High Schooler Dresses up as KKK member for Halloween

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"we should not stop people from doing things that are offensive to others."

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This is the argument that I am meaning to make although I do realize that it is not especially clear in my previous posts.

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most good costumes (along with most good jokes, most good art, and most good literature for that matter) are going to be offensive to certain people.

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yeah. i've worn costumes that were offensive (a few years ago i went as a "dangerous minority"), but you would not hear me say that no one should have been offended. in large part i was wearing them b/c they were offensive in some way or another, and i'm sure this kid knew what he doing. you can't wear a costume explicitly for shock value and then get defensive when you are called out.

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I agree that he probably was doing it for shock value or to stand out. I just think that he should not have been sent home or forced to apologize for the costume. If they think the costume is too far overboard then take the kid aside and tell him to take it off without making a big deal out of it. It would take him probably less than a minute to slip out of a kkk robe. I think that measure would have been fine, but punishing him for bad taste is overboard.


edit: From a quick glossing over of the wikipedia page it seems that jews were as much of a target as blacks. I think it is more of a popular belief (which may be more relevant or important to this argument since offense stems from perception) that the kkk targeted black people first and foremost.

[Zetack]

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"we should not stop people from doing things that are offensive to others."

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This is the argument that I am meaning to make although I do realize that it is not especially clear in my previous posts.

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I find being stabbed in the eye offensive, and I favor preventing people from doing it.

[tarheeljks]

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edit: From a quick glossing over of the wikipedia page it seems that jews were as much of a target as blacks. I think it is more of a popular belief (which may be more relevant or important to this argument since offense stems from perception) that the kkk targeted black people first and foremost.

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no it's not popular belief, it's basically fact; wikipedia is mistaken if it says this. the kkk does call out jews in it's mission statement for not being christian, but most of the violence committed by the kkk was against blacks; you need only look at the demographics by region to see why this is the case. the kkk was formed in the south to oppress freed slaves and northeners; it is no secret that they hated jews, but there weren't nearly as many jews as blacks around for them to attack. the places where the kkk was the most active, were in cities like atlanta and wilmington where there were nearly as many white people as black people. how many records are there of jews being lynched by the kkk?

[CalledDownLight]

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[ QUOTE ]
"we should not stop people from doing things that are offensive to others."

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the argument that I am meaning to make although I do realize that it is not especially clear in my previous posts.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find being stabbed in the eye offensive, and I favor preventing people from doing it.

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I'm thinking purely about things that have no physical consequences. If the kid tried to stab someone or use the noose then that is way beyond crossing the line and something absolutely needs to be done about it.

[aislephive]

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edit: From a quick glossing over of the wikipedia page it seems that jews were as much of a target as blacks. I think it is more of a popular belief (which may be more relevant or important to this argument since offense stems from perception) that the kkk targeted black people first and foremost.

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Even if this were true (which it's not) I fail to see what difference it makes. Something like a KKK costume will offend a high percentage of people and for that reason should not be tolerated.

[dibbs]

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edit: From a quick glossing over of the wikipedia page it seems that jews were as much of a target as blacks. I think it is more of a popular belief (which may be more relevant or important to this argument since offense stems from perception) that the kkk targeted black people first and foremost.


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This from you shocks the hell out of me and I'm still trying to find sarcasm in it.

[Bedreviter]

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From a quick glossing over of the wikipedia page it seems that jews were as much of a target as blacks. I think it is more of a popular belief (which may be more relevant or important to this argument since offense stems from perception) that the kkk targeted black people first and foremost.

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They also targeted Republicans and those who voted for the Republicans, so I guess blacks and jews and homosexuals and republicans can all be offended.

[Zetack]

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[ QUOTE ]
"we should not stop people from doing things that are offensive to others."

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the argument that I am meaning to make although I do realize that it is not especially clear in my previous posts.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find being stabbed in the eye offensive, and I favor preventing people from doing it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm thinking purely about things that have no physical consequences. If the kid tried to stab someone or use the noose then that is way beyond crossing the line and something absolutely needs to be done about it.

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Ok, I find somebody walking through my front door, walking over to the couch, bending over and farting in my wife's face to be offensive, and I favor preventing people from doing this.

[CalledDownLight]

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From a quick glossing over of the wikipedia page it seems that jews were as much of a target as blacks. I think it is more of a popular belief (which may be more relevant or important to this argument since offense stems from perception) that the kkk targeted black people first and foremost.

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They also targeted Republicans and those who voted for the Republicans, so I guess blacks and jews and homosexuals and republicans can all be offended.

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yes, they can and likely all are. I'm in no way condoning these actions or symbols. The thing I am arguing is that it should be treated in a much more mild manner because it was Halloween and it was done by a kid. If it was done in the middle of spring by a well known racist then it is a completely different story and the guy deserves whatever anyone throws at him and all the backlash that comes with it from the many different directions that it will come from.

I AM NOT SAYING THAT THIS IS NOT AN OFFENSIVE SYMBOL TO MANY PEOPLE, or that the many groups the KKK targets should not be upset (I believe the have every right to be upset and would be a little worried if they weren't upset), BUT RATHER THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE TREATED THE SAME ON HALLOWEEN AS IT WOULD ON A NORMAL DAY IF IT WERE WORN IN PUBLIC.