I immediately wonder if they have a Fat Redneck costume with a beer gut, a mullet, and a "don't tread on me, I've got the nukes" shirt. I would laugh my ass off over that. And yes, I am American.

Erm, people should get over fucking poor taste...

But seriously, I don't understand the thought process behind it.

Someone dresses up as a middle eastern terrorist, a boy from the middle east is angry about it? Surely the costume isn't slandering the entire middle east... it's slandering terrorism in the middle east? So why is he upset, surely he should be doing the same? Is he in fact a terrorist? And unhappy that he is making fun of terrorists? If anything, he's insinuating that.

I dunno, I just think that if somebody dressed up as an IRA terrorist, nobody would give two shits, but because it's a terrorist in the middle east, then that's suddenly an instantly racist thing to do, because they are nothing but victims.

And besides, if it's not who you are, then why are you even angry about it? Because it has nothing to do with you in that case...

I always thought hat's how most costumes work... You take a popular cultural icon, and use it for comic effect... If you get offended by that, then sorry. But freaking deal with it... It's not totally destroying your identity as a person...

999realthings:

Treblaine:

999realthings:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053134/Students-launch-poster-campaign-racist-Halloween-costumes.html
I gotta this have to one of the most pointless and trying to hard to be politically correct things I have seen in a while.
While the Arab suicide bomber costume is offensive and probably shouldn't be worn, everything else is quite tame. The geisha outfit, the Mexican outfit and maybe the ghetto outfit.
Personally, I'm Asian and I went to Halloween as a Viet Cong. So people need to get over and have laugh in life or am I being to racially insentive

"As a Tranyslvanian I am incensed at the insinuation that all people from this region are blood sucking creatures of the night. I am a culture, not a costume..."

I don't know if that arab kid even exists or if he is just a model posing for this psy-ops campaign but the "This is NOT my culture" is weasel word claim ANYONE EVER THOUGH IT WAS REPRESENTATIVE OF HIS CULTURE!

He is making light of ONE ASPECT of a condemned practice in a region you happen to come from. And people have to make light of horrible things or else we go crazy.

Dressing up as Dracula is NOT stating in any kind of racist way that that all people of Eastern Europe are vampires!

I hope this starts a meme of parodies of this, like photoshop Bela Lugosi holding up a pic of the Muppet Count.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/photos/images/original/000/190/778/tumblr_lti0drGN5p1qz8bx8.png?1319496965

Wait no longer, it has already started.

LOVE IT!

The internet works fast.

I hope this "campaign" gets run into the ground by this meme, and it looks like it's leading the theme on knowyourmeme

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/190778-were-a-culture-not-a-costume#.TqlQr94UqnA

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-a-culture-not-a-costume#.TqlQvt4UqnA

Grow, little meme. GROW!

Online comments have urged the students behind the campaign to 'get a sense of humour'

Get a sense of humour, you oversensitive crybabies.

Treblaine:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/were-a-culture-not-a-costume#.TqlQvt4UqnA

Grow, little meme. GROW!

Oh God, I'm laughing my arse off at this.

I get really sick when people dress up in costumes that castigate any ethnicity based on stereotypes, be it southern/agrarian whites or blacks lower on the economic scale.

The issue with racism though is that minorities are typically the ones targeted worse and there's a history of attacking minorities with these kinds of things. The reason this campaign hasn't brought up white folks is because white folks are the folks that have been in power in this country socially since it's inception. So while I would agree about the need to defend whites from stereotyping just like anyone else, I'm not going to say this movement is bad because of it.

That's like saying it's stupid to help starving people because there's people with food who are hungry now. White folks already have the cultural capital for the most part, so the campaign is targeting whom it can do the most good for.

Also, I wouldn't say people getting into those stupid costumes are racist, but they're doing a racist thing, and it's disgusting and needs to stop. As a black guy, I'm really tired of seeing all these other motherfuckers running around in black face making racist jokes about fried chicken and shit like the Civil War is about to be lost so they're getting it in as hard as they can before the surrender.

I'm a Muslim and the only reason why I wouldn't dress as a suicide bomber is that the police around here are so stupid that they'd probably think I'm actually a real one.
So to answer your question, no I don't support them.
Also, what if I would dress as a stereotypical white guy, isn't that racist as well? Why are there only a few stereotypes mentioned? If they really want to be taken seriously and make this stop then they have to support at least most stereotypes, otherwise this is just hypocritical.

Zeldias:
I get really sick when people dress up in costumes that castigate any ethnicity based on stereotypes, be it southern/agrarian whites or blacks lower on the economic scale.

The issue with racism though is that minorities are typically the ones targeted worse and there's a history of attacking minorities with these kinds of things. The reason this campaign hasn't brought up white folks is because white folks are the folks that have been in power in this country socially since it's inception. So while I would agree about the need to defend whites from stereotyping just like anyone else, I'm not going to say this movement is bad because of it.

That's like saying it's stupid to help starving people because there's people with food who are hungry now. White folks already have the cultural capital for the most part, so the campaign is targeting whom it can do the most good for.

Also, I wouldn't say people getting into those stupid costumes are racist, but they're doing a racist thing, and it's disgusting and needs to stop. As a black guy, I'm really tired of seeing all these other motherfuckers running around in black face making racist jokes about fried chicken and shit like the Civil War is about to be lost so they're getting it in as hard as they can before the surrender.

I'm black and I find the black face, fried chicken jokes and what not to be funny as hell. A costume is just that a costume if you can't handle what somebody dressed up as, it's 100% your problem not theirs.

The thing is, racism and sexism and homophobia still exist. That there is the problem. They all exist in this horrible covert grey area where every place they crop up, it can be argued someone is either too sensitive, or it never happened. People don't get jobs or apartments and other than the boss/owner looking at you kind of suspiciously, you won't know why. Or less overt, people saying 'fag' as an insult and then turning around and pretending they don't think there is anything wrong with being gay. Or people immediately thinking of lazy guys in sombrero's with donkeys when asked to think of a Mexican.

As long as these things exist in real life, one can never know if someones is being funny and making a point, or if they are just bigot and either don't realize or don't care. As someone who has to occasionally deal with homophobia and sexism, I can understand how someone might be reminded of such things and have negative feelings. Imagine you go to a party expecting to have a good time and you are instead greeted by someone who is dressed in a costume of the worst stereotype of your race you can think of. It can't be fun and the person wearing it is now being questioned as to their motives. Is someone who thinks this is funny really someone I want to be friends with? Regardless of their motives, that is telling.

If you are okay with bigotry and inequality in the smallest form, then where do you draw the line, when exactly does what you do/say become racist and not just 'a joke'? Is it when you mean it? Because the people you are directing it at have no idea whether you mean it or not. So you are essentially saying, "Some people might misinterpret this and get upset, but I don't really care if I upset anyone because my fun is way more important and I am either incapable of having fun unless it's at someone else's expense or I am too lazy/not creative enough to think of an actual funny thing to do/say that doesn't have the potential to hurt anyone's feelings." The you expect people not to call you a bigot afterwards?

When someone tells you they were hurt by something you did/said, and your response is:
"Fuck you, it was a joke." or "I can say what I want, you are just censoring me." or "There isn't problem.", then you are an asshole. You are supposed to care how you affect other people in the world. You are supposed to not be a selfish jackass. Sure you have the right to be one, but don't get pissed when people call you on it.

Your response when someone tells you that you have hurt them is supposed to be something like: "I'm sorry, I will try not to do it in the future." followed by an attempt to actually learn what you did wrong so you actually can not do it again.

Frost27:

Making fun of rednecks isn't racist, they're just a demographic. I grew up in the south and I can absolutely confirm there are black and Hispanic rednecks too. The white ones are just way more visible and more common.

The problem I had with these people getting "offended" is that none of the pictures appear to be furthering any offensive stereotypes, just representing some commonly recognized and possibly inaccurate aspect of a culture. So the Asian is offended because some white girl dressed as a geisha? Why? Because geishas weren't white? So that means no white person can ever dress as a member of another culture without being racist?

I dunno, the redneck thing is a stereotype (just like all the costumes pictured) I think it applies just as well. Also, you can argue that the 'ghetto' costume is also a demographic I think in this case. It's all different flavors of the same thing, one is just a lot more socially acceptable than another.

And I know there are colored rednecks, it's like how there are white gangstas too. However these costumes are representing the stereotypes and those tend to also have a certain skin tone to go along with it.

Don't take this as me saying that I don't think people should ever dress as rednecks XD I'm against this ad campaign entirely. I think think that it's dumb that they act as if they are the only ones that this ever happens to.

999realthings:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053134/Students-launch-poster-campaign-racist-Halloween-costumes.html
I gotta this have to one of the most pointless and trying to hard to be politically correct things I have seen in a while.
While the Arab suicide bomber costume is offensive and probably shouldn't be worn, everything else is quite tame. The geisha outfit, the Mexican outfit and maybe the ghetto outfit.
Personally, I'm Asian and I went to Halloween as a Viet Cong. So people need to get over and have laugh in life or am I being to racially insentive

ha. props for the VC outfit.

OT, for fuck sake find somethign better to spend your time on. i simply don't accept that what people wear or see on halloweens affects their outlooks. hell i plan to go as a ganster from pulp fiction; does this mean that i want to kill people? no.

now stop fucking around, pick a costume, can i suggests a box which has "lemon scented pussy wipes?" written down the side of it?

Being morally offended is pointless. Now, when say, a Harvard Law student, says something racist, you should be politically threatened, not offended, because this person might very well rise to power and become able to enforce their racist views, and that's a real problem. I especially hate people who miss on a good joke because they go out of their way to get offended.

Blue Hero:
I'm dressing up as Hitler, my friend is Stalin. Can we have someone launch a post campaign against us?

ooh, I now know what I'll be for halloween!

Only the suicide bomber has something even close to approaching a legitimate grievance, everyone else is a tit.

Silverfox99:
My problem with the campaign is that it is racist.

First they don't show anyone making fun of rednecks or any other white stereotype. If it is offensive to dress up like another culture then all cultures should be represented, by the logic of their own argument.

I know that this was designed to highlight minority groups but that's where the problem occurs. Racism can and does effect all races and it wont end until all racism stops not just against minority races.

Personally, I would find it hilarious if someone showed up to a party dressed up in white face and as a redneck.

So, by your logic, racism (these costumes are hardly racist) against *ahem*, "minority races", is bad, but racism against whites is comedic? I could actually care less what people dress up for on halloween, but your argument loses traction when you declare that dressing up as a black-stereotype is 'racist', but that going in white-face as a redneck is comedic.

Also, you would think that the 'protesters' would be intelligent enough to know that the costumes AREN'T geared toward being deliberately racist, and throwing every single race into a single category. For one, suicide bombers, geishas, and African-Americans who live in ghettos did and do exist. The costumes are meant to present condensed, simplified caricatures of a very specific subgroup of people. I don't know why an intelligent Asian person would immediately assume that when a person dresses up as a geisha, they are immediately lumping every Asian person into the category of geisha. As a test, tell me this. If you saw a person in a redneck costume, in white-face, would you immediately assume that this person is lumping every white person into the category of redneck? No? So why should a black person, upon seeing a man dressed as a highly stereotyped ghetto-dweller immediately assume that the costume wearer is lumping EVERY African-American into the category of ghetto-dweller?

This whole campaign stinks to me of some white-guilt bullshit from this Anti-racism group, not getting their goddamn priorities in order by having a group of students from minority groups in the United States to look depressed and heart-broken in front of a camera.

Also, there are a hell of lot more Asian people on this earth than Caucasians, buddy. They're hardly a 'minority race'.

It seems a little silly, if I went as an Englishman I'd wear a suit with a bowler hat and an umbrella and be holding a cup of tea, everyone has stereotypes, out of those only the suicide bomber is even remotely close to being racist. Besides, one of my friends went as Hitler one year so that's got to be worse.

Also, for a fancy dress party I have to come as a Korean (it's an in joke that I'm secretly korean) and does anyone have any ideas about how I can do this without being racist?

But hey, I'm an upper middle class white male, so what do I know.

These posters are just asking to be abused on the internet like a meme. Which they already are, by the way. Best one I've seen is this.

Yeah, I feel like I'm pretty quick to jump in on actual issues of racism but...

These costumes (with the exception of the suicide bomber, and even that is mostly just in really bad taste) aren't really racist. While those kids in the posters may not like it, those costumes were actually traditional garments of their culture at some point (plus or minus a few details, and remember, Halloween is a lot of sensationalism and embellishment). Unless the people are running around in them yelling stereotypes, you could just as easily argue that they're promoting the (historical or modern) culture of a certain people.

You can argue "when little things are ignored, it promotes racism!", but it works both ways. When little things like this are blown up to a massive degree, it overshadows the ACTUAL issues where racism is legitimately harming people (i.e. the kind embedded in government institutions).

Treblaine:

Grow, little meme. GROW!

Ah jeez. That's too funny.

They need to learn to take a joke. Grow up. Realize that these people aren't dressing up in those costumes to offend you they're dressing up to have some fun and maybe get a laugh. Also the fact that there's nobody dressed as any kind of Caucasian stereotype is bullshit. You can't keep on acting like white people are the only people who can be racist. It's racist to imply that.