Racist costumes being banned

Of course people will be offended, we are all offense all the time, we long ago largely lost our humor. That ain't good of course, but we are where we are.

My favorite costume at the party I went to last night incorporated this t-shirt:



This young guy was wearing it with a butch haircut and a couple of studs - I laughed and laughed.

Is that insensitive or un-pc?

My neighbor sometimes goes as a pirate lass. Glad she told me; I thought she was trying to look like a Gypsy fortune teller. Someone probably was offended, and not someone of the pirate class.

really?


i thought it was pretty funny. Not original, and could have looked a bit better, but it was kinda funny

I liked it, too.

With all due respect, I suspect that that is only funny because Arabs aren't seen as human these days. That is why denigrating them is "humorous".

If someone dressed up as Bernie Madoff with a big Star of David and a hand in an old lady's pocketbook and maybe a bloody Christian doll in the other, I doubt it would be seen as funny by anyone.

The bomber with Arab clothing isn't funny at all to me. I would never suggest banning it, but I would sure as hell never let my kid wear that hateful thing. If anyone I knew wore that, I would use my right of free speech to express my strong distaste.

The problem with this is that it isn't just a costume.

There is a determined attempt to demonize certain ethnic groups including Muslims. Muslims are slandered in the press. Muslims are kicked off of airplanes for using cellphones.

The costume is part of this, it is reinforcing a very damaging stereotype and giving tacit approval to hatred.

Talk to the kids who are being bullied for being Arab and see if they think it is funny. Again, I am not in favor of banning them, but I sure as hell am going to speak up against racism when I see it.

Y do u imagine that IS ??




Its not as much resentment as it is CAUTION.




Yeah, speak up to the survivors of 9/11/1. Let us know how that works out.





David

and if you think that is why I find it funny, you are terribly mistaken.
I have several devout Muslim friends and a few other people in my life who are directly from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and one family from Qatar. Racist im not.

But I find humor in a lot of things that are not PC. I personally hate the PC crowd and am tired of new rules laws and expectations being thrown in everyones face because one person , some where got ' offended' . And what tires me more than that are the people who are just standing around accepting this super baby behavior and thinking it is making a better society by attempting to be totally PC while forgetting that they are stamping into the ground the one rule that we all are supposed to uphold and that is freedom of speech. Dont get me started on THAT rant. This country is full of people LOOKING for a reason to be offended and its like a golden ticket if you are offended enough to file a law suit and its exhausting.

This is funny to me. What you describe for a jewish costume would make me laugh too. Im able to see humor in anything that is over the top and exaggerated WITH OUT being racist.

But I also know that the above costume no matter if it was on a child or adult, would not be appropriate to wear to schools or any other large government space. In public? On the streets ? as costume? That would take balls But there needs to be restraint and general concern for using costumes like that for humor.

The person who would wear a jewish costume like you describe to a temple is just a total asshole in my opinion and IS looking to be racist. The same being said for the person who would wear a suicide bomber costume to ground zero. Tact is important when attempting to only portray humor. Its a fine line, and can be done.....but the scary part is all the people who are fishing for that one offense in their day, life , or line of sight , that are willing to make a mountain out of a pebble.

I disagree that it's an attempt to demonize certain ethnic groups. It's current events, max. And everyone knows that not all Muslims are into this ****. It's just like going as the Unabomber. I agree that it's in poor taste, but I disagree with your opinion that it would "reinforce a very damaging stereotype and giving tacit approval to hatred". You're way over the top there.

How many people do you know actually hate Muslims? I don't know any. And I don't think anyone I know is scared of them or thinks they're all suicide bombers any more than we think all Japanese pilots are kamikaze.

You paint with too broad a brush and don't give people credit for having any intelligence if you think they're going to be swayed by a hallowe'en outfit. Or maybe you're just speaking from personal experience.

Two points, in all due respect of course:

• It is one thing to dress up like some people; it is another thing to denigrate them. Mixing up the two is a mistake.
  
  
• The boy is dressing up as a suicide bomber, not as an Arab. It just so happens that the United States has seen very few non-Arab suicide bombers lately. Hence, dressing up as an Arab is practically inevitable if you want to dress up like a suicide bomber.

You are projecting your interpretation of the costume onto the person wearing it, and then get upset about that person's putative motives.

By his head gear, I think one would assume he's an Arab.

Yeah, we really have a disconnect here, in talking about what is and isn't patently offensive.

I mean, how can you not think that anyone who lived near, had relatives who experienced, or still have family members or friends living near areas that have been often affected by suicide bombers would not be hurt or outraged or offended by seeing a child dressed up with Middle Eastern type headress as someone wearing a bomb? I've only known a couple of Muslim americans personally, and I haven't specifically asked, but I would assume they wouldn't want a child of mine or theirs joking about suicide bombers.


It's like when these college students have "slave-themed" parties. When questioned, they ususally say something like "it's just a joke!" or, "I have black friends who think it's funny!"

So, I don't think we will ever agree that some things just aren't meant to make jokes out of. There are even arguments about this type thing among comedians. There are some who believe that absolutely nothing is or should be off limits, and would find a way to make jokes about even stuff like the people who jumped from the twin towers on 9/11. There are others who feel that most things are fair game, but only a few things aren't. There are some who have a lot of boundaries about what is just offensive and shouldn't be laughed about.

I guess what it comes down to is in matters of comedy and taste, to each their own.

I think the only answer that will work here is "It is, if it is to you."

I didn't say he's not an Arab. I said that in practice, dressing up as an Arab is an inevitable side effect of dressing up as a suicide bomber.

I got no problems with specific characters. Just the broad caricatures that are generally looked at as negative. The black face characters just have bad historical associations.

(Too late to edit) Okay, I literally did say he didn't dress up as an Arab. But what I meant was the inevitable-side-effect thing.

edit: I see your last answer now

Shewolf,

Are you saying that there is no line, or are you saying that there is a line that hasn't been crossed by the Arab terrorist costume?

My point is that the Arab terrorist costume plays the same role as Minstrel Shows or passion plays with Jews killing Jesus. They are intrinsically entertainment but they reinforce stereotypes and make hateful ideas more acceptable. Being "entertainment" doesn't cover the fact that they are giving tacit approval to hateful stereotypes and have historically made real violence more likely.

If you think that Minstrel shows and Jews portrayed as Christ Killer in entertainment is OK, then at least you are being consistent?

If you are really saying that any hateful stereotype should be accepted in entertainment then this is a different discussion. However the mocking of ethnic groups as entertainment in a society has often precluded much worse.

This is no different than the worst of Minstrel Shows and Anti-Semitic humor that most of us feel are unacceptable.

I would hate to think that changing the target of hatred somehow makes it acceptable since this would make any progress we have made in the past 100 year rather meaningless.

Come on!. Dressing up in Arab headdress as a terrorist mixes them up. I would not accuse the person wearing the costume of hatred without speaking to him, but at least it is in very poor taste and talk to him I would.

The putative motive is irrelevant.

We have a real problem with hatred toward Arabs in the US. Muslim kids have to deal being called "terrorist" simply because of their ethnic heritage and there are even cases of violence (not to mention people being singled out and thrown off of airplanes).

This is not a game, there is a real damaging ethnically based hatred in the US that is hurting real Americans.

The desire to dress as a "suicide bomber" is not very important compared to that. I don't need to make any judgment about "putative motive" to be confident that this costume is a bad thing on a social level.

Let's think about what is best for society. Racist stereotypes are still common in the US. They are harmful and they should be challenged.

The actual effect of this costume is to reinforce a negative stereotype and to give tacit approval to hatred and fear.

I would never advocate banning these costumes. But if these costumes are presented in public they are public speech. They should be challenged likewise in a very public way.

That's how free speech works.