[Zetack]

There are so many cross currents in this thread its hard to make a post that captures the heart whats going on in this thread.

HOwever there are several points that could be made.

1. There are things that are very broadly offensive to huge numbers of people in this country. Then of course you have things that are offensive to fewer and fewer people, until at some point only the pc folks, or prudes, or wackos or unusually sensitive, or whatever are offended.

But it simply doesn't make sense to take something that you know is in the first category, that you know is offensive to a huge number of people, whether its personally offensive to you or not, and go hey, its just a costume, so it shouldn't count. You can't wipe out the offensiveness of an act by saying its connection to halloween in some way trivializes the offensiveness of the act.

2. School is different from private places and completely public places. Now much of the discussion seems to assume an American context, so I'm going to ignore the fact this actually happened in Canada, but there are all kind of behavior that we would have to allow, whether they were offensive or not, if they happened at some other location, but are not going to be allowed at school. And that's ok. Now if these kids had dressed up for a private non-school function as KKK members but then been punished by the school, then there would be something to criticize. But there are going to be all kinds of limitations on what you can wear at school.

Hey, much as it would've been cool when I was at school, you know they aren't going to let hot chicks where thong bikini's to class. Not the same thing at all as banning the thong bikini from the local park.

3. Race is the single most divisive issue in the history of this contry, stretching back before the founding of our nation and is still ongoing today. You simply can't wave that context away by lumping it in with all the other kinds of behaviors that may be offensive to some people.

4. Whatever else you think about offensiveness of the KKK, or costumes, or costumes of KKK members, there's no question these kids were either deliberately trying to shock and provoke, or they were morons.

5. Off-topic dig at Daniel Negraneau and Canadiens: Given the video of DN in blackface, perhaps canadiens in general are more offensive than normal human beings.