Editing a sacred cow

There's an interesting article in The New York Times about a decision by the Swedish national broadcaster to edit out two scenes in a newly-restored DVD version of the 1969 TV series Pippi Longstocking. The show was based on the immensely popular children's series by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and many Swedes vehemently object to the edits, which they claim are censorship and an infringement of free-speech rights. (In case you're wondering about the objectionable content: they edited out a word that is now viewed as a racial slur, and a brief scene in which the heroine pulls her eyelids upward, pretending to be Chinese.) Ms. Lindgren, who died in 2002, had called the racist term "outdated" as early as 1970, and her heirs are fully in favor of removing the material, but people are up in arms nonetheless.