Do some Halloween costumes offend you?

I don't think I've ever been offended by a Halloween costume. If someone wants to dress as a Chasid (complete with peyos) I would not be offended. Now, if they decided to dress as a Chasid with a shnoz the size of a Manhatten skyscraper, well that person is deliberately trying to be offensive and shouldn't complain about negative responses. Personally, I'd like to see more people dress up as the Hebrew Hammer.

[video=youtube;Mx0WauS9Sus]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx0WauS9Sus[/video]
 
I think some people could be a little more mindful of others' pain or dilemmas, but not to the point of denying themselves. Humor is a blessing, in my opinion; it's all too easy to become world-weary and serious. Lighthearted laughter is a powerful restorative.

However, blatantly offensive and vulgar behavior should be curbed. Being maturely taught how to refine communication is not an infringement of free will. It can actually work in one's favor by empowering intention through effective deeds. (It's late, I apologize if this doesn't make sense.)
 
Please enlighten me to the hidden comedy behind genocide, racism, torture, child abuse, terrorism, or honoring the memory of people killed in 9/11. Wait, don't! We won't agree and I don't want you to waste time typing it out unless you really want to. Please excuse the incoming rant:

If everything is funny then what is left to be regarded with honor and respect? What kind of monsters have we become if we consider the illustrations of monsters and their crimes amusing? Really? Is any representation of a child rapist funny or a racist murder amusing? When it’s not your child perhaps? Or not your dad getting the shit beat out of him and hung from a tree for the color of his skin? Or not your mom on the 80th floor of tower two? Or not your grandparents being herded like naked cattle into a gas chamber? WTF? Hitler, a great costume? You gotta be shitting me. What planet is this? Are we so detached from reality that nothing is worthy of universal indignation or reverence anymore?

I know, I know, I need to go calm down…I’ll be back for the lashing this is sure to invoke. For whatever it's worth, I tried reeeaaallllly hard not to post this because it was so negative. I need to change my avatar:


Zipped lips.gif

P.S. I don't think any less of anyone even though I got all miffed. Just chalk it up to me being overly sensitive or insane.
 
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[MENTION=4664]Rasmus[/MENTION]

I think it depends. Some people do things or make "humor" to intentionally hurt and disrespect others. Some people aren't aware that they're hurting others when they do certain things.

Rasmus said:
Are we so detached from reality that nothing is worthy of universal indignation or reverence anymore?
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Was anything ever universally worthy of universal indignation or reverence? It really depends on one's values and is unrelated to being in touch with reality.

Hurt feelings are real. People abusing offendedness as a form of social control is also real. People just need to use their own discretion, and if they care about others they will build upon their experiences of what actions they take could hurt the people they care about. If something truly bothers you, then you can let them know. If they don't care, then just don't worry about them. They don't share your values, so just ignore that aspect of them. It's not worth getting riled up about.
 
niffer said:
@Rasmus I think it depends. Some people do things or make "humor" to intentionally hurt and disrespect others. Some people aren't aware that they're hurting others when they do certain things.

Was anything ever universally worthy of universal indignation or reverence? It really depends on one's values and is unrelated to being in touch with reality. Hurt feelings are real. People abusing offendedness as a form of social control is also real. People just need to use their own discretion, and if they care about others they will build upon their experiences of what actions they take could hurt the people they care about. If something truly bothers you, then you can let them know. If they don't care, then just don't worry about them. They don't share your values, so just ignore that aspect of them. It's not worth getting riled up about.
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@niffer
I agree, “worthy of universal indignation or reverence” is a matter of opinion. If I consider the word “universal” as merely “applicable everywhere” than it is my opinion that indignation toward the aforementioned acts and reverence toward the aforementioned victims should be applicable everywhere. Sorry if I picked a poorly suited word to state my opinion. I'm not a smart fellow. To me if something is universal it is applicable from the dawn of time to the end of time without changing to suit anyone's creative or comedic appetite. I believe it was wrong to rape children since the beginning of the world and will be wrong until the end of the world which, to me, should make costumes like the bad priest up there universally offensive but what do I know? Perhaps I'm delusional. I appreciate your thoughts as always.



If anyone is curious as to what pulls my heart strings in regards to the offensive costumes topic than have a gander at some links. WARNING some of these contain graphic images! Certain things will never be costume worthy or funny to me. I guess that's just the way I am.


Bad Priests
http://romancatholicworld.files.wor...vilacqua-role-with-pedophile-priest-bared.pdf
Holocaust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNJlLBD-EO0&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL3B101876B626808B
Racial Violence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTxU5_hjCQE
9/11
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7642314423700541371
 
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So many hypocrites... Everything is allowed by you as long as it's funny to you right? It's all about you right?

Meh I'm too depressed, probably shouldn't be on here, but I don't understand how so many of the examples in this thread can't be seen as offensive... The priest/child thing for example... I'm an atheist and know full well what that costume is alluding to, there is no way I wouldn't feel uncomfortable being around someone wearing that... A private joke about the same thing I might chuckle at... But displayed in public... Wow, no.

Empathy... Needs imagination too, to imagine why someone may take offense and put yourselves in their shoes... There seems to be little of that around these days though. Costumes that are not intentionally offensive but cause offense for reasons that couldn't be predicted are a different matter. Offensiveness for the sake of offensiveness is juvenile and trolling.
 
Hoggle said:
Do you get offended if someone dresses in a costume that reflects negative aspects of your culture?
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No, but then again I can’t remember the last time I was offended by anything.

---

The feeling of being offended is the responsibility of the individual being offended, not the person/thing deemed offensive by that individual.


cheers,
Ian
 
Rasmus said:
Please enlighten me to the hidden comedy behind genocide, racism, torture, child abuse, terrorism, or honoring the memory of people killed in 9/11. Wait, don't! We won't agree and I don't want you to waste time typing it out unless you really want to. Please excuse the incoming rant:

If everything is funny then what is left to be regarded with honor and respect? What kind of monsters have we become if we consider the illustrations of monsters and their crimes amusing? Really? Is any representation of a child rapist funny or a racist murder amusing? When it
Click to expand...
 
The more absolutely awful and "offensive" something is, the more I tend to enjoy it. I'm not really worried about costumes that others might see as offensive or racist, I find it all quite amusing. I'm not really comfortable if other people are hateful and ignorant, but if they're doing it for the sake of humour and it's clever I will like it very much.
 
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