I cannot believe this shit; I do not wish to believe this shit; but apparently I must - UPDATED
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
"Pooh!" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."
I know it's a new year and I should be having wispy, curled-up-by-the-fire thoughts lalala but IT'S STILL OCTOBER isn't it and what good could come out of it - therefore, this shall be A Post Where Words Such As Sod Off, Bloody Wankers And For Fuck's Sake Are Used And Yet I Do Not feel All That Much Better.
I am fit to burst many a blood vessel, I absolutely cannot believe this [found it through Sandmonkey, in Cairo]:
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (Tory-controlled) has now announced that, following a complaint by a Muslim employee, all work pictures and knick-knacks of novelty pigs and "pig-related items" will be banned. Among the verboten items is one employee's box of tissues, because it features a representation of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.
The Brits, my God, the Brits I love so much are beginning to sound like radical American christians! Soon there'll be a movie abt this and they'll call it Chopped! - oh wait, no, they're beginning to sound like extremist Muslims, when did THAT become an acceptable role model? And people tell me I'm too extreme in my extreme and ever-growing distrust and fear of Political Correctness? Listen to me: the world IS coming to an end, the world as we know it, and if you still take your civil liberties very much for granted you are either extremely naïve, extremely in denial or extremely dense. I, for one, am extremely scared.
This is Piglet, PIGLET, the gentle one, remember? The one that teaches us that it is all right to be different and not so brave, sometimes afraid, always shy and self-conscious but also unexpectedly valorous and always good and loyal. It’s Piglet for fuck’s sake, little Piglet!
.
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A Muslim woman is offended by Piglet? I’m offended by her, sod her and the mare she rode in on, why is Britain licking the collective Muslim arse and allowing the sub-enlightened to rule? Will the demented and brain-washed part of the world’s Muslim population be more considerate towards [the the rest of the planet now simply because Britain has decided to position itself on all fours on the world’s carpet and holler I’m all ready for some heavy-duty impregnation now, please fuck me till my gut spills out of my ears, please sir can I have some more sir?infidels, burn maim kill them all]
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Go be subversive, immoral, disrespectful and inhuman now and read Winnie The Pooh and The Te of Piglet. Read To Kill A Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye. Oh, throw in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and the likes of it while you still can. Top it off by re-reading Animal Farm and force a chuckle over the Pigs being more equal than all other animals – the pigs, HAHAHA, get it?
This is horrendous.
Speak out for Piglet. We are all pink and timid and easy to slay.
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UPDATE: read what Nadz has to say abt it. [I have FINALLY discovered Arab bloggers!] She also pointed me towards this, another fine piece of mental health. Oh, and him, him looks good as well. It's abt time I helped put the normal back in Muslim, my intuition and common sense indeed speaking louder than my prejudices.
RE-UPDATE: I've just realised, reading Dany, that I did find out abt this on the 2nd. I even commented on the post - and yet remember none of it, NONE. Am seriously worried abt my mental health now and contemplating the need for a cat scan. But go here for a good example of bias of the most surprising sort.
Enjoy this:
adopt your own virtual pet!
posted by Lioness @ 12:37 pm
26 furballs
26 Comments:
Oh man, not Piglet, I heart Piglet! The world is going crazy I tell you.
Gah. The world is going to the crazies. I would NEVER ask someone to remove something they liked but was offensive to me. I just won't look at it. None of my freaking business.
As a liberal-leaning American New York Jew, I cherish diversity. I believe in respecting other's cultures and heritage.
However.
When someone from another culture/country comes to America or Britain and tries to impose their intolerance on others, I say--
GO THE FUCK BACK TO YOUR OWN FUCKING COUNTRY, WHERE NO ONE HAS ANY CHOICE OR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION! ENJOY! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE ANYWAY?!??
Over and out.
What I don't understand is how pigs are offensive. I know that eating pork might be offensive to some religions, but pictures of pigs? Is this woman a cop? Piglet is cute.
Brooksba...let me explain. First, in Islam, pigs are unclean animals and God or Allah told the Muslims to not eat them nor keep them as pets or anything else. This actually comes from the old testament which comes from the Talmud (Torrah) since Islam is a mix of judaism, christianity and Mohammeds own meanderings on religion.
Now, back in the days of the old Testament, pigs were unclean because they carried swine fever and uncooked pork gave worms and a few other nasty diseases, so people developed these little religious rules to keep their own people from dying out in a day when getting a nick on your finger could spell doom.
Of course, pigs are also very unpicky about what they eat and they will even eat a human body if it's thrown to them so, I suppose, it may lend to the whole "unclean" idea.
lastly, even in the new testament, Pigs were off limits. Jesus cured "possessed" people by "casting" the demons into pigs and making the pigs run into the river and drown. So, pigs have had a bad rep in religion and ancient cultures.
I think this is the main issue why the woman was offended by the picture, but their may be a second issue, depending on what else was in the office. In Islam, images of people or animals are strictly forbidden (if you're a strict Muslim) because it says to "make no idols before God/Allah" just like the old Testament and Talmud. However, Christians interpreted that to mean not to worship any image because God is unknown while Islam takes it a step further and says "no images". I believe strict 7th day Adventists follow this same rule.
My money is on the "unclean animal" thing though.
having said all that, you'll get my winnie the pooh and piglet too when you pry it from my cold dead hands.
What will we do when they say that they are offended by the crosses on our churches (and the star of David on our synagogues)?
Tolerate us as we tolerate you; else fuck off. You want to live in a muslim state? The world is full of them, go live in one.
This is insane. I'm sorry but it is insane. If the person is offended, don't look at it. The politically correct thing goes too far. But it's on both sides. I remember working with a woman who was a fanatic Christian and was offended because a Muslim woman had her list of Holy Days in her cubicle. She wanted to rip it down and destroy it. Managed to talk her out of it.
But being offended by Piglet? And going so far as to file a complaint? That's crazy.
I have to say around the newspaper circuit and being British, I've been slack. I haven't heard this story at all. Whoops.
The British as a whole are shit at the whole PC thing, its part of our nation nature, I think (I'm studying nationalism, its bloody confusing). We aren't taking our civil liberties for granted, though I have to say we need to fight for them a little harder, considering the Tories plan to take them away from us if they get into office (Seriously - taking off the Human Rights Act is part of their 2005 manifesto)
The government is desperate to appear they're for everybody. Problem is you've got fuckwits left, right and centre who want to take advantage. You probably find the muslim lady did it because she could. And it you probably find it didn't make the news because people see it as someone taking advantage, and not eroding our liberties, which are still backed up strongly (via a thin string) When the gov't actually tries to mess with our liberties, then Blair's head will be on a stick.
Unbelievable. When will people start using a little common sense? Pretty soon this world is going to be sooo politically correct and PC that we're left without differing cultures. It'll be just one strip mall and Walmart after another.
Yeah, I can see while people would feel threatened by a box of tissues...
Oh my. It's so vile it's bordering on ridiculous. Poor Piglet. It's awfully hard to be brave when you are a very small animal.
I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired. I like what serialangel said, ...the muslim lady [probably] did it because she could. What else is next? There are a lot of religious rules and standards...are we to ban everything one by one until everyone is happy? What about those people who take offense with religion? Shouldn't we make them happy too? People are too damn sensitive about things that they needn't get all worked up over. This is PIGLET for crying out loud! Maybe we should be offended by all talking animals! No more cartoons. No more fables. No more Mother Goose!
Watch out Tigger! You're next!!!
Fucking O!
Over piglet??
Sheesh.
And I thought we were mental over here.
(Someone keep an eye on Eeyore)
I'm so happy you all agree it's insane! But you know what scares me the most? It's not that the woman would demand it, we know how radicalism is. It's that the Ones In Power would aknowledge such a demand as valid, THAT's what is raising the hairs on the back of my neck.
I have a really interesting interview that i want to translate, it's a Muslim expert who is also a Muslim talking abt such things, he makes absolute sense.
And So Not Martha, my nightmares of unification include burkas and mandatory national nnthem singing and praying bfr class... Wallmart doesn't look half bad in comparison.
I hope I am not repeating myself, please bear in mind I am still dumbified:
Kat, welcome. I was wondering how you kept all of your blogs and then realised - you don't! :DD The bigger issue of course is, the woman has a right to her religion but she lives in a LAY State, thank God!, and she must respect that. I'm w Elvira and Udge.
Babs, *cheery wave!* I do think many of you are mental over there, more so than in Europe still, but give us time. France and the Netherlands seem to be doing their utmost to catch up, and now britain as well. Love the Inner Epyleptic slogan!
Dahling, I read this 24 hours ago and just couldn't come up with the words for a comment. I still can't, I'm just sitting here blinking in confusion and flabbergast. I am happy to see Babs made it over here, so that's something, at least.
I think Piglet is cute :-) The lady who is offended should maybe just ignore Piglet instead of wanting the cute little thing banned.
Great update. You're such a savvy blogger to update your posts like this ;)
The Inner Epileptic slogan was pure luck!! I didn't like the first few questions so I kept asking for a new one. And I've been joking about rubber sheets for YEARS now lol
Diana, I would have been quicker, but I feared spreading the whole deer/puke bad karma.
Plus I had to stop to get some tea.
Drat. My post didn't go through last night. I agree -- this is ca-ca. The offended person is a narcissistic, manipulative opportunist -- and the government *placates* her? Shahhhh -- what kind of precedent is being set? Can everyone with a religious/cultural grievance speak up and expect the [imagined] insulter to be banned or punished? I'm all for weeding out prejudice and promoting multiculturalism, but this is too much.
And I was disturbed by the update re:the synagogue being turned into a murder museum. WRONG.
I'm still catching up on your old posts, missy. Love the new friend Saugut. I love that you have an international group of regular commenters, too -- it's like a miniature, improved UN.
Saugut is adorable!
I am loving that saugut is a pig as well. Why did you pick the name?
Anyway, I finished your 7 questions, it is in the comments of that post.
Yeah, I'd so love to come and see you again, I miss you terribly. How about you come here?
Love thie link to Nadz. We should all find out the yahoo's addrees who banned Piglet, and mail him cartons and carton of the little guy.
Absolutely crazy.
I'm addicted to playing with Saugut. How adorable. I'm working on your seven questions. I should be done fairly soon.
POlitical correctness sucks SHIT. UGH...the best way to make no one happy is to buy into that crap.
Sorry I haven't beena round my friend. LIfe has been crazy.
Saugut is too cute. He certainly takes to baths better than the real-life Misanthropic/Temperamental Parakeet does.
Thanks for giving us Americans a reason to laugh (and then wonder wth) at the Brits.
You should also look into http://egyptiansandmonkey.blogspot.com/, "rantings of a sandmonkey." It's from an Egyptian guy, and I think you'll like this blog, as well.
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