High Schooler Dresses up as KKK member for Halloween

[Bulletproof Monk]

i will say for sure tho that this should never have gotten further than:

"boys, thats inappropriate, and you have offended others. please go home and change, and when you come back apologise"

and maybe just maybe give them a detention

how the hell things like this get in to the news is just beyond me

[DemonOfTheFall]

Taking 'offense' can be defined as more than feeling hurt - it can consist of feeling anger at the stupidity of others, it can be a sense of sadness that you will never feel entirely safe, and it can be an unwelcome reminder that you are a stranger.

Most people of empathy will understand this intuitively or have read widely enough to begin to understand it.

I wonder whether people who brush this kind of thing off have ever known what it's like to feel pure terror; to understand that no matter what you do, you are nothing more than a second-class citizen. I appreciate that people shouldn't feel anything close to that level of emotion these days, but reminders of a history that is all too current certainly don't help.

To deny that this sort of thing is likely to be insensitive in today's socio-economic context is entirely false. To admit otherwise is ignorance. To not care either way is borderline misanthropy.

[aislephive]

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how the hell things like this get in to the news is just beyond me

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This is pretty much a dream story for any reporter.

[adsman]

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At my college a black guy did this and it was pretty funny, he was really outgoing and well known and was basically doing that whole Chappelle thing with it.

Some random white dude doing it probably would have got his ass beat though.

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I was going to raise this issue. If the kid was black would the costume have been more acceptable? I think it would have been. He would probably have also been lauded for drawing attention to his forebares difficult past or whatnot.

Let the rise against PC do-gooders commence!

[DemonOfTheFall]

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At my college a black guy did this and it was pretty funny, he was really outgoing and well known and was basically doing that whole Chappelle thing with it.

Some random white dude doing it probably would have got his ass beat though.

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I was going to raise this issue. If the kid was black would the costume have been more acceptable? I think it would have been. He would probably have also been lauded for drawing attention to his forebares difficult past or whatnot.

Let the rise against PC do-gooders commence!

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Adsman, for as long as I have lurked here your life-story thread has inspired me the most.
Please don't ruin the sheer admiration I have built up for you by resorting to wild/pointless speculation and straw man arguments.

If the kid was black:

- It would still be unacceptable.
- It would be logical to deduce that this was more to do with the kid's misguided notions about right and wrong than lack of empathy with people of other races, just like we deduce for the white kids.
- It would simply be poor manners - forcing an uncomfortable social situation unto others, ie. acting selfish.

We don't live in a world of extremes or easy fits. Every situation is unique, each person's psychology and history different. I cannot fathom that the issue at hand here is whether what transpired was offensive. To me, that is simply indisputable.

The more pertinent discussion point ought to be whether the whole event is even newsworthy, which I would have thought it wasn't. However, by reading the responses here, I'm forced to conclude that it is still too divisive an issue to relegate to trivia.

[adsman]

Demon,

I didn't state my own opinion in this matter, I just threw a "what if?" question out there. And it was also tounge-in-cheek, which is my usual response method, especially with regards to subjects such as this.

However, ...

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We don't live in a world of extremes or easy fits. Every situation is unique, each person's psychology and history different. I cannot fathom that the issue at hand here is whether what transpired was offensive. To me, that is simply indisputable.


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This is a very compelling argument for why political correctness is such a crock of crap.

[DemonOfTheFall]

Thanks for clearing that up. Idolatry in tact!

Now that you mention Political Correctness ( should that be capitalized in its expanded form?) I want to get some of these opinions clarified:

My understand of PC is that it's largely a protective mechanism, intended to protect people from falling into the trap of associating labels with character and behaviours. It stands to reason that most intelligent people feel they are capable of doing this without having to resort to unnecessary appeasement. I don't deny this.
However, I also feel that people who make statements such as "I like to call a spade a spade" are the ones most in need of political correctness because they would prefer to slap their own epithet on someone without care for what that person would prefer. I'm generalizing, and possibly making a poor assumption about what these people might think, but my greater point is: PC is inherently a positive force for a more diplomatic world however it's abused by people on either sides to further their own agendas, prejudices, or fears.

Any dissenters?



Also, in response to xxxLebowskixxx, I would guess that some percentage of black people who shrug their shoulders in response to happenings like this are most likely responding that way so as not to appear over-sensitive and give ammunition for the opposing argument. I feel this to be fairly reflective of my ethnic friends (of whom I have quite a number). It may not be universally true, after all it's a small sample size, but it feels like a logical reason.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

seriously the only people who flip on this stuff are white liberals. black people could probably give a [censored] less and would just say "is dat cracker dressed like he be kkk or sometin?"

[mo42nyy]

not much offends me and i hate political correctness but the people wearing these idiotic costumes are ignorant at best.
And no its not just white liberals that get offended. Lebowski If you honestly believe that wear a KKK costume next halloween and walk through harlmem with it. See if you offend anyone and then come back with a trip report.

I remember last year some little punk on the news was crying because he got suspended for wearing a Hitler contest to school. He deserved to get his ass beat.

Yea you're really clever dressing up as someone that represent killing 8 million innocent people. I don't know why anyone would be offended.
The people who do [censored] like this never had to deal with discrimination in their lives and think its all fun and games. Go to the Holocaust museum and see how funny it is (and no Im not jewish)

[istewart]

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Black (2.4%)

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lol, who gives a [censored]

DrewDevil, you seriously read OOT and troll sports on a regular basis and find a kid in Canada dressing up as a Klan member "too ridiculous to even be true"?