Today's Tasty Controversy: Turkey vs. Pig

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.