Penn Student Dressed as Terrorist for Halloween - Is it Offensive?

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  • Thread starter russ_watters
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In summary: Personally, I would not dress this way. I think it is a bit insensitive to portray suicide bombers as something funny or ridiculous. Facing those things which make us feel uncomfortable, can be a healthy experience. If I am offended it is because of something internal, being stimulated by something external. I can either control the internal, and get beyond my discomfort, or allow my preconceived prejudices to control my feelings and actions. One path leads to discovery and understanding, while the other leads to ignorance and...anger.
  • #36
I'm not arguing that they are lying, I KNOW that they are lying, simply by claiming that those results are in any way meaningful.

Gallup-style polling is WORTHLESS as a measure of basically ANYTHING, besides being used as a political tool.

Good job.
 
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  • #37
Did you guys miss the prominent attorney (The lawyer who divulged President Bush's drunken-driving arrest days before the 2000 election and Democratic candidate for governor in 1998) that was arrested on Halloween for dressing as Osama Bin Laden?

"SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine - The lawyer who divulged President Bush's drunken-driving arrest days before the 2000 election was arrested Tuesday after he was spotted on a highway overpass wearing an Osama bin Laden Halloween costume and holding a toy gun.

Police said the costume included plastic dynamite, grenades, and a replica of an AK-47 assault rifle."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061031/ap_on_fe_st/halloween_stunt
 
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  • #38
Strap Mentos and Diet Coke to your chest for Halloween --- that's a funny costume. Strap a bomb to your chest --- that's asking to get shot.
 
  • #39
Last year I was actually in San Francisco for halloween in the castro, and there were 2 guys walkin around in huge costumes dressed as the world trade centers, with planes sticking out of them, with anti war messages scrawled on the sides in blood red. Keep in mind there was several hundred thousand people there.

That was a **** ton more provocative if you ask me... and it didn't cause a riot, they did get some angry yells, but it was a satire.. it was supposed to be provocative and satirical in the first place. And no one hurt them. You're blowing this out of proportion.
 
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  • #40
SpaceTiger said:
I think of all Halloween costumes as being a form of satire, whether in character or not. If I came to a Halloween party dressed as Charles Manson, would you be scared for your safety?
I wouldn't fear for my safety, but I'd think you must be a jackass. I'm not sure if I'd put costumes like Charles Manson or Hitler up there quite as high as dressing as a Klansman or terrorist, but they wouldn't be far behind.

Of course, I have to admit, I've never gone to a costume party as an adult. I've never really been into that sort of thing.
 
  • #41
Of all the gazillion articles posted on the internet about this incident, has there been any case where someone was actually afraid this person might have been a real terrorist? All I've read is about people being offended. Not a thing about fear...yet.
 
  • #42
russ_watters said:
How plausible do you need it to be for it to be wrong?

This is the real question, and obviously the answer is going to involve some subjectivity. Honestly, I would be fine with a Hitler costume as well. I just don't think people should take these things so seriously.
Instead of a college, maybe the Syrian is a student at a flight school...?

That would just be funnier. :biggrin:

Naw, I don't know, it would depend on how the student was known at the flight school, what kind of flight school it was, the type of party...

All of this context is lost, of course, when the event is reduced to photographs on the internet. Since the student hadn't originally intended them for such widespread distribution, I think this controversy is a waste of everyone's time.
Heck, statistically, this kid is several orders of magnitude more likely to be a terrorist than a random southerner is to be a Klansmen.

How was that statistic computed exactly? I think it makes the most sense to approach the question this way:

If I see a person dressed as a Klansman at a party, what is the probability that they intend it as a form of intimidation? Likewise with the terrorist?

Does it make sense to you that a real terrorist would go to a costume party to intimidate the local Americans? Do you think anybody at that party believed he was a real terrorist?
Maybe you do or don't consider this a reasonable parallel, but how about joking about being a terrorist when you get on an airplane? Its an instant arrest, even though the level of plausibility is pretty low.

Lower than at a costume party? I think those laws are over-the-top anyhow, but I'd still say the plausibility levels are much higher on an airplane.
 
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  • #43
If I ever get pics from this past halloween I will post my sweet a$$ Kim-Jong Il costume. It was freaking hilarious. I must have had my picture taken 200 times by random strangers who though my costume was awesome.
 

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