Study – Grow – Know

A Culture, Not a Costume

October 28, 2011 at 8:02 AM Leave a comment

At the risk of being verbally eviscerated, I wanted to briefly comment on a subject that I came across today on the ‘Net.  I’m sure I’ll be seen as completely insensitive (and possibly racist, but what’s new, I’m white, therefore I am racist automatically according to some people).

Apparently, there is a student group with the acronym STARS – Students Teaching About Racism in Society.  Posters they have created show sad-faced young people holding pictures of people authentically dressed within their culture group.  The statement, “I’m a culture, not a costume” accompanies the poster.

In one sense, I can understand where they are coming from, but I get an overriding sense that people in general have become way too sensitive about everything.  So it is now considered racist to dress as a sheik or a Muslim or a Native American?

Where do we stop?  Is it going to become bigoted to dress as a witch or warlock, or to wear a fat suit?  Will we offend modern-day pirates if we dress as one?

Years ago (and to my chagrin) I dressed as the devil (I’m sure he appreciated that), a cowboy, and I also dressed as Batman once, and Robin another time.  The young people involved in STARS are saying that dressing as something that represents their culture is simply racist, bottom line, and they want it stopped.

This kind of politically correct ultra-sensitivity is nonsense.  I’ve seen people dressed as Jesus Christ, angels, apostles and all the rest.  There are costumes of Adam and Eve, Noah, and all the rest.  While I don’t particularly like it, I don’t think these costumes should be banned or considered culturally bigoted to do so.

It reminds me of the atheist in Pennsylvania who dressed as Muhammad in a parade and was attacked by a crazed Muslim who tried to choke him.  If people want to dress as Muhammad, the Pope, Jesus, or anyone else, they should be allowed to do without someone else becoming unglued about it.

These same students from STARS have stated that their “main purpose is to facilitate a discussion about racism and discrimination. Our purpose is to educate. We brought a former knight of the KKK to OU, we’ve sponsored voter-registration drives and hosted a panel on Islamophobia.”

Please don’t get me started on Islamophobia, a word created by radicals to shut the rest of the world up.  I do have a genuine concern regarding what Islam is capable of doing because we see it nearly every day.  Even our government officials (before they were silenced by the Obama Administration) have stated that while there are peaceful Muslims, there can really be no truly peaceful Muslims who strictly adhere to Islamic law and policy.  The Qur’an is there for anyone to read.  It is literally an open and available book as is the Bible, so people can read it whenever they want.  I have three separate Qur’anic translations into English.  Of course, we are told that we are completely unable to understand it and it requires an Imam (Muslim cleric) to TELL us what it says and what it means.  Sounds exactly like what the Roman Catholic church has told its adherents for years.

The Qur’an is a book filled with “sayings,” much like the book of Proverbs in the Bible.  There is very little context to them at all and even Muslims do not agree on meaning.  It is nearly impossible to go through Proverbs and put it in some type of context.  The closest thing you can come to it is attempting to define WHEN Solomon (or others) might have written what they wrote – at some specific point in their life.  The sayings (literally, proverbs) are standalone phrases and meant to be taken that way.  Such is the reality of the Qur’an.  There is nearly zero context so what you read is what it means.  Because of that, the sayings commanding Muslims to kill infidels is not only awkward, but stark.  Again, we are not talking about stories or narratives as in much of the Bible.  We are talking about a limited number of hand-picked sayings that allegedly came from the mouth of Muhammad as he pontificated and someone wrote them down (since he apparently did not read or write).

Regarding the article on STARS, I noted that there were 14 people who “liked” the article at the time I viewed it.  It is amazing how easily swayed people are about things like this.  Instead of discussing it, people simply go along with it because it smacks of racism and the reason it smacks of racism is solely because someone SAYS it does.  Whether it does or not seems to be besides the point.

The reality is that Halloween is a completely pagan holiday anyway.  I have not participated in it for years and neither have my kids.  I merely use it as an excuse to buy bags of candy and when young people come to my door, I give them store-bought candy and a Christian tract.  Any candy that’s left over is mine for the taking 🙂

If Halloween disappeared from the scene, it would not bother me at all, and let’s face it, for adults, it’s merely another reason to party and drink until you are drunk.  (By the way, witches, warlocks, and satanists enjoy the Halloween celebration for another reason altogether.)  At that point of course, you’re no longer responsible for your actions, right?

It is absolutely amazing to me how sensitive people have become.  If you look at the image that I have linked to (above; note, picture was NOT imported, but merely linked to), for goodness sakes, it appears as if the young man is on the verge of tears, so upset is he!  Yet, when I was in school (as a student AND a teacher), we were constantly told and trying to tell students that names cannot hurt you at all.  Just ignore it and move on.  It’s unbelievable what society is coming to.

While society has become ultra-sensitive in many respects, Christianity is of course, completely fair game for all.  Of all the photos of young people with costumes that represented their cultures, not once was there someone holding a photo of a person in a Jesus costume with an extremely saddened expression of their face.  In fact, not once did I read that anyone involved in this organization is at all concerned about Christians and the fact that Jesus’ identity is assumed every year on Halloween.  The pictures represented Muslims, Native Americans, Asians, and a young Black woman with a vampire behind her ready to bite her neck (whatever that references).

It’s funny, but when I wore a Batman or Robin costume, to me it was because I REALLY wanted to BE Batman or Robin.  As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  I really wanted to be Batman, drive the Batmobile and fight crime.  I couldn’t, so I simply dressed the part.

Apparently though, if you wear a costume of Muhammad, a sheik, a Native American or something else that represents a culture that you are not part of by birth, then it is taken to be a racist comment.  That is so absurd it is pitiful.  As I have stated, if someone wants to wear a costume of Jesus (and I’m sure MANY atheists have done so for grins and giggles yearly), that’s their prerogative.  It is no skin off my nose and I’m not that sensitive to be brought nearly to tears over the whole thing.  Who cares if someone dons a costume of Jesus?  It’s on them, not me.

What may happen is that this STARS movement could wind up backfiring a bit because there are people in this world who do not like to be told what to do.  They do not like to follow the laws unless it is convenient to do so.  Because they are being told that something is racist, this may prompt them to do it even more (like a “dare”). You know how it goes.  A person “bullies” you as a kid and it affects you so that you cry or get angry.  Is the person going to STOP bullying you then?  Hardly.  You’ve just given them a great reason to keep on bullying you because they know it bugs you.  It happened to me as a youth and it may have happened to you.  Somehow adults are supposed to be above thinking like that?  Ha!  That’s a laugh.

I can see it then becoming a huge issue, news bureaus will hear of it, and folks like Chris Matthews, Joyce Behar, Al Sharpton, and many others will “weigh in” on the issue.  They will, of course, take the position that dressing as someone from another culture (if the person is not part of that culture) is absolutely and without fail racist and bigoted.  Racism is such a hot button that the aforementioned buffoons will dredge it up and make the connection because of one thing and one thing only:  ratings.  They then will be seen as the “good guys” when in point of fact, ratings is what keeps their show on their air.

Like I say, I could really care less about Halloween.  Except for the candy, I’m just not interested in the holiday.  I’m also not in the least interested in whether or not people dress up like Jesus.  If I had my druthers, I would prefer they don’t, but it’s not my call.  If they want to dress up as God the Son, that’s their business.  If they want to dress up like the devil, that’s also their business.  I’m not going to sink into a pool of tears over it asking “Why me?  Why me all the time?” referring to my beliefs.

Of course, if they choose to dress up like Muhammad, while that’s also their business, they may be attacked or harmed because of it.  So, they can give into that pressure and avoid dressing up as someone who will provoke an attack (no worries about Islam there, right?) and give into the demands of Islamists, or they can continue to exercise their free will and freedom of speech (which is what wearing a costume amounts to) in spite of the protests to the opposite.

There are many costumes in my view which are in supremely bad taste and I would never be caught wearing one.  At the same time, people have a right in the United States – a democracy – to wear what they want to wear.  It’s one night.  It’s all in fun and people should be allowed to do what they want as long as they stay within the confines of the law.  Barring that, it’s up for grabs and people involved in groups like STARS may be spending a good amount of energy on something that they will never be able to stop.  I guess it’s better than fighting against something that REALLY matters…say the more than 1.2 million babies that are aborted in the United States each year?

Funny how in this country, actually eradicating the life of the unborn is perfectly fine, but you’d better not wear a costume of another culture of which you are not part!  There will be hell to pay!  Oh, and you’ll be called “racist.”  Murdering unborn children is fine.  Dressing up in another person’s culture is a crime against their culture.  How asinine is that?  Talk about misplaced ethics and priorities.

[1] http://www.theroot.com/views/stop-racist-halloween-costumes

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