Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:
The main issue has nothing to do with the quality of the changes. History is what it is, and trying to change history is wrong - even evil. Supressing any cultural artifact that had as big of a societal and technological impact as Star Wars did, is wrong regardless of how it is done. It should be available 100% intact, warts and all. Any less is to vandalize an important piece of our heritage.
Just to play devil's advocate slightly, I think the whole thing would not be an issue if the SE had been done tastefully from the start. If all it had been was cleaning up some continuity errors and doing some touch ups I doubt anyone would have gotten worked up. I guess I'm saying there's a parallel Earth out there where the SE is just a well-regarded Director's Cut that sits next to Blade Runner: The Final Cut, the Donner Superman, extended LotR, etc. (And obviously we'd still want the original preserved, too, as in the Blade Runner boxed set that has several versions.)