Let's Make This Halloween Racism-Free!

[c7_assassin]

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I think of togetherness and thoughtfulness and community, only one holiday springs to mind: Halloween. If there's one day when we all come together to celebrate and respect each other's differences, surely it's the 31st of October.

Which is why I think we should all pledge our support to this noble group of student activists who are bravely working to eliminate a true menace to society: racist Halloween costumes.

"The campaign, by Ohio University's Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS), features posters headlined 'We're a culture, not a costume.' Underneath the line, 'This is not who I am, and this is not okay' are students of various ethnic backgrounds holding up photos of people wearing blackface, or dressed up as natives, Geisha girls or people depicting 'terrorists,' for example."

As these students astutely point out, costumed Geishas and terrorists are not accurate reflections of true Japanese or Terrorist culture, and therefore only feed into our cultural misconceptions about these marginalized groups. Which, as they eloquently put it, is Not Okay!

<a href="http://s932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/j_gallag/Decorated%20images/?action=view&current=3472-pope-fancy-dress-costume-itali.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad163/j_gallag/Decorated%20images/3472-pope-fancy-dress-costume-itali.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Image unrelated.​

I, for one, applaud STARS for opening our eyes to a glaring blind spot in our cultural awareness. Racism, as we all know, can be incredibly sneaky: just when you think you've banished it with a one-act play down at your local community center, you find it hiding in your favourite brand of pancake syrup.

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/leperchaun" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f134/gidget2401/leperchaun1.jpg" border="0" alt="leperchaun Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>
Drunken Irish leperchaun image unrelated.​

Racism is truly a monster: always waiting for just the right moment to jump into our psyches and start laying eggs in our brains, and once those eggs hatch, we won't even realize that dressing up like the Jamaican bobsled team with friends is really an expression of our deep contempt for all black people.

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/redneck%20costume" target="_blank"><img src="http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e179/kungfualex/003757.jpg" border="0" alt="redneck costume Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>
Redneck costume unrelated.​

So please, let's keep Halloween as special and sacred as it's always been. Join me in boycotting all racist and culturally insensitive costumes, so that together as we celebrate smashing mailboxes, egging houses, giving children diabetes and hitting on drunken sluts, we'll know deep down that we're one of the Good Guys.

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/superman%20costume" target="_blank"><img src="http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae169/Ricjobling/superman_rebooted.jpg" border="0" alt="Superman Costume Jobling Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>
This will be our costume, and we can wear it all the time.​

 

[Bothersome]

So, I take it that the sheet over the head is out of the question too?

 

[maniactickler]

Great. more liberal lunacy.

 

[Bothersome]

Great. more liberal lunacy.

So, if radical liberalism is extreme racial sensitivity... then radical conservatism must be...

 

[maniactickler]

So, if radical liberalism is extreme racial sensitivity... then radical conservatism must be...

........normal, and not politically collect.

 

[WorkInProgress]

I believe in taking such issues on a case-by-case basis. It's not, as hay eghpayrus suggests, about being "politically collect."

I'm dressing up as Maniac Tickler, myself. Karrapppp!

 

[Snail Shell]

Let's have some sensitivity, people!

SS

 

[Bothersome]

Let's have some sensitivity, people!

SS

Fucking brilliant.

You do that yourself?

 

[LD_Tickler]

Let's have some sensitivity, people!

SS

LOL.

I've been seeing these pictures posted all over facebook. I'm not really sure what to make of them.... I can see how dressing up as an "Injun" might be in pretty bad taste, because it's a stereotype that contributed to actual race-based violence, same with blackface... but is throwing on a geisha costume really that offensive? What about togas? Those have cultural historical significance, too. Cowboy/cowgirl? American frontier history. I don't know, with the exception of one or two, it seems kind of nitpicky to me. I might be missing something, though.

 

[Bothersome]

I've been seeing these pictures posted all over facebook. I'm not really sure what to make of them.... I can see how dressing up as an "Injun" might be in pretty bad taste, because it's a stereotype that contributed to actual race-based violence, same with blackface... but is throwing on a geisha costume really that offensive? What about togas? Those have cultural historical significance, too. Cowboy/cowgirl? American frontier history. I don't know, with the exception of one or two, it seems kind of nitpicky to me. I might be missing something, though.

Dress up in jeans and a tshirt, and so help me god I will smite you down for cultural insensitivity.

 

[Korastus]

I read about this a while back, and while I can see where they're coming from on the Native costumes, it still sounds like a bunch of people being overly sensitive about Halloween, of all days. If someone's opinion about another culture is honestly informed by a Halloween costume, I don't think they really have much to contribute anyway.

 

[Jagermeistered]

Eradication of racism can't be conceived... Especially, when the racists, runs the wheel!

 

[milagros317]

Bigotry is evil.

Self-righteous college students who make rules about what costumes are acceptable and unacceptable are annoying, intrusive, and offensive. They should be told to go f*** themselves.

If you see somebody wearing a costume that (in your mind) indicates that that person is a bigot, then shun them. Social ostracism is the appropriate response until or unless they break the law.

 

[PiedPiper]

Bigotry is evil.

Self-righteous college students who make rules about what costumes are acceptable and unacceptable are annoying, intrusive, and offensive. They should be told to go f*** themselves.

If you see somebody wearing a costume that (in your mind) indicates that that person is a bigot, then shun them. Social ostracism is the appropriate response until or unless they break the law.

__________________________

I'm completely down with Mils on this one, guys,.... During my own college years in the early 70's (at an "art" school, mind you) Halloween was the coolest holiday of all,.. and the costumes and the parties were AWESOME. I would not have hesitated to employ any costume concept that came into my mind - provided I thought it was cool or funny or challenging or whatever. Same with everyone else. As Mils suggests, it's up to the individual to see to it that offensive or derogatory themes are not the focus of the effect. Hell, even the LAW is based on judging by INTENT. Got it?

I think today's college students (with whom I have to work closely these days) are bored, unchallenged and distracted by all the electronic junk. Yet they think they're the Crown of Creation - the T-Ball generation is more like it. Obsessing over political correctness minutia seems to be all they have, or maybe all they're willing to tackle. Screw 'em.

 

[Korastus]

__________________________

I'm completely down with Mils on this one, guys,.... During my own college years in the early 70's (at an "art" school, mind you) Halloween was the coolest holiday of all,.. and the costumes and the parties were AWESOME. I would not have hesitated to employ any costume concept that came into my mind - provided I thought it was cool or funny or challenging or whatever. Same with everyone else. As Mils suggests, it's up to the individual to see to it that offensive or derogatory themes are not the focus of the effect. Hell, even the LAW is based on judging by INTENT. Got it?

I think today's college students (with whom I have to work closely these days) are bored, unchallenged and distracted by all the electronic junk. Yet they think they're the Crown of Creation - the T-Ball generation is more like it. Obsessing over political correctness minutia seems to be all they have, or maybe all they're willing to tackle. Screw 'em.

Disparaging an entire generation based on anecdotal evidence doesn't reflect positively on the point you wish to make.

 

[PiedPiper]

Disparaging an entire generation based on anecdotal evidence doesn't reflect positively on the point you wish to make.

_____________________

It is far from "anecdotal" evidence; I've read at least twenty volumes of the various takes on the millennials during the past two years, and my remark reflects just that part of what I've learned that applies to the Halloween question. (I suggest you try the study by Dr. Jean Twenge) The fact is not lost on me that a good portion of this group is also represented in the occupier protests - which I admire.

 

[alchemy]

Bigotry is evil.

Self-righteous college students who make rules about what costumes are acceptable and unacceptable are annoying, intrusive, and offensive. They should be told to go f*** themselves.

If you see somebody wearing a costume that (in your mind) indicates that that person is a bigot, then shun them. Social ostracism is the appropriate response until or unless they break the law.

This

Great post Milagros!

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

I'm sorry, but dressing up as Superman is just as wrong as the other pictures posted. The egotism just is horrific: "we're stronger, (i.e. better) than everyone else on Earth". And did anyone discuss this with any possible last survivors from Krypton? It's a slap in the face to their ancestors!

 

[obama666]

The problem with the left in this country, especially younger people (America) is many times they are being manipulated by the hard left (Union Radicals, Communists, Statists, etc.) and they don't really understand this, Occupy Wall Street a prime example.

 

[Speedbump]

People need to stop trying to dictate what others do and do not do.

I'd rather see a racist costume than someone actually committing a racist crime. If you can get your bigotry out in non-violent ways like this, then I say all the power to you. I could care less if someone's feelings are hurt in the process, as long as they are fine otherwise - people need to grow some thicker skin anyway, no matter what color it is.

That being said, I believe most people would not wear a costume to offend anyone... but rather, they just think it's cool and fun. However that could be the small bit of optimism in me speaking.

 

[BellybTickler]

I plan on dressing up in whatever costume I decide to, regardless of its "racist" intentions .. like a Klans member with a sign that says Spooky Ghost!