'Offensive' Halloween costumes banned

[gxm]

Ugh. I am so tired of the "being offended" movement sweeping this country.

I'm tired of the "being offended" hypocrisy. Walk it like you talk it folks. If something offends you, then remain consistent with your sensitivities. But I do understand using common sense in regards to the venue. There are some events/parties where you can get more creative and outrageous with your costume, and then there are other environments where it's wiser to dial it back. Society seems to have lost all sense, some folks seem to just want to offend while others just seem to want to take offense; and these folks always seem to go out of their way to get what they want.

That said, IMO, sexy outfits for any child (male or female) are always inappropriate.

 

[Ladylub]

Bet some will push the limits and go for as offensive as possible. But lets be real I'm sure that most costume out there has the ability to offend someone. Halloween dress up will soon be a thing of the past. To many people get hurt feelings.

 

[Kimster]

From someone who doesn't even like Halloween, I have to say this is nuts. There are a lot more offensive things to target than costumes. When I go to stores on Halloween and people are dressed up, I still laugh and joke with them. I don't go in and get all crazy and say "I don't celebrate Halloween, so stop letting your employees dress up!"

Same goes for Christmas. I love Christmas and it annoys me to no end when cities (like Eugene) make a stink about putting up Christmas trees. IMO, it's petty. Just walk on by, for crying out loud!

We need to unite for the bigger battles - like crime and poverty.

(This is my own personal opinion and not necessarily the opinion of Websleuths LLC).

 

[TrackerSam]

So a white person could call themselves a "positive" and get away with blackface?

:facepalm: Look up and see what a negative is. A white person in black face would still be a photographic negative. :floorlaugh:

In photography, a negative is an image, usually on a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film, in which the lightest areas of the photographed subject appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest.

A positive is a film or paper record of a scene that represents the color and luminance of objects in that scene with the same colors and luminances (as near as the medium will allow). Color transparencies are an example of positive photography: the range of colors presented in the medium is limited by the tonal range of the original image (dark and light areas correspond). It is opposed to a negative where colors and luminances are reversed
A slide is a postive transparency. A postive is a picture or a slide.

Emulsion up or down only changes a photo the way a mirror would, that which is on the right would be on the left etc. Hardpressed? Hardly, since anyone can do it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_(photography)

Why are you bringing race into this? :notgood: Dressing up as a photographic negative has nothing to do with race.
Define 'getaway'. Getaway with dressing up as a step in the photographic process? Get away as in not beaten to death, thrown in jail, blinded, what?

 

[TrackerSam]

Bet some will push the limits and go for as offensive as possible. But lets be real I'm sure that most costume out there has the ability to offend someone. Halloween dress up will soon be a thing of the past. To many people get hurt feelings.

Only because they choose to.

 

[21merc7]

This is a non-issue to me. I've never liked adults in costumes. Little ones in costume is fine, adults always come with some sort of issue to be discussed or rather shouted about. Sort of reminds me of people complaining that the trash truck wakes them up and it should come later in the day. I'll never understand.


Seriously, I'm with Kimster. We have so many more issues to be addressed or positive energy put into. Maybe we can get some of those with these issues motivated in the right direction somehow? Having "a voice" or some sort of power in a situation would be better suited to helping our own people in our country that need it. Not just some non-issue they can see in print in the newspaper or on their facebook or twitter account.

 

[gxm]

:facepalm: Look up and see what a negative is. A white person in black face would still be a photographic negative. :floorlaugh:

In photography, a negative is an image, usually on a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film, in which the lightest areas of the photographed subject appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest.

A positive is a film or paper record of a scene that represents the color and luminance of objects in that scene with the same colors and luminances (as near as the medium will allow). Color transparencies are an example of positive photography: the range of colors presented in the medium is limited by the tonal range of the original image (dark and light areas correspond). It is opposed to a negative where colors and luminances are reversed
A slide is a postive transparency. A postive is a picture or a slide.

Emulsion up or down only changes a photo the way a mirror would, that which is on the right would be on the left etc. Hardpressed? Hardly, since anyone can do it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_(photography)

Why are you bringing race into this? :notgood: Dressing up as a photographic negative has nothing to do with race.
Define 'getaway'. Getaway with dressing up as a step in the photographic process? Get away as in not beaten to death, thrown in jail, blinded, what?

If it's "okay" for a dark-complected person to dress up in white face for a non-racial reason, is it okay for a fair-complected person to dress up in black face for a non-racial reason? That's my question. I didn't bring race into it, I merely replied to a member who did. IOW: Is what's good for the goose, good for the gander or not? Good grief, but some folks go out of their way to take offense.

 

[Linda7NJ]

If it's "okay" for a dark-complected person to dress up in white face for a non-racial reason, is it okay for a fair-complected person to dress up in black face for a non-racial reason? That's my question. I didn't bring race into it, I merely replied to a member who did. IOW: Is what's good for the goose, good for the gander or not? Good grief, but some folks go out of their way to take offense.

No, it's never okay for a white person to dress up in black face. It would be like dressing up like Hitler and walking into a synagogue. I don't know how else to explain it without spending half the day giving a history lesson.


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[gxm]

No, it's never okay for a white person to dress up in black face. It would be like dressing up like Hitler and walking into a synagogue. I don't know how else to explain it without spending half the day giving a history lesson.


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Sorry but I doubt you'll ever be able to explain it no matter how long you spend because your analogy makes the assumption that the white person in black face is going somewhere with a majority of black people, such as a black church. As for history, no one seems to have a problem with men dressing in drag even though women, as a group and across cultures, have been an, often brutally, oppressed people for thousands of years. When it comes to dressing up for Halloween, I don't think there's any way one group can claim a sensitivity exception.

 

[JeannaT]

Well I was glad to read that the headline was wrong. The MOST offensive thing that could come out of all of this is if a university thought they had any right whatsoever to ban people on their campus from being offensive.

THAT is offensive. We as citizens have the right to free speech - and that is to protect offensive speech, by the way. No one needs constitutional protection to dress as little Bo Peep or to say things that everyone agrees with. It protects people who are offending others. Which is their perfect right.

 

[Jade]

I think Native Americans have suffered enough that obliging their wishes is a pretty easy symbolic act on our part.

Please see this NA blog for a better understanding the offensiveness of cultural appropriation:

http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/

This is a big deal to them and to say oh go on so we can worry about bigger issues is subjugating them all over again.

Regarding an earlier post “squaw” is a derogatory term. An example of how much we need to learn.

A helicopter view of the NA in education is lacking in most schools.

Disturbingly the NA story is mostly told from the views of missionaries and early settlers who considered them savages and were bent on changing them obliterating their language, lifestyle and sacred traditions.

NAs are saying it is offensive who am I to tell them otherwise?

IMO

 

[LinasK]

Sorry but I doubt you'll ever be able to explain it no matter how long you spend because your analogy makes the assumption that the white person in black face is going somewhere with a majority of black people, such as a black church. As for history, no one seems to have a problem with men dressing in drag even though women, as a group and across cultures, have been an, often brutally, oppressed people for thousands of years. When it comes to dressing up for Halloween, I don't think there's any way one group can claim a sensitivity exception.

Although I understand your argument, Juliane Hough (sp?) of Dancing With The Stars just got in trouble for going to a Halloween party in blackface. It was supposed to be a "new trend"- black is the new orange.

 

[Trident]

Although I understand your argument, Juliane Hough (sp?) of Dancing With The Stars just got in trouble for going to a Halloween party in blackface. It was supposed to be a "new trend"- black is the new orange.

Yes, and she apologized, whether by coercion or not. Now, if we could get everyone who mimics whites and isn't, to apologize, we might be getting somewhere.

 

[TrackerSam]

If it's "okay" for a dark-complected person to dress up in white face for a non-racial reason, is it okay for a fair-complected person to dress up in black face for a non-racial reason? That's my question. I didn't bring race into it, I merely replied to a member who did. IOW: Is what's good for the goose, good for the gander or not? Good grief, but some folks go out of their way to take offense.

He wouldn't be dressing up in 'white face'. Good grief. He'd be whitening his face to appear to be a photographic negative. And regardless of skin color, anyone reversing their tones would be negatives. Technically, there is no 'whiteface' as there is 'blackface'. Whitening a black person's face has always been done in movies so to give an appearance of death, or as in mimes (white or black person), clowns (white or black person), Phantom of the Opera (white or black actor) and so on. Is a white soldier going on night patrol with black grease on his face going in 'black face'. No. And for what's it's worth black soldiers on that same patrol would also grease their faces.

To quote you "So a white person could call themselves a "positive" and get away with blackface?"


That's not bringing race into it?

 

[margarita25]

I'm here with my sombrero :biggrin:
<kidding>

 

[Veidt]

I don't think this is being too PC or that any costumes got 'banned'. The students were simply asked to refrain from wearing costumes that are based on stereotypes about class or race. Frankly, that makes me happy.

I hate the response that 'this is too PC' or 'people get offended too easily'. If someone is telling you that wearing a costume based on offensive and crude stereotypes about their race is rude and offensive, the problem isn't theirs... it's yours for thinking it would be funny and then for refusing to acknowledge that it was disrespectful. It's not that difficult to let go of racial costumes because there are so many others out there you can wear instead. I never dress up as a geisha or in blackface or anything and I still find costumes to wear everytime I go to a costume party.

Wearing a costume based on crude racial stereotypes about a race your own race or culture oppressed historically or still has power over in society is rude. Racial stereotypes in general are rude. I'm disappointed to see so many posters trying to defend this sort of costume here on WS.

Yes, and she apologized, whether by coercion or not. Now, if we could get everyone who mimics whites and isn't, to apologize, we might be getting somewhere.

Please tell me when it is that white people are oppressed for being white in the US.

 

[Veidt]

I think Native Americans have suffered enough that obliging their wishes is a pretty easy symbolic act on our part.

Please see this NA blog for a better understanding the offensiveness of cultural appropriation:

http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/

This is a big deal to them and to say oh go on so we can worry about bigger issues is subjugating them all over again.

Regarding an earlier post &#8220;squaw&#8221; is a derogatory term. An example of how much we need to learn.

A helicopter view of the NA in education is lacking in most schools.

Disturbingly the NA story is mostly told from the views of missionaries and early settlers who considered them savages and were bent on changing them obliterating their language, lifestyle and sacred traditions.

NAs are saying it is offensive who am I to tell them otherwise?

IMO

Thank you for posting this. It's good to see that a few posts on this thread at least speak some sense.

BBM This is what people need to understand... if someone says people are disrespecting their culture and that their costume is rude because of the historical context at hand, then maybe people should listen. As it is it's the same old, same old of feeling entitled to disrespect non-white people because the problem somehow has to be theirs no matter how contrived the excuse is.

If there was a news article about German people dressing up as Jews this Halloween we'd all be outraged.

The fact is that the scars and wounds made by racism in recent memory are too deep to be healed so quickly and many of them are still impacting people - racism still exists.

We don't live in a post-racial society where people who aren't white are whole-heartedly accepted and never experience any racism anymore. It's an uncomfortable fact but it's a real one.

If people truly wish to put an end to racism then disrespecting other races and cultures even when they say it's disrespectful is not the way to do it.

 

[TrackerSam]

I was at the Cleveland v Marlins world series game, and a Cleveland fan was dressed in buckskins and full head dress. He wasn't being disrespectful, he was being a Cleveland fan.
Not long ago Hillary Clinton try to affect a black or southern accent in a speech "I don't feel noways tarred" to paraphrase.
Intent matters.

Hillary Clinton adopts a southern drawl - YouTube

As an African-American, I am especially infuriated at Hillary Clinton performing a parody on the late Reverend James Cleveland’s famous song. This song was a rallying cry for many of us in the Black Church in the 1960’s. It gave us strength and hope. And this bimbo comes along--not understanding the true meaning of this Black Spiritual--and makes a mockery out of it. What a complete buffoon. But, what about the Black audience who hailed Queen Hillary’s rendention of the Reverend James Cleveland’s song? Suffice it to say, some people have no pride or shame.

http://capitolhillcoffeehouse.com/more.php?id=A2606_0_1_0_M

"Please tell me when it is that white people are oppressed for being white in the US. "

When they're portrayed as rednecks and hillbillies.

Eddie Murphy's done some brilliant work portraying whites.

Halloween's over. We'll resume our faux outrage next year.

 

[Jade]

But hillbilly and redneck are descriptors of a particular community not races.

Observable features and genetically differentiated phenotypes have defined race but we are all *advertiser censored* sapiens so not really so different.

Though the notion of race was a result of European imperialism and colonialism so really the concept of race is racist!

I hear the pain of a white male. White male world dominancy is coming to an end. I’m not ready to cry tears for you yet though!

:truce:


IMO

 

[Linda7NJ]

I was at the Cleveland v Marlins world series game, and a Cleveland fan was dressed in buckskins and full head dress. He wasn't being disrespectful, he was being a Cleveland fan.
Not long ago Hillary Clinton try to affect a black or southern accent in a speech "I don't feel noways tarred" to paraphrase.
Intent matters.

Hillary Clinton adopts a southern drawl - YouTube

As an African-American, I am especially infuriated at Hillary Clinton performing a parody on the late Reverend James Cleveland’s famous song. This song was a rallying cry for many of us in the Black Church in the 1960’s. It gave us strength and hope. And this bimbo comes along--not understanding the true meaning of this Black Spiritual--and makes a mockery out of it. What a complete buffoon. But, what about the Black audience who hailed Queen Hillary’s rendention of the Reverend James Cleveland’s song? Suffice it to say, some people have no pride or shame.

http://capitolhillcoffeehouse.com/more.php?id=A2606_0_1_0_M

"Please tell me when it is that white people are oppressed for being white in the US. "

When they're portrayed as rednecks and hillbillies.

Eddie Murphy's done some brilliant work portraying whites.

Halloween's over. We'll resume our faux outrage next year.

I agree some people have no pride or shame but I also believe many simply have no clue. Some aren't even aware. Some can't / don't / appreciate the history. All IMO


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