Racially insensitive halloween costume?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^lots of people DON'T understand why "dressing up as a Japanese person" is problematic.

I don't. Could someone explain it to me?

What if someone wanted to dress up as a black person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PC manual out there I can consult to provide guidance as to what to allow my kids to wear and not wear as a Halloween costume?
Wouldn't wan to offend anybody.

If you need a manual on how to be a decent person, you are doing it wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have four kids - maybe I'll dress one up as an African American person, one as a Chinese person, one as a Hispanic person and leave one white and they can go as diversity or the UN.

No one is suggesting dressing up as any of the people you describe. Dressing in a Sari or dressing in a Kimono is not dressing up as an Indian person or a Japanese person. Same reason why dressing up in Lederhosen or wearing Klomps as the dutch do is not a mockery.

Are you really this stupid IRL, or do you just play a stupid character on the internet?

[Anonymous]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with dressing up as someone from another culture as long as it's done with a spirit of admiration. It's a celebration of other cultures. And you really see no difference between a child wearing a traditional outfit of another culture that they appreciate and someone going out in blackface, then you have real problems. To the poster who says it marks the dressed-up-as culture as "other," well, duh. For many of us, most cultures are other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PC manual out there I can consult to provide guidance as to what to allow my kids to wear and not wear as a Halloween costume?
Wouldn't wan to offend anybody.

If you need a manual on how to be a decent person, you are doing it wrong.

yes but I'm trying to figure out what is indecent about a kimono. Apparently there is a split of opinion on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wearing a kimono or a kilt or a sari for Halloween just means people who don't get to wear them like them.. Halloween is about wearing clothes or dressing in a costume that you normally do not get to wear. Something chosen and liked by the wearer.

And that is EXACTLY the point. A sari is not a costume. A kimono is not a costume. Saris and kimonos are real actual clothes that real actual people wear, as part of a particular culture.

(And "a Japanese person" is not a costume either.)

This is the essence of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have four kids - maybe I'll dress one up as an African American person, one as a Chinese person, one as a Hispanic person and leave one white and they can go as diversity or the UN.

No one is suggesting dressing up as any of the people you describe. Dressing in a Sari or dressing in a Kimono is not dressing up as an Indian person or a Japanese person. Same reason why dressing up in Lederhosen or wearing Klomps as the dutch do is not a mockery.

Are you really this stupid IRL, or do you just play a stupid character on the internet?

The plural of klomp is klopen. Not klomps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^lots of people DON'T understand why "dressing up as a Japanese person" is problematic.

I don't. Could someone explain it to me?

What if someone wanted to dress up as a black person.[/quote

Depends on whether someone wants to wear something like a performance costume from an African dance class or whether they want to wear an Aunt Jemima costume. I think the pretty dress from dance class is fine; the Aunt Jemima costume is rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PC manual out there I can consult to provide guidance as to what to allow my kids to wear and not wear as a Halloween costume?
Wouldn't wan to offend anybody.

If you need a manual on how to be a decent person, you are doing it wrong.

The bible is useful for people who need basic guidance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought Halloween was a time to wear something and be someone you are not normally. I never thought the costumes were worn as a form of ridicule - unless that was the purpose and then the costume was pretty much "out there" if a laugh was what was wanted.

When I was young, I remember dressing up as a construction worker, a pregnant woman (my catholic mom was always pregnant and so at the age of 5 I decided that would be my costume), a mummy, you name it. It was for fun. Dressing up in a kimono or a sari does not mean the costume is being ridiculed, it means that a little girl thinks it is cute/pretty and wants to wear it. For example, my DD wants to be a flamingo this year because the costume makes her feel pretty.

Right so she is being a flamingo. What is the little girl in the kimono being? If someone says to her what is your costume or what are you dressed up as...what would the little girl say?

She would say, "I am dressing up as a Japanese person."

The problem is that lots of people understand why "dressing up as a Japanese person" is problematic. I expect they also don't understand why blackface is problematic.

As I'm sure you know, the history of blackface is long and emotionally-charged. It was used for the specific purpose of perpetuating racist stereotypes of an oppressed minority group. I'm sorry but the idea that this is is anywhere near the equivalent of a little girl wearing a kimono on Halloween is seriously offensive in and of itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^lots of people DON'T understand why "dressing up as a Japanese person" is problematic.

I don't. Could someone explain it to me?

What if someone wanted to dress up as a black person.

Black is a race, not a culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's absolutely nothing wrong with dressing up as someone from another culture as long as it's done with a spirit of admiration. It's a celebration of other cultures. And you really see no difference between a child wearing a traditional outfit of another culture that they appreciate and someone going out in blackface, then you have real problems. To the poster who says it marks the dressed-up-as culture as "other," well, duh. For many of us, most cultures are other.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PC manual out there I can consult to provide guidance as to what to allow my kids to wear and not wear as a Halloween costume?
Wouldn't wan to offend anybody.

If you need a manual on how to be a decent person, you are doing it wrong.

The bible is useful for people who need basic guidance.

Speaking of the Bible, I saw a guy come to a Halloween party dressed as Jesus. Nobody seemed to see anything wrong with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a PC manual out there I can consult to provide guidance as to what to allow my kids to wear and not wear as a Halloween costume?
Wouldn't wan to offend anybody.

If you need a manual on how to be a decent person, you are doing it wrong.

The bible is useful for people who need basic guidance.

Speaking of the Bible, I saw a guy come to a Halloween party dressed as Jesus. Nobody seemed to see anything wrong with it.

Because people in real life are not as crazy as the DCUM loonies.

[Anonymous]

Never thought of it but does make sense.