Poll: Students launch a poster campaign against racist costume
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Hey? Surely the posters aren't for people who've gone out of their way to be racist, they are for people who might otherwise do something offensive without thinking of it.justnotcricket said:
Or...maybe do both? There's no upper limit on anti-racist sentiments, you are allowed to condemn the little things without running out of juice to condemn the big things built on it.justnotcricket said:
Well just wait till they find out about MWF3's suicide bomber.
Idiots being overly sensitive to everything.
Idiots being overly sensitive to everything.
Hell yeah I support their cause! For too long us zombies have been portrayed as evil, mindless, brain-craving, flesh-eating monsters. We have intelligent conversations and dine on well-rounded meals. We can start this battle with the millions of costumes that are plaguing halloween. It annoys me so whenever some guy tells me I have a great costume and I have to explain to him that it isn't a costume and then bash his head in for being ignorant and then I at like a king.
On a more serious note no I don't think there is really any point to fighting these "racist" costumes sure some may not be the greatest to show around minorities but at the end of it all everyone's joking around and having a good time.
On a more serious note no I don't think there is really any point to fighting these "racist" costumes sure some may not be the greatest to show around minorities but at the end of it all everyone's joking around and having a good time.
While normally I'm all about cultural sensitivity, this is just ridiculous. While I can understand the suicide bomber one, that is insensitive and offensive, but the rest of them? C'mon lighten up guys. Besides correct me if I'm wrong, but was a geisha girl not at one time a prominent part of Japanese culture?
Frankly, it's dumb. I was mildly surprised there was a thread for it. Those are terrible costumes, as in tasteless and poorly made.
I can understand the message they were trying to get across, but it just gets bogged down with their poor examples and sad faces.
Also, I loved being a geisha for Halloween. My costume was 250% better than the example they used by the way. What are you trying to say University of Ohio? I'm not Asian so I can't be a geisha for Halloween?
I'll be whatever I wanna do!
I can understand the message they were trying to get across, but it just gets bogged down with their poor examples and sad faces.
Also, I loved being a geisha for Halloween. My costume was 250% better than the example they used by the way. What are you trying to say University of Ohio? I'm not Asian so I can't be a geisha for Halloween?
I'll be whatever I wanna do!
This. So, so much this.chiggerwood said:This is stupidity on the grandest of scales. If you're that offended by a Halloween costume, please get your head out of your ass. There are real racist in the world that you could be protesting; there are actual injustices that you could stand up against. Sex slavery, starvation, AIDS and holocaust denial, human rights violations the list goes on and on. Why not put your time, money, and energy into something worthwhile!?
I have no idea why this got me so worked up.
If I could see thise guys now I'd say to them in the most patronisingly saccharine tone, "Well done little ones! You just discovered, and as early as University age too, that you live in a country that values the freedom of its people enough for them to potentially offend you. Now, you can either deal with it, or you can emigrate to a dictatorship where you can never be offended again. Oppressed, tortured and murdered possibly, but at least nobody is going to unsettle that fragile sense of self righteousness you have there... M'kay?"
Honestly. I never thought I'd agree with Daily Mail readers. I feel so unclean.
That ^chiggerwood said:This is stupidity on the grandest of scales. If you're that offended by a Halloween costume, please get your head out of your ass. There are real racist in the world that you could be protesting; there are actual injustices that you could stand up against. Sex slavery, starvation, AIDS and holocaust denial, human rights violations the list goes on and on. Why not put your time, money, and energy into something worthwhile!?
I have no idea why this got me so worked up.
Get the hell over it, folks. If you're spending your time on something like this, then you have too much free time. Christ, people get offended by everything these days. Get your priorities straight and go tackle an actual problem.
To answer your question, OP. I don't support their campaign because it's absolutely ridiculous.
Obligatory youtube post
Like he says, Being offended is subjective. Being Minnesotan doesn't mean I get offended by Norwegian jokes, but that doesn't mean it doesn't bother someone else. It's impossible to make a sweeping "THAT X IS OFFENSIVE AND SHOULD BE REMOVED." statement about things.
Like he says, Being offended is subjective. Being Minnesotan doesn't mean I get offended by Norwegian jokes, but that doesn't mean it doesn't bother someone else. It's impossible to make a sweeping "THAT X IS OFFENSIVE AND SHOULD BE REMOVED." statement about things.
Sure, by all means. I have no problem with the capmaign, and the posters are effective and well-produced. The question I have is: where do you draw the line? I go back to my example above - am I not allowed to wear a kimono that I find beautiful because I'm somehow mocking a minority culture? As I said, if you've gone out of your way to *negatively* approach the costume; that is, wear whore makeup and tape your eyes back, for example, then you're obviously being racist. But what if you intend no insult, and your costume does not actually make an insult - it's just cultural dress that happens to belong to a culture other than yours. Lots of Japanese people wear jeans every day - does that mean they're mocking white American culture?thaluikhain said:
If we're talking about hypersensitivity and making assumptions, I could claim that this poster campaign has the racist subtext that all white people (the majority culture in this case) are racist.
Obviously the examples chosen for the posters are examples of bad costumes. There would be no point to the posters otherwise, and bad, racist costumes do happen and shouldn't. I'd just like to know how much of a culture of paranoia we have to develop about it.
Pretty much this. I see tons of redneck costumes all the time as well as Roman glad/toga costumes, and other Angloesque shit. But it's ONLY racist if it's against non-whites.Silverfox99 said:
Yes these costumes are in poor taste, but I don't think they are truly racist (racists rarely dress up as the groups they dislike because they usually consider themselves better than said race. Only people who want to get attention or some laughs do this kind of thing).
Haha
Racial Stereotyping
I noticed its only WRONG during Halloween....but when you are in that stereotype for LIFE its totally cool...
Racial Stereotyping
I noticed its only WRONG during Halloween....but when you are in that stereotype for LIFE its totally cool...
I mean, I can't tell them they're wrong to be offended, but I can't help but feel like they're missing the point of Halloween...
I would say (and interpret the campaign to mean) that it's not so much saying you can or cannot wear certain things, but that you should stop and think about it beforehand.justnotcricket said:
Nobody's perfect, everyone's flawed in various ways to various degrees, including prejudice. The trick is acknowledging it and working to overcome it.
I agree that it's racist and it's the kind of racism which a poster campaign isn't fitted for. Actually, nothing really fits that. This kind of racism isn't extreme or moderate, it's leaning towards light, just casual racism. The kind of racism you shouldn't launch campaigns against as it isn't that serious. The type of cheap and crass costume I'm seeing should be though. It's a rather poor costume on the whole. It might crack me a laugh but after the laugh I'll wonder if they were being serious. In this case, I hope not. But there's always a chance of the person genuinely believing the stereotype they're loosely promoting. And to me, that 'loosely promoting' thing is what the campaign is all about.
After all, the literal definition of racism covers stereotypes but where is the line drawn on the seriousness of the stereotype? Is this saying all members of X race are Y? Initially no, but since we make the connection we are somewhat promoting it. But are we suppourting and actually agreeing? No, which is why I believe that it isn't the kind of racism which people should fuss over. Or at least, not make such a big deal over.
I'm sure the guy who dressed up can give a better explanation and the students can do too. But right now I see a few students getting upset over an insensitive, racist costume and blowing it out of proportion.[sub]Sorry, but I couldn't resist. 2 paragraphs of seriousness and I'm not allowed to make a joke myself?[/sub]
After all, the literal definition of racism covers stereotypes but where is the line drawn on the seriousness of the stereotype? Is this saying all members of X race are Y? Initially no, but since we make the connection we are somewhat promoting it. But are we suppourting and actually agreeing? No, which is why I believe that it isn't the kind of racism which people should fuss over. Or at least, not make such a big deal over.
I'm sure the guy who dressed up can give a better explanation and the students can do too. But right now I see a few students getting upset over an insensitive, racist costume and blowing it out of proportion.[sub]Sorry, but I couldn't resist
. 2 paragraphs of seriousness and I'm not allowed to make a joke myself?[/sub]
I don't realize why people can't be more sensitive. I mean, is blackface okay? How is this any different than that?