Church school renames Three Little Pigs to avoid offending Muslims

[The Straight Story]

Church school renames Three Little Pigs to avoid offending Muslims

The story of the Three Little Pigs' battle with the Big Bad Wolf has delighted children since it was written more than 150 years ago.

But the tale highlighting the merits of hardwork and practicality has become the latest to fall victim to political correctness.

A junior school production of the children's story has been renamed the Three Little Puppies for fear of offending Muslims.

Organisers of a children's music festival have altered the popular characters and lyrics because of the multi-cultural nature of the youngsters involved and their parents in the audience.

But yesterday Islamic leaders condemned the politically correct move as misguided and said decisions like this were turning Muslims into 'misfits' in society.

Children from Honley Church of England Junior School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, were due to perform in a reworking of the popular tale which features the three little pigs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=442555&in_page_id=1770&ito=newsnow

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. "fall victim to political correctness"

Yeah, right.

[fishwax]

32. that language always sets off alarm bells

[NYCGirl]

2. That's amazingly stupid. I thought the restriction was eating pork, not looking

at pigs.

[The Straight Story]

3. Indeed

And that is pointed out in the article as well.

I just don't get it.

[NYCGirl]

4. I have a strong feeling that this one is going to end up on Snopes in the

near future.

[Buzz Clik]

7. Agreed -- silliness to the extreme.

If the story had been about a Muslim cleric who was chasing the pigs to eat them, then changing the story line might make sense. But a wolf? Wolves eat pigs, even if Muslims don't.

Perhaps, in deference to vegans, they could redraft the story and name it, "The Three Little Heads of Lettuce" in which a hungry vegetarian chases the potential salads. He eventually climbs down the chimney of the brick house and falls to his death into a cauldron of Ranch Dressing (lo-fat, of course).

[NYCGirl]

18. I think you have a hit on your hands! NT

[Buzz Clik]

25. A musical?

[NYCGirl]

30. Oh, absolutely! LOL! NT

[Buzz Clik]

35. The opening number: taunting The Vegan:

[AngryAmish]

28. A vegan would be too weak to blow down a straw house

They get winded sitting upright.

[NYCGirl]

31. How about they could run over it in a Saab? Throw Birkenstocks at it? NT

[AngryAmish]

34. Throw a hemp blanket over the lettuce maybe?

[etherealtruth]

9. In my (admittedly anecdotal) experience ...

The Muslims I have known have avoided children's toys, stories, etc. that involved pigs , piglets and so on. They did not believe that gazing upon a pig was against their religion ... and they never would have asked or wanted someone to alter their tradition ... however, they would not want their child participating in a play as a pig.

This group may have "done too much " in the spirit of being inclusive, but it is nice to hear that they considered the feelings of others and TRIED to be respectful.

[NYCGirl]

19. Would they have a problem with their children playing a different part in the play?

[etherealtruth]

20. Probably ...

I just asked my 11 year old (home sick) if he thought his dad, his dadi and dada would come if he played the big bad wolf in the three little pigs ... he doesn't think so... because "they're not going to go to the Three Pigs, Mom"

...but, I realize that this is anecdotal ...that Muslims from other cultures and/or with different interpretations will not feel this way.

edit and redit to change subject line, sorry

[Ex Lion Tamer]

23. Remember a while back when some idiot who objected

to a mosque going up near his house staged a pig race to "piss off" the local Muslims? I can't remember where I heard it, but it definitely happened.

A local Muslim was interviewed, and he rather humorously noted that Muslims don't hate pigs, they just don't eat them; and that he wasn't remotely offended by a pig race in the vicinity.

The only one put out, then, would have been the idiot who staged the race and who had to clean up the pig shit!

[Mike Daniels]

5. Baa, Baa Black Sheep is politically incorrect/offensive?

"Other recent rows have involved 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' being changed to 'Baa Baa rainbow sheep'"

For the love of Pete. I just looked up the rhyme and there's nothing to even imply that "black" is offensive within the context of the piece. Given that the piece is dated from the 13th century "master" is referencing the "lord of the manor"

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. I think the objection is to talking about 'black sheep' in general

Since it's used as a phrase to mean "one who stands out". I don't think it's offensive, myself, and looking it up, it's slightly more complicated: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4782856.stm - but someone did at one stage claim it was "racially offensive".

And "rainbow sheep" doesn't scan, anyway. :D

[BattyDem]

6. Did anyone bother to ask a Muslim if they found it offensive?

It sounds like they just assumed it would be offensive based on their own misunderstandings about Muslims ... and I think THAT is what's offensive. If people of different cultures/religions would simply learn to communicate, educate and appreciate, the world would be a much better place.

edited: typo :blush:

[etherealtruth]

16. Perhaps they did ...

In Islam, like other world religions, there are many cultural practices interwoven with the religious ones.

In my ex-husband's family it is NOT OK for kids to play a pig in a school play, our kids were never exposed to the story of the three pigs until they went to a public school. These people are very bright and highly educated, they would never ask anyone to change their traditions ... yet, they most assuredly, would not participate.

edit: first line for grammar and clarity

[BattyDem]

17. That's a good point.

My bad. :blush:

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. I have to wonder, how many practicing devout Muslims attend

a Church of England school?

[Touchdown]

11. Oh' that.

Damn. I was hoping that the pigs actually had names. I never knew what they were, so I figured it was Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba, or Huey, Dewey, and Louie. :D

Hey! Anybody remember that Bugs Bunny where the three obnoxious pigs sold Bugs their houses, and the wolf blew the first two down? "Hey uh, Lard. How much for the pile of sticks?" Then the wolf gets to the brick house, and they say..."Oh' yeah! Blow your brains out! We know you can't blow down bricks." Then he blows and the house blows up, cuz Bugs helped out the wolf with some dynamite? Wolf-"I did it!" Bugs- "Eh, we did it. Hee hee hee!" :rofl:

[geardaddy]

12. It's weird that they chose puppies instead of say kittens.

given that dogs were domesticated from wolves and are essentially the same species. Isn't that kind of cannibalism of a sort?

I'm just speculating here. So, and anthropomorphized wolf wants to eat anthropomorphised puppies.

[JoDog]

15. my first thought...

"So, it's better to have the kids watch little puppies get terrorized by a wolf? Come on!"

[azurnoir]

13. I'm sure it's just coincidence

that this comes out at the same time as the flying Imams announce that they're filing a civil suit against the airline and Mpls-St Paul airport and the validity Khalid Sheik Mohammad's confession that he is responsible for almost every act of terrorism against the US in the past 15 years is being questioned.

[ComerPerro]

14. sounds like a deliberate attack on muslims to me

sounds like they did this without provocation, probably to stir up the "war on Christianity" crowd and the anti-PC crowd. Thats how most PC stereotypes started.

[majorjohn]

29. that's what I thought too n/t

[yardwork]

21. I don't understand why this is a problem

The animals in the story don't have to be pigs. What difference does it make to the story to change the type of animal?

It's obvious that it would be genuinely distressing to a segment of the school population to keep the pigs. So they changed it. Good move! What's the problem?

[NYCGirl]

24. Because it's a story that's been around since the mid-1800s, and there's

plenty of fairy tales that have no pigs that could be chosen instead?

[etherealtruth]

33. "plenty of fairy tales that have no pigs that could be chosen instead"

Now that IS sensible!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Why is it a problem?

Because it's perpetuating the stereotype of muslims being irrational.

[Marnieworld]

22. Well as a puppy lover now I'm offended

People eat pigs everyday but we really don't like to hear about puppies being killed. What morons!

[Marrah_G]

26. This is getting absurd

I say that as a pagan, a wiccan, also known as a witch. The over-sensitivity is getting out of hand. How about stories with evil witches? Or television shows, movies, books and the ever so popular use of witch to replace the word bitch? I would be exausted if I spent my days fighting each and every little infraction or mis-representation of my religion.

People need to take a step back and realize that the world does not revolve around themselves. A world where no one anywhere is offended by anything would be a world in which human beings never communicated with each other.

[ComerPerro]

36. according to the report, the school did it on their own

probably to generate feelings like the ones you expressed against muslims.

[Marrah_G]

37. My feelings against muslims?

I stated no feelings against muslims. I think this is getting out of hand with many different religions, even my own occasionally.

[ComerPerro]

38. muslims this time, but more generally your feelings of anti-PC.

which you did in fact express, "this is getting ridiculous".

Its the kind of reaction they were trying to stir up.

[Marrah_G]

39. Okay I see what you are saying.

And perhaps you are right in their motives.

That doesn't change the fact that some people and the media keeps playing up every minor offense as something they just are not. Life is too short to run around looking for things to be offended by. This ranks up there with the "war on christmas"

[ComerPerro]

40. well, yeah, and I think that's what they are trying to do

I think they are trying to perpetuate a "war on Christianity" by pretending that PC muslims forced them to change their story.

If you think about it, its perfect, flawless propaganda.

A symbol of America (Christian schools) being forced by a unseen boogeyman (muslims) to do away with or corrupt a staple of Americana (the Three Little Pigs)...



BTW, sorry about the phrasing that made you think I said you were anti-Islam. ;)

[Marrah_G]

42. I'm glad you don't think that

:)

[treestar]

41. There are many of these extreme PC stories from the UK

I am starting to take them with a grain of salt. One right wing anti-PC nut I often debate with often brings them up.

The UK does have a somewhat different culture, so it might perhaps not be as bad as it sounds. And another thing, the RW has to go to England to get these stories, since there aren't any good ones they can latch onto here (or that they could be more easily disproved).

I too think it is just meant to make the Muslims look unreasonable as a group. Even if some Muslims are offended by the story, it should not taint all of them with hypersensitivity.

[LeftishBrit]

43. Firstly if the story is from the Daily Mail, there's at least a 90% chance that it's untrue

The Daily (Hate-)Mail is a right-wing rag, with a hate-campaign against immigrants, asylum-seekers, any form of 'multi-culturalism', gypsies, gays, single parents, you name it. And VERY unreliable and sensational about anything factual In a sense, the British tabloid equivalent of Fox News.


As regards the general issue of religion and pig taboos: I have a friend who is an orthodox Jew, keeps strict kosher, and e.g. won't even answer the phone on a Saturday.

And she LOVES pigs to look at. She has pictures of them all over her wall. When someone commented, she said, "I like pigs; I just don't eat pigs!"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

44. I think the presence of the pigs enhances the drama to a Moslem

The big bad wolf is the antagonist who wants to commit an act (eating the protagonists who happen to be pigs) that Islam reviles. I would think that most Moslems would think that it's not only a non-offensive story, but actually a great story in that it teaches us that the antagonist gets punished for wanting to not only commit murder of three of his fellow citizens in fairytaleland but also wanting to commit an act that offends the Moslem faith. The story also teaches us about the value of cooperation, preparation, and intelligence. The Three Pigs cooperate intelligently to beat the Wolf. And in affirming the intelligence of pigs, it's a fact that every Moslem already must know, that pigs are intelligent, for they must have lobbied Allah at some time in the past to get over 1 billion members of humanity to stop wanting to eat them.

[Blue-Jay]

45. OK, that's just dumb.