• supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        Isn’t there a Doctor Seus book about this…?

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        Yeah, The Sneetches

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sneetches_and_Other_Stories

        The first story in the collection tells of a group of yellow bird-like creatures, the Sneetches, some of whom have a green star on their bellies. At the beginning of the story, Sneetches with stars discriminate against and shun those without. Then one day, an entrepreneur named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (calling himself “the Fix-It-Up Chappie”) appears and offers the Sneetches without stars the chance to get them with his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this upsets the original star-bellied Sneetches, as they are in danger of losing their special status. McBean then tells them about his Star-Off machine, costing ten dollars, and the Sneetches who originally had stars happily pay the money to have them removed in order to remain special. However, McBean does not share the prejudices of the Sneetches and allows the recently-starred Sneetches through this machine as well. Ultimately, this escalates, with the Sneetches running from one machine to the next,

        • "Until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew
        • Whether this one was that one… or that one was this one
        • Or which one was what one… or what one was who."

        This continues until the Sneetches are penniless and McBean departs as a rich man, amused by their folly. Despite his assertion that “you can’t teach a Sneetch”, the Sneetches learn from this experience that neither plain-bellied nor star-bellied Sneetches are superior, and they are able to get along and become friends.

        Dr. Seus was a complicated figure, but he evolved as he got older.