Huff and puff: 3 little pigs blown away

Paul Bibby writing in the Sydney Morning Herald

The classic children's story Three Little Pigs may appear innocent, but a new children's book based on the tale has been rejected for an award on the grounds that it would offend Muslims and even builders.
A CD book for school children, The Three Little Cowboy Builders , was dismissed by judges from the Bett awards, a competition run by the British Government's technology agency for schools.
The judges' statements, reported on the British technology website, Merlin John Online, included the comment: "Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?
"The idea of taking a traditional tale and retelling a story is fine, but it should not alienate parts of the workforce. Judges would not recommend this product to the Muslim community in particular."

Ann Curtis, an author and founder of the company which developed the virtual book, Shoofly Publishing, said the statements themselves were racist.
"I felt disbelief, to be honest. As a small company, we have a strong ethical and moral grounding. We support the rights of all children in the world to have access to education.
"To be told that we cynically set out to alienate minority groups is a very narrow-minded view."
However, the organisers of the awards said that the book was rejected for a range of reasons.
"The reason The Three Little Cowboy Builders was not shortlisted was that it failed to reach the required standard across a number of criteria," they said in a statement.
"The issues highlighted were a small selection from a much broader range of comments ... the product was not sufficiently convincing on curriculum and innovation grounds to be shortlisted."

Footnote:

Surely this is pc gone mad? Here are some reactions....