So my post about Dr Seuss blew up.
That was awesome, don’t get me wrong. My blog readership went from tens to hundreds to thousands. The Spinoff got in touch and published my piece on their site. It was the second-most read story that day, after Harry and Meghan. I don’t mind coming in second to a duchess.
It got me thinking, though (ugh, what a Carrie line. Sorry). Why do things like this set certain people off? It honestly seems like some people want to find things to get furious about. For some reason, they’ve decided “wokeness” is an enemy. That doesn’t even make sense. How does society becoming more aware become a bad thing? Haven’t these people been telling us all to wake up for years? Sometimes I feel like these people will just reflexively oppose anything just to go against the liberal grain. It seems quite counterintuitive. Kind of like the American Republicans who are defending the British monarchy – isn’t America founded on y’know, not liking those guys?
Among the many, many lovely messages from both teachers and normies, I received a few complainers who either hadn’t read the piece, or who read it and took away the most minor quibble. A couple of people didn’t like that I had used the word ‘white’ to describe someone, and called it a “racist attack”. They clearly didn’t click the link I posted that led to an article about actual racist attacks, but okay.
Another woman (from the teachers’ Facebook page and who was unaware she was one of the inspirations for the initial post!) seemed convinced that I or others were going to come for her Noddy books. Lady, I don’t give a damn what you read to yourself in the weekends. Just don’t read racist stuff to your students. They don’t get to choose their teacher. Don’t be a bad memory for the rest of their lives, okay?
Oh well. It was an interesting experience. It’s a shame I didn’t have more content on the blog for people to read! But I’m back at it now. Enjoy your week!