Sweet Yet Sour

Horton Hears a Who the Hell Do You Think You Are?

Friday, March 14th, 2008 | Seriously? | 2 Comments

Every weekday morning after I return from the O’dark:30 dog walk I turn on NPR while I feed the dog and make lunches.  NPR is really, at this point, the only way I get my news.  I’m generally walking the dog during the early evening news and already in bed asleep by the late night news.  Anyway, I love NPR; I get news, commentary and features like StoryCorps that I love.

This morning I was listening while making my PB&J when the story I heard began to make me curse and talk to myself angrily.  This is really why I love NPR, by the way; I hear stuff that I know Katie Couric isn’t going to touch on her broadcast…

The latest in a series of attempts to adapt Dr. Suess’ books is “Horton Hears a Who”, which stars the voice of Jim Carrey.  I’m sure my four readers are familiar with the story, so I’ll save you the plot re-hash.   Anyway, at one point in the story there is the line, “A person is a person, no matter how small.”  This is of course in reference to the very small people in Whoville. 

Apparently desperate for attention and as always ignorant of their own offensiveness, the anti-abortion movement has taken on this small line as their own.  Groups of anti-abortion protesters are gathering outside movie theaters showing the movie wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the “A person is a person, no matter how small” saying.

As is generally the case with the conservative right, Colorado featured largely in the story, since the anti-abortion movement is currently working on a ballot initiative in the state to make a fetus a legal human being.  The reporter interviewed the head of this particular agenda in Denver who was gladly going to go to the movie showings with her group while wearing her T-shirt and carrying their usual signs. 

It’s always embarrassing for me as a native of Colorado to have these things burp up from the conservative muck that resides in this state.  And I never really have understood why they are all here in the first place; it certainly can’t be that they came here to train like athletes in our thin air for more fervent protesting at sea level.

I’m obviously Pro-Choice and therefore biased, but seriously, Dr. Seuss and anti-abortionists?  I’m hopeful that this is a sign that the movement is so desperate and out of better slogans that they have to hijack a simple line from a Dr. Seuss book, but I’m still disgusted.  We all know perfectly well that Dr. Seuss had no political agenda while writing this book and that this is a children’s book. 

And yet, they did it anyway, and now, when some well meaning parent takes their child to see a movie of a sweet book that the kid has probably read with joy many times, they will be confronted with the likes of anti-abortion protesters.  Well done people!  “Here honey, after you look at the disgusting pictures on their signs, we can go and get some Skittles and popcorn and watch our Dr. Seuss movie about how abortion is wrong.”