What is Going on in Britain?

[justcarol67]

Caius Marcius wrote:
>
> OK, Brit-OT-chatterers, reassure me that this article about the
banning of A.A. Milne's Piglet from the British workplace is just
misplaced rumormongering.
> 
> http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005450600,00.html
> 
> http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/000682.html
> 
> 
>    - CMC (today Piglet, tomorrow Dudley......)


I'm not British, but I'm concerned about the extent to which political
correctness dictates modern thinking. "Tolerance" appears to mean
"tolerance" for the politically correct views, not universal
tolerance. Surely one person's right to drink from a Piglet coffee cup
is as important as another person's right to refuese to eat pork. If
Christianity is imposed on Muslims, it's (rightly) considered a
violation of their rights. But if Islamic sensbilities are imposed on
non-Muslims Christians, doesn't that violate their rights as well?

In the U.S., children who didn't believe in God or whose religious
beliefs prevented them from swearing an oath of loyalty (which is how
 the Jehovah's Witnesses regarded the Pledge) used to be able to sit
silently while the teacher and other students recited the pledge. Now,
in California and other states, *no one* is allowed to recite the
pledge in school because it contains the words "under God." The
separation of Church and State apparently trumps the First Amendment
rights to freedom of speech and religion. "Tolerance" has become
suppression.

I'm ashamed to say that I laughed at the very clever Telegraph cartoon
of British guards about to execute a blind-folded piglet. But the grim
humor of the cartoon illustrates just how ridiculous political
correctness has become. Neither the U.S. nor Britain can continue to
knuckle under to such suppression. Granted, it's only one office in
one British county, but note also that Burger King has stopped serving
its ice cream cones because the swirls supposedly resemble the word
"Allah" in Arabic! How far are we going to go? Should we force women
to wear burkahs to avoid offending the radical Muslims? And what will
happen when the rights of two "marginalized" groups come into conflict?

True tolerance is not giving up your own rights to avoid offending the
sensibilities of others. If the British aren't careful, they'll lose
the right to eat a ham sandwich in public and the pork farmers will go
out of business. And it won't stop there.

I thought the banning of Piglet (and Porky Pig and presumably the
unmentioned Miss Piggy) was funny when I read the first article and
saw the cartoon, but when I read the Telegraph editorial (linked to
the Cox & Forkum site), I realized that it isn't funny at all. It's
scary. 

Here's the excerpt that made we realize that we need to take this
incident seriously:

"And, as we know, Muslims regard pigs as 'unclean', even an
anthropomorphised cartoon pig wearing a scarf and a bright, colourful
singlet.

"Cllr Mahbubur Rahman is in favour of the blanket pig crackdown. 'It
is a good thing, it is a tolerance and acceptance of their beliefs and
understanding,' he said. That's all, folks, as Porky Pig used to
stammer at the end of Looney Tunes. Just a little helpful proscription
in the interests of tolerance and acceptance.

"And where's the harm in that? As Pastor Niemöller 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."

It's *not* a good thing. It's not tolerance; it's dictatorship by a
minority. And if we keep knuckling under to such demands, we'll go
down the slippery slope into the very intolerance we're trying to
guard against.

Watch out, JKR. We've seen those comparisons of Dudley to a pig and
all those references to Harry cooking or eating bacon. And those
winged boars that guard the gates of *Hog*warts near the town of
*Hogs*meade. We know a dangerous heretic when we see one. Change your
ways, infidel, or we'll ban your books.

Carol, who intends no offense to moderate Muslims or anyone else. It's
the extremes of political correctness, suppression in the name of
"tolerance," that I'm attacking