorting out truth from lies when it comes to the environment, especially if they haven't been brain-washed by the media to think they absolutely HAVE to have the latest Thneed.
I'm sorry Cindy, but if this
I'm sorry Cindy, but if this is propaganda, then every children's story is
propaganda.
First, I think you took this as not an original story because it was an
iPhone app, but you didn't do your research. That really detracts from your
argument if you aren't going to do basic research on a well known Author.
Please try to have some journalistic professionalism.
Your definition of propaganda is way too broad and simple. Sure, everyone who
has read The Lorax sees that it's trying to convey a story with a
pro-environmental message, but that's just it, it's just a story. You tell
your children and hope your children come away being entertained and a little
wiser. I would hope you come away a little wiser too.
There is no controversy that if dozens of major corporations were to chop
down every tree in the country, nature would be worse off for it. There's no
specific message about global warming or acid rain or "all corporations are
evil." The message is "respect nature for your own sake." What you make of
that is up to you.
Let's turn this article on it's head and treat your article with the same
lens. Are you saying you are all for corporations chopping down every one of
America's forests and driving all the animals away and to extinction just so
you can have an iPhone?
I just want to remind everyone that Apple has made a concerted effort to make
their products green environmentally friendly. Apple has in fact taken this
story to heart and is not only making good products that make our lives
better, but ALSO being friendly to the environment. You can still help the
lorax AND have an iPhone at the same time. That's the story you should have
written Cindy, and I'm very disappointed that all you could write about was
that Dr. Seuss was propoganda. Your magazine may have lost a reader if that's
all you have to offer.
< I'm very disappointed that
< I'm very disappointed that all you could write about was that Dr. Seuss was propoganda. Your magazine may have lost a reader if that's all you have to offer.>
For anyone that hasn't read our magazine, you can read a digital version free at http://www.iphonelife.com/freeissue. Make your own judgment. You'll find that one of the things that makes this site and the magazine unique is the diversity of point of viewpoint. The thing in common from our contributors is that we are all iPhone and iPad users.
As a small business owner, while I disagree with Cindy's thesis, I am sympathetic to Cindy's point of view. I could ask our bloggers not to inject personal thinking and stick to reviewing apps, but what fun is that. As long as our blogs and articles related to something interesting or useful about the iPhone, great. We are all multi-facited human beings with different world views. The iPhone enriches our experience wherever we are coming from.
Most Dr. Seuss books are full
Most Dr. Seuss books are full of statements about social topics and governmental topics and even religious topics. This is not a surprise.
Apple and the environment
Just want to point out that computer equipment, expecially mobile devices that contain batteries will probably represent one of the largest waste byproducts filling our landfills, including iPhones, iPods, etc. While Li-ion batteries are not as dangerous in terms of poisonous chemicals, they can add metals to our water supply. Apple is a big corp just like many others with a board of directors, stockholders and a bottom line. They, like many companies will give a nod at green initiatives, but let's face it, at the end of the day, have to turn a profit. Their devices are not fully manufactured by them. They do not have complete control over the Far East companies that must churn out these beloved electronic parts by the millions, their labor practices, or their lack of concern for the environment. Apple is little more than a parts assembler when you get right down to it. At least in terms of hardware... I wonder how many real-world "Barbaloots" or tech-workers in other countries worked 14-16 hour shifts, 7 days a week to fabricate the dyes and parts which go into our gadgets? I'm not criticizing Apple or any big tech companies, though... they have created economies that help a lot of lives too.
Gadget users are the ones which must have the Thneeds which cause these situations, and then simply throw them away when they lose interest or want the next new thing... I think one lesson here is to use what you have for as long as you can, and dispose of it properly. This will lesson the amount of Thneeds that are being produced or at least cause them to be recycled, and maybe the burden on will be lessoned... I think this is sensible, and not a bad thing for children to learn at all. Just my opinion, of course...
I'm further upset now that
I'm further upset now that you have taken my quote out of context.
I do disagree with Cindy's assessment, and have explained that point, but the quote you provided was in a paragraph explaining that I felt the quality of article and chosen topic were of low standard. My quote is not in reference to the opinion of the article.
Her article was not researched because she thought the Lorax was not original Dr. Seuss. She also failed to pick up on the environmental movement within Apple to be a greener company. Had she done so, she would have created a more interesting article. Her piece on propaganda is dull, uninteresting, and poorly constructed, along with being poorly researched.
A blog is different than a newspaper piece but there still needs to be a level of quality and a level of fact checking that any publication, blog or otherwise, needs to take. Perhaps I'd have less of an argument if she had taken two seconds to look up Dr. Seuss's works, and perhaps her opinion and/or her piece would change a little bit had she seen that first.
The Lorax eBook
Hi Cindy,
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to look at our "The Lorax" app for the iPhone and iPad. As always, we really appreciate the time and efforts that you take for a review.
Sorry to hear that you didn't like the message. It is actually an original Dr. Seuss book...one of the ones that he was most proud of, and one of the most loved of his books of all times. Just so you know, we did nothing to alter it in any way and never will for any of his works.
Actually, he wasn't dumping on all business, just when business gets out of hand. This classic story has a long, beautiful history in American children's literature. If you'd like to read more about his views and it's history please check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lorax
Hopefully you appreciated the technology, of which we are very proud of. We feel so honored to bring Dr. Seuss's amazing works to the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. We think he would be thrilled to be able to share his works in this way.
Thank you again for your time and all the best,
Karen
www.oceanhousemedia.com
Hi Adrian, Sorry if you felt
Hi Adrian,
Sorry if you felt I took your quote out of context. However, you were questioning our magazine, which as you point out is different then a blog site. Again, I invite anyone to check out our digital version.
Should Cindy have known that it was the Dr. Seuss story verbatim. Yes. But she appended her story to acknowledge her mistake.
Let me step back and explain how we operate. We are a small, single-magazine, pay-as-you-go publishing company. In order to stay above water in this challenging time for magazines, while producing a high quality product, we have adopted a somewhat unique strategy. Almost all our web and print magazine articles come from non-paid contributors, strong users that want to share there knowlege. We have several internal editors that vet and edit articles for the magazine. For the blog site, iPhone Life magazine has been most fortunate to get some incredible bloggers including Cindy. All bloggers post directly without intervention.
The disadvantage of this approach is that there is no filter or fact checking and sometime mistakes are made. We have one awesome non-native English speaking blogger from Finland, Werner Ruotsalainen. His posts are incredibly thorough (checkout his recent Opera post). However, by letting him blog, we are allowing not perfectly written English language content. Does this reflect on magazine. Yes. But is it worth it to have Werner as a blogger, I think yes.
The advantage of our approach is we get an incredibly wide and interesting perspective from strong iPhone users from around the world.
Cindy, for example, has posted over 100 times. I recommend that everyone read her posts, and discover the many gems she has uncovered.
Adrian, I agree with most of the points you raise, and that's the trade-off of this approach.
By the way, if anyone is interested in blogging or contributing to the magazine, check out http://www.iphonelife.com/share and/or hal
thaddeus [dot] com (E-mail me).
Wow Imagine what'll happen if