To think that this is political correctness gone mad???!!!

[rdmommy]

elc have removed the pig from the happy land farm set as it may offend some religious groups!- i.e muslim and jewish. so am i wrong to suggest that maybe we should not have farm sets because it could offend veggies, the cows could offend hindus and maybe the sheep could offend the welsh???

this is bloody stupid... our town renamed christmas as fucking winterval!!!!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterval an exaggeration of time on my part, however it did occur

As lightly said, it was never about renaming Christmas Winterval as the right-wing press claimed

come on lets not use offence terminology nordic

rdmommy - let's just play along that the "winterval" idea is true (and I have seen things of that ilk, so it might be)

Surely it isn't giving Christmas a different name? It is an entirely different thing - a general winter festival, presumably including symbolism from many different cultural winter festivals.

Are you REALLY telling me that the "Christmas" stuff in most town centres (some lights, lots of shops opening later, drunk people, maybe an ice rink or fairground) has anything whatsoever to do with the birth of Christ?

So, if you are a Christian, shouldn't you be happy that these commercial elements have been taken away from the spiritual celebration?

I think the problem with most of these "PC" decisions is that they are taken by people who are overthinking what might offend someone. I doubt Jewish people have been phoning/ e-mailing the ELC in droves to demand that the pigs be taken out. In fact, they probably feel the same as you (willing to be shot down/ proved wrong on this!). THe problem with a lot of these type of decisions is that they actually increase resentment in small-minded people, and are used by the media to enrage people

Can you explain the sheep/welsh bit please?

Oh please, rdmommy. You don't HAVE to explain the significance of Winterval to your child at all. Winterval doesn't prevent you from celebrating Christmas with them or explaining it significance.
This is just another explain of a person in a majority religion have a sense of entitlement. I celebrate my religious festivals happily with my friends and family but have no expectations that the government should promote it. Why should your council or town have to promote Christmas and call it as such? I think their solution of embracing a festival called Winterval that includes everyone is actually great. It doesn't stop you from celebrating Christmas but includes others.

evileye i have put a link up to the winterval event, it did happen however not recently. that was just a small element of my op post though, not something i'd thought would be dwelled on

"i take my dds to a fram once a week at least where they see pigs, if i buy them a farm to play with how do you suggest i explain the absence of the pigs? Its like buying them a toy garage without the cars"

I am actually laughing out loud now. If that is the biggest issue you have to explain to your child then they have very lucky lives.

chaya i am christian, yes, however i don't see myself to have a sense of entitlement. however if i take your point literally why are other religions not renaming their religious festivals to include other religions?

Winterval was a stupid idea. I think it was done in the name of inclusiveness. It certainly worked: it managed to offend everyone.

i have a very charmed life chaya, i shall be worrying what colour uggs i should wear to pig my dd from preschool shortly- don't mock peoples lives

If this is true it's ridiculous. And prejudiced, as if Muslims walk around trying to find things to offend them. Load of bollocks

meant to pick what is wrong with me today!!

You should see the thread on netmums. Its about 20 pages long.

Which is why I only go and look at the site these days.

OP if you dont want people to dwell on bits of your post its best not to start them with 'fucking' and finish them with '!!!!!!!'

Do you see?

My understanding is that Christmas wasn't being renamed? Was the council coming into your church and home and telling you to call it Winterval? Honestly.

why are you telling me? I was only answering the person on page one using the same word...I think my answer was far less offensive...Just informing the other replier of her mistake in racist names!! :)

Frankly there are many, many reasons why I don't shop in ELC any more.

PMSL

thefirstmrsdevere you are right, i had to re-read my op! this is why i don't use netmums, i'm far too uncooth ! (sp)

nordic i was joking, i hate that word though!!! i used fucking in my op!!!

chaya Many religions have deeply significant devotions at this time of year. Do you not see that bundling them all togather, as an indiscriminate interchangeable package, and celebrating it as a commercial enterprise is just a little bit crass.

Was in ELC this morning, pigs etc still intact. Mind you I'm in Northern Ireland should I have asked if they were catholic or protestant pigs or was it a 50:50 split? Also do we need to change the colour of the pigs as they are pink and how does that reflect on the "pink stinks" campaign!!!

senua - the council wouldn't be 'bundling' together everyone's religious festivals. As far as I know there haven't been any buses taking everyone from their church and dumping them in the middle of a mosque for a channukiah light with some divali lights.

Although, now that I think about it, how wonderful would that be?...