High Schooler Dresses up as KKK member for Halloween

[Allinlife]

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This thread is funny. A bunch of 20 year old white kids thinking it's silly for people to be offended by any costume.

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Why isn't it? Its [censored] Halloween.

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Okay, so let's say (God forbid) your mom or girlfriend or someone close to you is brutally raped and killed by a local serial killer; he's caught, and 5 months later someone in your class dresses exactly like the local killer with pictures of the victims on his attire. That wouldn't offend you, right? It's just [censored] Halloween?

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seriously.. people are lying to themselves if they think people are "dumb" for getting offended any costumes. there are some clear lines that are not to be crossed.

ie)imagine someone dressed up as the Virginia Tech Shooter @ virginia tech. you would have a hard time finding anyone that isn't offended by that.

[CalledDownLight]

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This thread is funny. A bunch of 20 year old white kids thinking it's silly for people to be offended by any costume.

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Why isn't it? Its [censored] Halloween.

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Okay, so let's say (God forbid) your mom or girlfriend or someone close to you is brutally raped and killed by a local serial killer; he's caught, and 5 months later someone in your class dresses exactly like the local killer with pictures of the victims on his attire. That wouldn't offend you, right? It's just [censored] Halloween?

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seriously.. people are lying to themselves if they think people are "dumb" for getting offended any costumes. there are some clear lines that are not to be crossed.

ie)imagine someone dressed up as the Virginia Tech Shooter @ virginia tech. you would have a hard time finding anyone that isn't offended by that.

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I saw it. It was one of the bigger hits at the party I saw it at.

[kordoISback]

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It's no more offensive than the geisha/terrorist/chinaman costumes I see every Halloween.

Also, I think this case gets more attention simply because most of the KKK's victims, blacks, are currently socially untouchable.

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[Jay Riall]

lol I realized Political Correctness has pissed people off but I didn't realize it had pissed people off soo much that people had forgotten common decency and being able to realize things that are in incredibly bad taste.

[CalledDownLight]

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racism isn't dead btw

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Its also not the black population that is solely targeted. There are substantial subsections of the population that are racist against any race you can name.

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did i (or anyone else) say black people were the only people affected by racism?

edit: and what does your post have to do with anything? please tell me it's not more of the "so what other people are racist too" arguments is it?

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No its not at all, but your post is implying that it is more important than the other forms.

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lol @ 200+ years of overt racism/discrimination disappearing in 50 years

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This is a direct reference to racism against black people in America is it not? The KKK is a radical group that is not solely targeting the black population either (which is where I feel this discussion ended up even if it didn't start their due to ignorance of the kkk's beliefs). In fact they really only support white, christian, males. Yes, I realize what I said is an ample reason to despise the costume (and many others that represent ideals you don't believe in), but I think that one should be able to separate a disgusting symbol from an act of malice. I would be surprised if the outfit was worn out of contempt and hatred rather than simple bad taste. There is a huge difference imo. On halloween I would view practically every costume as simply bad judgment and give it a pass. I saw many costumes on halloween (and I'm sure others did too) where my natural reaction was "wow, thats [censored] up," but I really don't see the need to overreact, much less make it a huge news story (not saying that you think it should have made the news).

Obviously racism is a big problem in our society and across the world. However, bitching and moaning about "racist" costumes is one of the least effective ways to counter racism. Furthermore, racial cleansing around the world, specifically African genocide, is a much bigger problem than KKK costumes in North America. Its just a [censored] symbol. While I understand that it can be offensive (I'm not trying to say that people aren't offended by it or any number of other costumes) I don't see what good being offended does. Nothing productive comes out of being offended by any costume. To take that idea farther, it does no good to get your panties in a bunch about a swastika, red flags, or a grassroots revolutionary symbol although they are all in bad taste and portray awful ideals and are symbolic for many things that are wrong with the world.

[CalledDownLight]

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lol I realized Political Correctness has pissed people off but I didn't realize it had pissed people off soo much that people had forgotten common decency and being able to realize things that are in incredibly bad taste.

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I agree that it is incredibly bad taste, but assuming you see it as bad taste why are you offended? Are you (or anyone/everyone else) equating bad taste to offensive? In my mind there is a pretty clear line between the two, but maybe thats where we aren't seeing eye to eye?

[tarheeljks]

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racism isn't dead btw

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Its also not the black population that is solely targeted. There are substantial subsections of the population that are racist against any race you can name.

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did i (or anyone else) say black people were the only people affected by racism?

edit: and what does your post have to do with anything? please tell me it's not more of the "so what other people are racist too" arguments is it?

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No its not at all, but your post is implying that it is more important than the other forms.

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lol @ 200+ years of overt racism/discrimination disappearing in 50 years

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This is a direct reference to racism against black people in America is it not? The KKK is a radical group that is not solely targeting the black population either (which is where I feel this discussion ended up even if it didn't start their due to ignorance of the kkk's beliefs). In fact they really only support white, christian, males. Yes, I realize what I said is an ample reason to despise the costume (and many others that represent ideals you don't believe in), but I think that one should be able to separate a disgusting symbol from an act of malice. I would be surprised if the outfit was worn out of contempt and hatred rather than simple bad taste. There is a huge difference imo. On halloween I would view practically every costume as simply bad judgment and give it a pass. I saw many costumes on halloween (and I'm sure others did too) where my natural reaction was "wow, thats [censored] up," but I really don't see the need to overreact, much less make it a huge news story (not saying that you think it should have made the news).

Obviously racism is a big problem in our society and across the world. However, bitching and moaning about "racist" costumes is one of the least effective ways to counter racism. Furthermore, racial cleansing around the world, specifically African genocide, is a much bigger problem than KKK costumes in North America. Its just a [censored] symbol. While I understand that it can be offensive (I'm not trying to say that people aren't offended by it or any number of other costumes) I don't see what good being offended does. Nothing productive comes out of being offended by any costume. To take that idea farther, it does no good to get your panties in a bunch about a swastika, red flags, or a grassroots revolutionary symbol although they are all in bad taste and portray awful ideals and are symbolic for many things that are wrong with the world.

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of course it's referencing racism specifically against black people-- they were the targets of nearly all of the actions of the kkk. me citing racism against blacks when talking about the kkk is inevitable; however, it does not imply that they are the only group to experience racism. you made that jump in logic, not me. the racism against black people is not more important than racism against others, but it is clearly more pertinent in this discussion. i'm not offering a pass just b/c it's halloween, but i'm not going to form a picket line and take to the streets either. me, or anyone else, being offended is hardly overreacting.

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This is a direct reference to racism against black people in America is it not? The KKK is a radical group that is not solely targeting the black population either

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again black people have felt the bulk of the wrath of the kkk. it's like saying the nazis hated more than just jews-- obv true, but they still killed ~6 million jews.

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Obviously racism is a big problem in our society and across the world. However, bitching and moaning about "racist" costumes is one of the least effective ways to counter racism.

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and saying that someone wearing this isn't a big deal is a slap in the face to the victims of kkk endorsed violence-- black or otherwise. that's why a lot of people are upset about this. in the scope of eliminating racism sending this kid home will have little impact, but that is not the point. it's an issue of decency and respect.

regarding your comments about bigger problems (genocide etc), i will just say that they are not part of this discussion. do not interpret in this as me saying they are not as important, but they are of secondary significance in this context.

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Nothing productive comes out of being offended by any costume. To take that idea farther, it does no good to get your panties in a bunch about a swastika, red flags, or a grassroots revolutionary symbol although they are all in bad taste and portray awful ideals and are symbolic for many things that are wrong with the world.

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i completely disagree. when someone does something wrong you don't turn a blind eye so as not to draw more attention to it. something productive does come out of people recognizing that whether this kid sympathizes w/the kkk or not, that the kkk is very real and is not just a ghost of the mid 20th century. there are many people who read about things like this w/o truly comprehending their significance.

[GTL]

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. The "It's halloween, you're not allowed to be offended" line of reasoning is rather ignorant and almost comical. I think the people making this argument actually think, "we should not stop people from doing things that are offensive to others." This argument, is completely fine. However, I think we should stop highschoolers from doing certain things that are offensive to others. not letting them where kkk costumes is perfectly reasonable.

[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.

[tarheeljks]

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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.