When I saw on the news the story of the Three Little Pigs and their potential to offend, the first thing that came to mind was "Steyn needs to tackle this one." And right on cue, here he is:

This is now a recurring theme in British life. A while back, it was a local government council telling workers not to have knick-knacks on their desks representing Winnie-the-Pooh’s porcine sidekick, Piglet. As Martin Niemöller famously said, first they came for Piglet and I did not speak out because I was not a Disney character and, if I was, I’m more of an Eeyore. So then they came for the Three Little Pigs, and Babe, and by the time I realized my country had turned into a 24/7 Looney Tunes it was too late, because there was no Porky Pig to stammer “Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!” and bring the nightmare to an end.

Just for the record, it’s true that Muslims, like Jews, are not partial to bacon and sausages. But the Koran has nothing to say about cartoon pigs. Likewise, it is silent on the matter of whether one can name a teddy bear after Mohammed. What all these stories have in common is the excessive deference to Islam. If the Three Little Pigs are verboten when Muslims do not yet comprise ten percent of the British population, what else will be on the blacklist by the time they’re, say, 20 percent?

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Comments

[Brian]

I think another equally--if not more--compelling question is, are Muslims in Britain offended by that story? From all the coverage I've read it seems that non-Muslims decided it might (or would be?) offensive to Muslims. IS anyone actually upset?

[Dennis Babish]

Gee whatever happened to get over it?
Is the criteria now for everything if it offends, however obscurely, squash it?
I'm sorry but this seems to me much ado about nothing. If the Muslims don't like stories about pigs don't read them. I also noticed that they were afraid builders would be offended. Give me a break!

[LeeQuod]

Imagine our own editorial columnists, hamstrung (sorry) by being unable to talk about Congressional bills "laden with pork".

Aside to Brian: by the time they're upset, it's too late; people are murdered, cars and buildings are aflame, etc. So it's easier to keep capitulating, step by step, in advance.

[Gina Dalfonzo]

Interesting article here along those lines, Dennis:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGVhZDI4MmU2Njk3MzUwNzMzMmFlZjAxNGVhNTc1Mzg=