Today's Tasty Controversy: Turkey vs. Pig

Nick Gillespie | June 19, 2006

Via the always-edifyin' (and terrifyin') Sploid, comes news that the secular government of Turkey is saying no to a new the Winnie the Pooh series for a rather religious reason:

What could possibly be so offensive about a cartoon so beloved by kids in the West? Is it Christopher Robin's sex change [he is a she in the new series]? No. All the nudity? No. It's the presence of Pooh's dear friend Piglet.

Muslims regard the pig as a filthy animal unfit for consumption. Apparently that ban now extends to visual consumption. Authorities initially considered simply airing Winnie the Pooh with Piglet's scenes cut out, but the unclean beast was too great a presence in Pooh's life.

Even though Pooh and Piglet are regularly seen on other TV stations in Turkey and their videos are easily available, the government refused to be party to the porcine smut peddling.

Employees at TRT have been complaining that the government has been exercising more and more control over the station's airwaves.

Whole bit here.

More about Pooh and Piglet here.

And just because it's so damn great, here's a link to video of a 2005 Unicef commercial showing the Smurfs getting bombed--literally. More on that silliness here.

Comments

|6.19.06 @ 10:09AM|#

They'll just blow it up anyway.

Jeff P|6.19.06 @ 10:10AM|#

Not only that, but he's obviously a gay pig. Look at that striped shirt! And Kanga is a shameful single mother!

|6.19.06 @ 10:35AM|#

Pork chops are good. Bacon is good.

|6.19.06 @ 10:39AM|#

Nice story, but...

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey's public broadcaster has denied reports that it has banned the popular Walt Disney cartoon "Winnie the Pooh" because one of the main characters in the show is a piglet.
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Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) said late Saturday media reports that "Winnie the Pooh" and other cartoons featuring pigs had been barred "are untrue and aim to discredit the institution".

|6.19.06 @ 11:20AM|#

This has happened before. In the 70s, Muslim nations refused to air The Muppet Show due to the presence of Miss Piggy et al.

I remember this was part of "20 Outrageous Examples of Censorship" in The Book of Lists 2.

|6.19.06 @ 12:17PM|#

If porcine sidekicks are a problem, is it any wonder that Turkey doesn't much care for Bush and Rove?

|6.19.06 @ 12:24PM|#

Perhaps they could replace Piglet with Ned Beatty.

wingnutx|6.19.06 @ 2:11PM|#

A Danish studio is working on a replacement cartoon series about the prophet Muhammed, pbuh.

|6.19.06 @ 3:20PM|#

Hey, Jason, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker.

|6.19.06 @ 3:37PM|#

And cgee: Pigs sleep and root in shit. That�s a filthy animal. I ain�t eatin� nothin� that ain�t got sense enough to disregard its own feces.

|6.19.06 @ 4:48PM|#

Sorry, dudes. Pork Fat rules!

|6.19.06 @ 6:27PM|#

Those spicy porkskins and beer were just what I needed this afternoon. Unfortunately, when I saw the Coulter sidebar I vomited.

Keith|6.20.06 @ 2:11PM|#

Are pigs really more unclean than chickens or sheep? Or some people, for that matter?