Unclean animals, political correctness and a rant.

Posted by Lewis on February 26, 2004

In Reply to: This little piggy... posted by James Briggs on February 25, 2004

: : : : This little piggy went to market
: : : : This little piggy stayed home
: : : : This little piggy had ________
: : : : This little piggy had none
: : : : And this little piggy cried
: : : : Whee whee whee whee all the way home.

: : : : I think I have discovered a regional variation of this. When I was a child the piggy had roast beef. A Btitish friend says the piggy had jam and bread. So I was just wondering if it is generally the case that the piggy in Britain was meatless or not? Any thoughts?

: : : : In Ireland when I was a boy, it was, "This little piggy had bread and butter."

: : In my part of the U.S., people say "roast beef." But since we are vegetarians, I taught my children that the piggy had "macaroni and cheese." Maybe vegan children say "peas and carrots."

: It was always 'roast beef' in my day in London.

Yup - 'roast beef' in Bedfordshire.

Never heard any variation at all - probably some bloody evangelical vegetablist. Mind you, they probably want to change it from piggy to 'goat' to avoid offending religions like Judaism and Islam in which the pig is ritually unclean.

Why the fk should people change tradition so as not to mention pigs? Some religions say don't eat pigs - fine I can respect that (although don't expect us to want all our meat halal slaughtered) but to remove reference to them is just plain silly.
I recall dogs are also 'unclean' so would they be next?
Or cats sacred to Egyptians
Or cows to Hindus?
we'd be left unable to have representations of anything eventually.

[what's that in the field mummy? sorry dear, can't say]

What if I start a religion that worships pigs, cows, dogs, cats and llamas? Can I eventually insist that all public buildings have a plaque with representation of all those because my religion says that I can only pay money to the priests and priestesses of animals? How does that integrate with the right not to have pigs represented on public buildings?

There is a big difference between acknowledging a right to avoid, say pork, and deleting traditional references. We need to be alert to these things to avoid a loss of our cultural heritage.

Oh and as for Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night - it was to celebrate the survival of the English constitution of parliamentary democracy (coupled with a somewhat nominal monarchy), not the torture and execution of the (as it happens, Roman Catholic)terrorists. they may have been inspired by an erroneous interpretation of what being a good catholic involved, but their capture was celebrated for the preservation of the symbols of our constitution - parliament and monarch.

if somebody had caught a terrorist about to nuke the white house/congress or blow up the Taj Mahal or the pyramids of Giza or the Dome of the Rock - wouldn't each nation be entitled to celebrate the preservation of national symbols?

[indeed - shouldn't the passengers that saved the White House be honoured each 4th July or whatever?]

"political correctness" needs correcting - whether vegan-inspired or not. Tolerence must work both ways or it is in itself injustice.

Rant over.