(NewsNation) — The “PC police” are at it again, trying to ruin Halloween this year. I know from personal experience.
My son loves watching Sumo wrestling on YouTube. He thinks it’s exciting and fun and sometimes just funny. He and his friends got blow-up Sumo costumes for Halloween.
A photo of him shows no cultural stereotypes, just the blow up body outfit. He wore it Sunday to a Halloween party in a New York City park.
While there, his mom was asked if we thought the costume was inappropriate. Apparently a self-appointed officer of the “PC police” was concerned about both the potential for “cultural appropriation” and “body shaming.” The woman suggested the costume was sort of a double whammy. In reality, it’s a double whammy of absurdity.
When it was mentioned to me, I looked up the current state of the Halloween “PC police.” I found an article from Good Housekeeping this year called “15 offensive Halloween costumes that shouldn’t exist.”
Let’s dig in a little. It said first and foremost that no child is allowed to dress as Holocaust victim Anne Frank because despite the fact that she’s a historical figure, “the Holocaust is a painful historical event, not costume party fodder.” Yes, it is. But I would think that any kid who would be going as Anne Frank would be doing so to honor her memory.
Number four on the list is the COVID pandemic: We’re not allowed to touch it. The article lectures that a pandemic that has killed more than a million people and rising in the United States alone isn’t a costume. It’s a horrible tragedy that has significantly impacted many people’s lives. It says to resist the urge to dress up in a “medical hazard suit, anything resembling a virus or is the victim of the virus itself.” This is where specificity matters. Generic nurse and doctor costumes are fine.
I mean, yeah, a COVID victim wouldn’t exactly be in good taste, but the rest of it?
Number seven on the no-no list is a terrorist. The article tells us this falls under the same heading of making light of national tragedies. Does it really? People dress up as evil characters all the time! Isn’t that what Halloween is? What about witches? It doesn’t mean we agree with them.
The next costume we’re supposed to avoid is one of my favorites. The zombie version of deceased celebrities including David Bowie. The article says it’s OK to pay tribute to someone famous, “But don’t, we repeat, do not add zombie makeup. It’s always too soon to wear anything reminiscent of someone’s corpse. Period.”
So you can honor a favorite celebrity who is dead and you can dress like a regular zombie, but not a famous zombie? Got it?
And finally, of course at number one, you cannot ever dress up as anything related to the Black Lives Matter movement. The article saying, “the racial justice reckoning in our country is powerful. But that doesn’t mean you should turn it into a Halloween costume even in tribute to those doing the work. That’s tokenism. Not solidarity.”
Halloween is supposed to be fun. Telling us all about the costumes we can’t wear and even shaming kids or their parents about their costumes is scarier than any ghost or goblin could ever be.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not of NewsNation.