The BBC is reporting:
A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned by a government agency’s awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.
The digital book, re-telling the classic story, was rejected by judges who warned that “the use of pigs raises cultural issues”.
Is the humanisation of pigs in the popular culture really so offensive to Muslims?
After years of passive exposure to Porky the Pig, Miss Piggy, Piglet, Orwell’s Napoleon and Snowball and, of course, Wilbur of Charlotte’s Web I may have become desensitised to the insidious threat that such characters pose. However, it does seem like something of an overreaction. In fact, it’s seems just the sort of overreaction by a government body that I’m sure others will cite as evidence of the “Islamifascistification of Britain”, “Eurabisation” or whatever the latest idiotic buzzword is.
But it’s not just Muslims whose feelings they are hoping to protect. It’s also that other much maligned, highly sensitive minority group — commonly known as the “building trade” — who may face “cultural issues” if not protected from this literature.
They also warned that the story might “alienate parts of the workforce (building trade)”.
The judges criticised the stereotyping in the story of the unfortunate pigs: “Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?”
25 comments ↓
If the British government in really wanting to know what offends Muslims, and indeed most decent people, I would point out to them the illegitimate presence of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; as well as the unquestioning support given to the Israeli siege against the Palestinians. I would also direct their attention to Muslims being held without trial or legal recourse in Belmarsh. Those are things that offend Muslims, not some silly fairytale about pigs with poor architectural choices.
If the British government really cared about pigs they would address the stereotypical portrayal of their porcine brothers and sisters as dodgy builders.
What offends me deeply as a kuffar (and I’m sure millions of others as well) is muslim suicide bombers, muslim riots, muslim protesters with placards saying things like “MAY ALLAH CURSE THE QUEEN”, muslim women forced into bags, muslim girls forced to endure gental circumcision, muslim girls forced into arranged marriages, muslim extremists kidnapping innocent people then torturing them brutally before sawing their heads off and muslim honour killings. I could go on but I have no more time to vent my anger at you muslim hypocrites. So I wish you followers of ‘the religion of the perpetually offended’ would just fuck off to the nearest airport and leave. Oh, and take the left wing dhimmi PC idiots with you.
I get a bit sick of ‘above all that’ middle class Muslim bloggers thinking they represent all of Islam, writing in knee jerk agreement to a media/education system they obviously don’t really understand (typical of middle class know-alls, instant experts on everything).
First, I’m a former Nursery teacher who actually lives in the UK. Three Little Pigs is actually something of a token issue in some schools, where parents are concerned about teacher racism. It doesn’t represent reality (there is generally plenty of piggy paraphenalia in every Nursery to make up for this stories absence), but the issue is routinely simplified and exploited by the Islamophobic media.
Painting a picture of easily offended Muslims who ought to simply adopt ‘native’ sensitivities is pretty standard racist tripe in the British media – responding to this kind of thing at face value says more about your ignorance than any Muslim who might be offended by it.
Finally, I would have never take a book that disparaged a trade (Bob the Builder was welcomed because it redressed popular prejudices). I want kids to start their educational careers with a positive view of the world. They can learn to sneer should they be lucky enough to get to Oxford and meet people like you.
Poole, E. (2002) Reporting Islam: Media Representations of British Muslims (London: I B Tauris)
Muir, H. et al (2004) Islamophobia: issues, challenges and action (Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books)
I think in cases like this, Muslim representative organisations should step up and state clearly this sort of thing isn’t offensive to Muslims. It’s important that non muslims understand that not every little thing offends us so easily.
There was a case in Australia where a beef producer wanted to create humorous beef ads. One of thier ideas was having a muslim imam standing infront of a bbq holding a skewer with a slogan “Is lamb, is good”, in a word play on a ham producer’s ad slogan “is ham, is good”
I and many other muslims would have loved that ad because it was 1- funny, 2- inputs muslims as part of a popular australian culture, and 3- it wasn’t offensive.
However this ad never made it into the light of day because of fears it would offend muslims.
Finally, love your blog, keep it up, salams
Yakoub, you are missing the point.
The point is that the government shouldn’t be deciding what is and what isn’t offensive to Muslims but the Muslims themselves should be doing that.
You don’t like middle class educated bloggers talking on behalf of the Muslims but you have no problem with middle class non-muslim public servants doing the same thing.
Why can’t you just leave the job of deciding what is appropriate reading material to the individual teachers and parents to work out for themselves?
Yakoub,
I have never had the privilege of an Oxford education (please, contain your shock) but I still think this is all nonsense. The same way I think those who deem Sesame Street unfit for children for whatever stupid psychological reason they’ve come up with are being dumb and pretentious.
I really don’t think I was ever affected by the Three Little Pigs. Sure, I’ve brought with me the usual assortment of trauma, but the Three Pigs? Gotta say, never really made me the person I am today. As for it not being grounded in reality, I don’t think Narnia or Lord of the Rings are either. Should we ban those too because it offends the non-elves?
Damn. I thought this was going to be about BBWolf being drawn as OBL or something.
As the three little pigs built their houses themselves even though they had no qualifications to do the job and had a sixty seven per cent failure rate, builders would probably approve of the story’s moral. Equally, as the pigs who built houses of straw and wood were eaten by the wolf wouldn’t the more enthusiastic muslims also approve?
Incidentally, doesn’t the fact that David Irving’s brother is both a muslim and a pig farmer suggest that there is no particular objection to pigs?
Yakoub the State Worshipper
Instead of whinging and swining, don’t you think it would be nicer if people could make up their own mind what books they want their children to read and learn from?
The pro-pig folk could establish pro-pig playgroups and preschools with wall-to-wall swine stories and where the kids drink pig milk just before their naptime. It’ll be Miss Piggy till the pigs come home.
The anti-pig people could have their anti-pig schools where they just don’t mention The White Meat That Dare Not Speak Its Name and just pretend that the animal doesn’t exist. They can be as pig-headed as they want about the issue and nobody will care.
Everyone wins and everyone is as happy. Much better than the ham-fisted attempts by the British government to appease some imaginay outrage, dontchyathink?
Sara @ #6
The problem is you think like that because you are not a chav or a member of the lumpenproletariat. If you were, you’d most certainly realise how terrifying it is for the working classes to see little pigs in bow ties building houses in the pages of some picture book.
What was it that Marx said about the Three Little Pigs?
“Pigs were, it may be said, the weapon employed by the capitalists to quell the revolt of specialized labor.”
Exactly.
They can learn to sneer should they be lucky enough to get to Oxford and meet people like you.
Just because you might think you got the shoat end of the stick, doesn’t mean you have to be such a sow-puss and pig on everyone else. OK?
Cinna commented: “David Irving’s brother is both a muslim and a pig farmer suggest that there is no particular objection to pigs?”
Where’d you get that from?
You want cultural issues, I’ll show you cultural issues.
David Irving’s brother’s name is John Irving and he’s a Muslim pig farmer in Wiltshire, UK. He converted to Islam when he was a military commander in Oman.
Do you know why he became a pig farmer? It’s because when he was 4 years old, his mother bought him Porky Pig underwear and it planted an idea in his mind that even converting to Islam 40 years later couldn’t get rid of.
What do you have to say about that? Go on, say it. You know you want to..
Ooh, pick me, pick me!
It says that he’s an idiot? That he needs to get over the pig fetish? That Porky Pig underwear has magical qualities that last for decades?
Erm, I can think of more!
Why so much hatred?
Sorry, you’re right. David Irving’s brother isn’t the issue here. It’s your post, Paul. I didn’t like it.
I resent the fact that Australia never sold Porky Pig underwear. Or maybe they did and no one told me!
I’d agree with Yackoub that Bob the Builder has done a good job of promoting the building trade to the young (Smith 2006). Some academics have argued though that the show is actually a trojan horse for capitalism and individualism because Bob doesn’t belong to a union and he employs non-union labour like that scab Wendy (Joshi 2003, Simon 2002, Nagarajayaratne 2007).
I also welcome the appearance of Spongebob Squarepants who has helped break down stereotypes about prissy, preening homosexuals in the workplace (Lee 2002). This is in stark contrast to Clifford the Dog who continues to be portrayed as heterosexual and monogamous (Bartoj 2006, Humphrey 2001) and who promotes a culturally insensitive view of canine sexuality in the playground (Darrin 1999, Hodges 2001)
Great, another pig controversy.
Not that this justifies the stereotyping of Muslims, but a lot of Muslims have inherited a rather knee jerk aversion to all things porcine with the mother’s milk. Shoot, my father’s a convert and he has acquired the customary instinctive reaction against pig-related things (including *metaphors*–he once objected to my innocent observation one day that he’d “pigged out” at an all-you-can-eat buffet).
I don’ t know the particulars of this case and in this climate one can obviously easily cross the line into caricature, but I hate to say that well-meaning non-Muslims’ anxieties about offending Muslims aren’t entirely unfounded here. Those of us who find this whole thing embarrassing might need to cut well meaning outsiders some slack–how are they supposed to know where the line is? We most certainly do have hangups about the critters.
I blogged about pigs a while ago, for those interested:
http://akramsrazor.typepad.com.....sag_1.html
Would love to join in the discussion, but most of these comments are too witty, ironic or obscure for me to follow. Maybe it’s a pan-British Commonwealth between you Brits and Aussies and I’m not supposed to understand…
Oops, rather than blogging about pigs, I should probably get my tail to juma!
Now I’m curious. Is it actually pigs that are offensive or the aura of ‘Ha ha silly Muslims/Jews won’t eat pigs” that surrounds the subject and makes it amorphously touchy? Being hit with footwear is a pretty dire insult in some countries – if this was picked-up on by xenophobic media, ’shoes’ would perhaps become a non-no subject in certain circles, as are pigs in other circles.
By ‘non-no’ I of course mean ‘no-no’.
Thank God Austrolabe is back. I’ve missed this!
What about badgers? Why doesn’t anyone speak out for the badgers?
Never mind badgers, what about hedgehogs?
Pigs: ham, bacon, pork chops, barbecue, sweet and sour pork-yum! Er, sorry that was incorrect wasn’t it?
Just a quick question exactly how many pigs are in the building trades? Exactly how are real pigs supposed to hold a hammer in their hooves? It’s a flipping children’s story, relax! Or is next outrage going to be about the frog prince? What was a good moral woman doing running about escorted, harlot! Why is this women speaking to male (of a different species) in the first place! Scandal, she wantonly kisses this smooth talking frog and marries him! She should have been a proper woman and had her parents arrange a proper marriage the evil, loose, immoral woman! Don’t get me started about that floozy “sleeping beauty!”
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