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The CRE are a baffling organisation. Some of the things they come out with are mind-boggling and intolerant.
This Tintin in the Congo book has its very bad points, especially some of the drawings of black people. But there are good reasons why Tintin shouldn't be banned.
There are lots of Tintin fans who are not racist. This is a fact - I know because I've met some. The book does not cause racism.
The racism in Tintin in the Congo is a product of the age it was written in. The book can be used to show this to children, and if we are to feel anything about the prejudics of a past age then it should be a sense of mocking that they were so commonplace. We shouldn't feel ashamed and embarrassed, because it wasn't us. We certainly shouldn't try to hide history under the carpet.
Hergé, the book's author, spent rather a lot of time apologising for Tintin's imperialist ways. He revised several of his stories (including stories about Soviets and Jews), showing that one can improve themselves through education and experience. What a shame people like the CRE can't see the benefit of such education.
This move is designed entirely to help with the 'guilt' of oversensitive people (so often sensitive on behalf of others, others who think hey are as daft as I do) who cannot stomach foul caricatures but are too embarrassed to explain things properly to their children.
I think Tintin is kind of OK, although I prefer the television series.
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