Pinocchio and friends converted to Islam (Turkish translations)

[TexasLawyer]

Pinocchio and friends converted to Islam
Malcolm Moore in Antalya
(Filed: 31/08/2006)

Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer and other characters have been converted to Islam in new versions of 100 classic stories on the Turkish school curriculum. "Give me some bread, for Allah's sake," Pinocchio says to Geppetto, his maker, in a book stamped with the crest of the ministry of education. "Thanks be to Allah," the puppet says later.

In The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan is told that he cannot visit Aramis. The reason would surprise the author, Alexandre Dumas. An old woman explains: "He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness."

Tom Sawyer may always have shirked his homework, but he is more conscientious in learning his Islamic prayers. He is given a "special treat" for learning the Arabic words. Pollyanna, seen by some as the embodiment of Christian forgiveness, says that she believes in the end of the world as predicted in the Koran.

Heidi, the Swiss orphan girl in the tale by Johanna Spyri, is told that praying to Allah will help her to relax.

<snip>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/31/wpino31.xml

[951-Riverside]

1. *sigh*

...Fuck religion.

[PBass]

2. This is Late Breaking News? (eom)

[LostinVA]

5. Good grief -- please quit criticizing LBN threads

that don't live up to your standards. Seriously. This, the Glenn Ford thread.

Some of us find many different things interesting. I find this interesting, booth from a cultural, literature, and religious viewpoint.

Jaysus.

[Bassic]

7. Well said. nt

[daleo]

3. The west has appropriated other world cultures too

And the U.S. thinks nothing of cherry picking other countrys' histories in Hollywood movies. A recent example is the submarine movie about the capture of the German Enigma machine, which was shown to be done by the U.S. in the movie, but was done by the British in actuality.

And the Christian church is known to have appropriated all sorts of pagan legends.

[Hardrada]

4. And what about the utter travesty White America has made out

of Native American beliefs and customs.

[Igel]

9. We do it.

It's bad.

They do it.

Must find justification to shut down anybody who says it's bad.

The Christian church did it for the same reason the Turks do it: Propaganda, making everybody seem to be like them, or to prevent anybody in any other faith from appearing good.

At least Disney and others do it for money. Not xenophobia.

Sometimes I have no problem with cultural-equivalence in translation. Petty stuff, when referents are lacking or there's little expectation to be able to explain the cultural background without trashing the narrative. This isn't one of those cases.

[daleo]

12. I didn't say it was bad in either case

I think it is fairly typical behavior for any human society. But I do think i t is hypocritical for the western media to make a big deal about it when the west does it all the time to other cultures.

The idea that "doing it for the money" is somehow more acceptable than other reasons is a peculiar one. And it is the xenophobia (indifference to other cultures, at any rate) of the American population that creates the conditions that require Disney to Americanize narratives, otherwise they could just keep the stories as they are.

[tocqueville]

6. Breaking : Ali Baba and Sinbad the Sailor evangelized

announces Rev Falwell

[yurbud]

15. Greek gods accept Jesus, demote themselves to mortals.

[Julius Civitatus]

8. Insanity, but it's not the first time I read about this type of alteration

A friend of mine, a Swiss engineer, was sent by his company (Siemens) to manage a project in Saudi Arabia back in the 90s. He and his family lived there for 18 long months.

He told of the extent and zeal by which Saudi authorities try to keep everything Islamic, even in text books. They twist and manipulate facts to ridiculous extents to conform to their fundamentalist views. For instance, Saudi children are told that Columbus was Muslim, so according to them, America by claimed for Islam from the time of the discovery. Also, they tell children the first man in the moon was a Muslim as well. There are many, many examples of this mind-blowing religious insanity that religious zealots use for their nationalistic purposes.

It worries me this type of practice is happening in Turkey, a relatively moderate country.

[Igel]

10. Some of the phrases are universal

among those that don't mind saying 'Allah' a thousand times a day in a meaningless manner.

"Thanks be to Allah" isn't particularly Muslim. Even people calling themselves Christian use the phrase. 'Allah' is pretty much the word for 'god'.

Doesn't mean that you can't use it specifically for the Muslim conceptions of the deity. Just means that not every use entails that referent.

[Julius Civitatus]

11. Please read the whole article

It's more than just than translating Alah for god. They actually turned these characters into devout Muslims:

In The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan is told that he cannot visit Aramis. The reason would surprise the author, Alexandre Dumas.

An old woman explains: "He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness."

Tom Sawyer may always have shirked his homework, but he is more conscientious in learning his Islamic prayers. He is given a "special treat" for learning the Arabic words.

Pollyanna, seen by some as the embodiment of Christian forgiveness, says that she believes in the end of the world as predicted in the Koran.

Heidi, the Swiss orphan girl in the tale by Johanna Spyri, is told that praying to Allah will help her to relax.

Several more books have been altered, including La Fontaine's fables and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

It's fundamentalist wankerism, no question about it.

[dback]

13. Sounds like the evangelicals and their rewriting of the Founding fathers

According to the Christian Coalition and its ilk, our Founding Fathers were evangelical Christians JUST like them. Hence, the whole idea of church and state being a fraudulent ruse.

Some of the Founders were Christians, but more of them were Deists or agnostic. (Notice the wording about "Nature's God," which ties in scientific principles instead of just theology.)

Fundamentalists on both sides know that if you can change the past, you change the future, i.e. "This is the way it ALWAYS was, which is why it should ALWAYS stay this way." They'll tie themselves in pretzels of logic to justify these things.

[Igel]

16. Yes, it certainly more than that.

I wasn't saying it wasn't than I said. Just that it wasn't as much as was said in the OP.

No intent to minimize the problem, but similarly I don't like to exaggerate the problem.

Xenophobic fundamentalist wankerism.

[yurbud]

14. In other news, Northern Europeans believe Jesus was pale skinned with

stringy brown hair not the swarthy Mediterranean olive tree monkey he likely really was.

[Igel]

17. "Tree monkey"?

Excuse me?

[yurbud]

18. do olives grow on bushes? I don't know. I was just trying to make him

as swarthy as possible.

[Karenina]

19. You are SUCH a hoot!!!

:loveya: