As I read another headline about a banned book, I wondered just when do we accept that a book should be banned? If the material offends 1 person, 10, or over 1,000,000? Seems to me that we either believe in the freedom of information - even when we are personally offended, or we don't. The current headline was about Brooklyn's Chief Librarian banning Tin Tin Au Congo - a book that is racially offensive to some (most?). Whether anyone finds it offensive or not is irrelevant. Do we ban materials? I would guess almost every item in a library's collection would offend someone - somewhere. We can't scream against banned books - and then ban the ones we find personally offensive - that is censorship.
'TinTin Au Congo' book banned from Brooklyn libraries for depicting Africans as monkeys
BY Erin Durkin and Simone Weichselbaum
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Friday, August 21st 2009, 4:00 AM
Brooklyn's head librarian ordered 'Tintin au Congo' off shelves in borough branches after customer complaints.
Brooklyn's chief librarian has yanked a nearly 80-year-old book from the shelves because it depicts Africans as monkeys.
Tintin Au Congo is the only book in the city library system hidden from public view after a reader complained that it was "racially offensive."
The popular Belgian children's work - due to be made into a movie by Steven Spielberg - is locked behind a series of hidden doors on the third floor of Brooklyn's central library.
"'Tintin au Congo' was relocated," said director Richard Reyes-Gavilan. It "had illustrations that were racially offensive and inappropriate for children."
The curious have to make an appointment to see the original Georges (Herge) Remi piece. The next available date was Monday morning, said a library official.
Donna Lieberman, head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, blasted librarians "for taking the easy way out" and not considering the "long term in engaging in censorship."
Marcus Ramirez, 26, agreed.
"It's art, it's an expression," said Ramirez, 26, a security guard from the Bronx, looking at a recent reprint of the 1930 cartoon from a Brussels newspaper. "Other people get offended? I don't see why."
'TinTin Au Congo' book banned from Brooklyn libraries for depicting Africans as monkeys
BY Erin Durkin and Simone Weichselbaum
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Friday, August 21st 2009, 4:00 AM
Brooklyn's head librarian ordered 'Tintin au Congo' off shelves in borough branches after customer complaints.
Brooklyn's chief librarian has yanked a nearly 80-year-old book from the shelves because it dep
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