Has the world gone completely bonkers? Or is it just the British? …
I found this little gem in the “Herald Sun” (one of Melbourne’s major papers) the other day.
“Latest casualty of the politically correct is Three Little Pigs“
“It is offensive, says a panel of education experts, who fear the fairytale is racist.”
It seems that a version of the story called Three Little Cowboy Builders was prepared for use by primary school children in the UK. It was initially received well, and even won a number of education awards. That was, until it was entered into the Bett Awards, a contest run by the British Government’s technology agency for schools.
Turns out the judging panel was…
“…concerned a story about pigs could offend Muslims and, because it was also about builders, it might offend them. … The judges also thought it implied all builders were cowboys, builders got their work blown down, and builders were like pigs.”
Wow, I think some people are starting to take fairytales a little too literally!!
And if we start worrying about every group that a fairytale may offend, or the “wrong” message(s) that it may be sending, where will it stop?
Should we ban Snow White and the Seven Dwarves because the “vertically challenged” may be offended?
Should we ban Sleeping Beauty because it may suggest to kids that they can just lay around doing nothing for years on end?
Maybe it is time we stopped trying to put adult interpretations on children’s stories and just let our young ones enjoy the magic of imagination.
I mean seriously, where else but in the wonderful land of imagination do pigs even know how to build anything, regardless of the material being used?
written by Warren Denley