Happy Halloween!

I’m being educated. Halloween is not all about candy. How awful :'(

My initial response were more in the vicinity of a confused frown. I didn’t think suicide bombers were a ‘culture’. I didn’t understand why a child would associate himself with a suicide bomber. I didn’t find it funny, didn’t think it was the spooky costume of the year nor was I particularly offended. I just found it distasteful – like a bad aftertaste of some new recipe.

Most of the commenters exasperatedly yelled that it’s Halloween, get a sense of humor, political correctness is tiresome and such with many Muslims jumping on board.

It all made sense. I was pretty ready to leave the thread and move on when I read this:

Such comments weren’t many but they were there alright. Some were less vile while others outright attacked the Prophet of Islam, his religion and followers, the Arab culture. There was nothing light-hearted-Halloween-fun about these comments. They were hateful and insulting and ignorant.

Suddenly, the poster didn’t seem quite so irrelevant. It did have a target audience – the arrogant and the ignorant sitting on the other side of the fence. 

Yes! That boy could just well have been a Middle Eastern Christian protesting this stereotype because it’s hurtful to his Middle Eastern roots.

I’m not a fan of political correctness. I guess none of us are till lack of it really steps on our toes. This poster initiated a barrage of costume ideas, most pushing buttons to see how high the tolerance threshold was on either side:

• A pedophile priest.
• An Irish Protestant.
• An American flag or Lady Liberty with a drone mounted on her head.
• A fat-suit complete with meaty fast food accessories.
• A Whiteface to rival a Blackface.
• Then, there were images of a dog or a robot or a sci-fi/fantasy character mimicking the poster message. The net is riddled with these, apparently.  

I wondered if there really is a line that needs to be drawn here. When does a joke cease to be no longer funny? When does a costume turn offensive?

Yes, I remember the good ole times when it was funny to make fun of fat people, of ethnic customs, certain dialects, of skin color – but then it started translating into actual hate crimes. And then it was funny no more.

I think I’ll just grab my witch hat and go get some candy. After all, the Happy in my Halloween comes from lotsa dark chocolate; not dark humor.