By Ross Dubberly With Halloween quickly approaching, kids are beaming with excitement as they walk through stores and see the spooky jack-o’-lanterns, spiders, black cats, and ghosts. For people considering a scary costume such as a witch, grim reappear, zombie, or bloodthirsty vampire, try something new this Halloween— try wearing one of the few costumes that are so frightening, they can make college students, university administrators, and even professors, tremble with sheer terror. This Halloween, choose a “culturally appropriated” costume, and you are sure to give the Left the scare of a lifetime. That’s right. Halloween costumes including Pocahontas, Aladdin, Japanese geisha girls, or even just a Mexican sombrero, are now deemed “offensive” and “inappropriate.” According to Wikipedia, “cultural appropriation” is the “adoption or use of one culture by members of another culture.” For instance, a white woman dressing up as Pocahontas for Halloween is an example of this. For those of you who are waiting for the punch line, unfortunately there isn’t one. Some of us come face-to-face with the bizarre beliefs of today’s university students and faculty on a daily basis, and this sort of thing feels mundane. The rest of society, however, may be astonished and outraged. It should be. The Left’s war on Halloween began almost a year ago now. At Yale, an email was sent to the campus community warning faculty and students to be wary of any Halloween costumes that “appropriated” other cultures. Erika Christakis, an associate master of Silliman College, had the unbelievable audacity to challenge such a warning by sharing her husband’s outlook on the issue, saying, “If you don’t like a costume someone is wearing look away or tell them you are offended. Talk to each other. Free speech and the ability to tolerate offence are the hallmarks of a free and open society . . .” What an outrageous statement, right? Can you imagine how horrible Yale would be if people were actually free to express whatever opinions they wanted and wear whatever costumes they wished? The smug, self-righteous, academic Left went nuts over Christakis’s statement. One woman, after asking Nicholas Christakis why the f*** did he accept his position, and shouting him down when he attempted to respond, quickly informed him that his job was to “[create] a home here.” Such examples of stupidity are far from isolated. Indeed, around the same time, the moral giants and ethical lions that comprised the Virginia Tech student government, urged students via a Facebook post to avoid costumes that “communicate a message of indifference and insensitivity.” The post went on to encourage people to consider how the costumes they wear might, “[hurt] the people they are based on.” In response, Virginia Tech’s YAF chapter hosted the country’s first Funeral for Halloween to mourn the death of the holiday at the hands of political correctness. This year the Funeral for Halloween is nationwide YAF activism event. In addition to Halloween, the cultural appropriation dogma is beginning to infect more and more student organizations and activities. Earlier this month, The College Fix reported that fraternity and sorority members at the University of California- Merced “have been instructed not to use the terms ‘Greek,’ ‘rush,’ or ‘pledge’ because they are ‘appropriating Greek culture’ and are ‘non-inclusive.’” Where does the idiotic political correctness end? It certainly doesn’t stop at common sense. The term political correctness has been thrown around a lot in recent years. Readers should understand that college campuses are the very breeding ground for political correctness. Academics get very creative with the methodology they use to crush free speech. It should not be surprising that now they are coming for your Halloween costumes. How much longer is America willing to tolerate the culture of intolerance on college campuses and in society at large? Understand that these radical notions do not exist in a vacuum on college campuses— they are bleeding into our society. Leftism is authoritarian by nature; it lives and dies by the control of information and the suppression of dissonant speech. The time for eradication of these suppressive tactics is long overdue. Ross Dubberly is co-chairman of YAF at the University of Georgia.
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For people considering a scary costume such as a witch, grim reappear, zombie, or bloodthirsty vampire, try something new this Halloween— try wearing one of the few costumes that are so frightening, they can make college students, university administrators, and even professors, tremble with sheer terror. This Halloween, choose a “culturally appropriated” costume, and you are sure to give the Left the scare of a lifetime. That’s right. Halloween costumes including Pocahontas, Aladdin, Japanese geisha girls, or even just a Mexican sombrero, are now deemed “offensive” and “inappropriate.” According to Wikipedia, “cultural appropriation” is the “adoption or use of one culture by members of another culture.” For instance, a white woman dressing up as Pocahontas for Halloween is an example of this. For those of you who are waiting for the punch line, unfortunately there isn’t one. Some of us come face-to-face with the bizarre beliefs of today’s university students and faculty on a daily basis, and this sort of thing feels mundane. The rest of society, however, may be astonished and outraged. It should be. The Left’s war on Halloween began almost a year ago now. At Yale, an email was sent to the campus community warning faculty and students to be wary of any Halloween costumes that “appropriated” other cultures. Erika Christakis, an associate master of Silliman College, had the unbelievable audacity to challenge such a warning by sharing her husband’s outlook on the issue, saying, “If you don’t like a costume someone is wearing look away or tell them you are offended. Talk to each other. Free speech and the ability to tolerate offence are the hallmarks of a free and open society . . .” What an outrageous statement, right? Can you imagine how horrible Yale would be if people were actually free to express whatever opinions they wanted and wear whatever costumes they wished? The smug, self-righteous, academic Left went nuts over Christakis’s statement. One woman, after asking Nicholas Christakis why the f*** did he accept his position, and shouting him down when he attempted to respond, quickly informed him that his job was to “[create] a home here.” Such examples of stupidity are far from isolated. Indeed, around the same time, the moral giants and ethical lions that comprised the Virginia Tech student government, urged students via a Facebook post to avoid costumes that “communicate a message of indifference and insensitivity.” The post went on to encourage people to consider how the costumes they wear might, “[hurt] the people they are based on.” In response, Virginia Tech’s YAF chapter hosted the country’s first Funeral for Halloween to mourn the death of the holiday at the hands of political correctness. This year the Funeral for Halloween is nationwide YAF activism event. In addition to Halloween, the cultural appropriation dogma is beginning to infect more and more student organizations and activities. Earlier this month, The College Fix reported that fraternity and sorority members at the University of California- Merced “have been instructed not to use the terms ‘Greek,’ ‘rush,’ or ‘pledge’ because they are ‘appropriating Greek culture’ and are ‘non-inclusive.’” Where does the idiotic political correctness end? It certainly doesn’t stop at common sense. The term political correctness has been thrown around a lot in recent years. Readers should understand that college campuses are the very breeding ground for political correctness. Academics get very creative with the methodology they use to crush free speech. It should not be surprising that now they are coming for your Halloween costumes. How much longer is America willing to tolerate the culture of intolerance on college campuses and in society at large? Understand that these radical notions do not exist in a vacuum on college campuses— they are bleeding into our society. Leftism is authoritarian by nature; it lives and dies by the control of information and the suppression of dissonant speech. The time for eradication of these suppressive tactics is long overdue. Ross Dubberly is co-chairman of YAF at the University of Georgia.
