Although the animated version of the classic Dr. Seuss book ‘Horton Hears a Who’ is but a children’s movie, it presents some deep philosophical and political quandaries.

In short, there is a lone voice, that of the Kangaroo and self proclaimed “law maker” in the jungle, who cries out “if you can’t see it, hear it, or feel it, it isn’t real!” when Horton the elephant tries to share his discovery of a “talking speck” which he surmizes must contain people since “specks can’t talk”. The Kangaroo suceeds in convincing the entire jungle population that Horton is crazy for believing such nonsense and manipulates the jungle population to destroy the flower that contains the speck with talking people.

The Kangaroo plays an antagonist role in an attempt to prevent Horton from spreading his so called “lie” in order to keep the other animals from believing Horton’s rediculous claim that people live in a speck.

When the Kangaroo convinces the mob to gather up against Horton, the argument that his belief in the people who live in the speck must be ended and the speck destroyed is a familiar one: “Think about the children!” This is voiced by the closed minded Kangaroo who convinces every last animal in the forest.

When all other logical arguments against the belief in the unknown fail in real life, of course, this is precisely what happens. “The children are rhetorically nationalized by the demagogue and anyone who disagrees is painted as an enemy of virtuous childhood.”

The even more important message is the closed minded, opinionated belief of the Kangaroo herself. She is so convinced in her mind that nothing exists but what she can see, feel, and hear that she refuses to open her mind to the evidence that is right in front of her face. She attacks Horton instead of listening to his evidence and presenting the philosophical difficulties behind Horton’s evidence. In refusing to believe what Horton believes she shows her own belief, the belief that the Whos don’t exist.

This is what I see all the time in my dealings with atheists. Most atheists I meet are the Kangaroo in this story. They dogmatically vocalize their beliefs or lack of beliefs and manipulate others to follow their lead. They are vocal, boistrus and sing a chorus of ad hominems so loud that people blindly follow their fallacies. As Hitlar once said “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually [people] will believe it.”

Well, in the end Kangaroo’s son eventually hears the Who’s yelling and succeeds in convincing the other animals that Horton is right which squelches the vocal objections of Kangaroo. Kangaroo is seen sulking in the final scene as she realizes that she has failed in her efforts to debunk Horton’s beliefs.

If you haven’t seen the movie I would encourage you to watch it. The movie presents many other philosophical issues that are worth exploring and discussing. The movie’s messages are vague enough to allow for varying interpretations, but there are those, such as myself, who hear a religious message is the script. It’s one that could have a significant impact on the younger generation if we are careful to help the young ones understand it.

All references to the movie Horton Hears a Who are the property of Horton Hears a Who by Ted Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) Copyright 1954.

Philosophy