Quote:
Originally Posted by Kostas
Nice post!
It resumes a well-known controversy in France, Belgium and elsewhere.
It's true that non-white people is usually depicted as mentally simple in several Tintin books as opposed to the insinuated superiority of white race. Personally, as an adult (?) I think that it is clearly racially offensive. I am pretty sure that such content could not be published today.
I read too a lot of Tintin as a kid (in French), but I was not able to make such a judgement being so young. Actually (and not proudly), I remember that I was dumb enough to smile with the way that black people was supposed to speak in french.
I hate censorship, but the fact that racism is rather insinuated in Tintin and these comics are supposed to be read by kids makes the case completely different as compared to "mein Kampf".
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It's true that much of what's in Tintin is considered racism now, but all things have to be taken in perspective. These were written over 50 years ago, when this was more common. Should Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer not be read because of their portrayal of african-americans? How about Gone With the Wind?
Yes, there has been, and always will be racism, despotism, classism, etc. Look at the middle east right now. Hell, look at the slums compared to the suburbs of any major city in the world! Does that mean we should get rid of everything that could potentially offend someone?
Kids learn from their parents, families, and peers. They don't become bigots because they read a book
You read Tintin, I read Tintin, a lot of people have read Tintin and they didn't turn into bigots or racists _because_ they read something like that.
If people just learned to let go and not take offense at so many things, the world would be a lot better place. That doesn't mean they shouldn't _care_ about something that's offensive, but let's all have some perspective. These are comics drawn over fifty years ago and meant to be funny.