My Costume Only Comes in One Color

Does this come in white?

Does this come in white?

I saw a post on Facebook recently that inspired this colorful rant. Let me first share the link that was posted and then the posters comment.

What’s Wrong with Cultural Appropriation

The person who posted this added this comment:

Just a little PSA for the Halloween season. If part or all of your costume includes pretending to be from a non-white racial group, this is cultural appropriation. It’s also hurtful and in poor taste.

I want to address the “cultural appropriation” in the context of the comment. As I read this, she’s suggesting that if I, as a white man were to dress as President Obama or Gandhi, this would be hurtful and in poor taste. Really? Because of the color of my skin, I apparently have been bestowed this magical gift called “White Privilege” and while this allows me to perform all kinds of miracles that those with a different skin hue than my own cannot, I am now also restricted from certain types of behavior. It was certainly news to me that my list of Halloween costume choices was now shortened to include only Caucasian characters (I’m still not sure if this includes dressing as a ghost. They are usually depicted as being white, but I’ll have to check with the Political Correctness Overlords for a ruling.)

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Book Banning: The Joy of Censorship

You can burn a book, but you can't kill an idea

You can burn a book, but you can’t kill an idea

There are certain groups of people who seem to love banning books and censoring thoughts and language. Among the most notorious are conservative Christians and Nazis. (Although we could throw in Muslims as well, to be fair). Interestingly, while conservative Christians aggressively try to ban or censor anything they find that is objectionable to the Christian faith, they have no problem at all with defending freedom of speech when it comes to insulting Islam.

Over the years, many classic books as well as many benign children’s books have fallen under strict religious scrutiny and have drawn the ire of religious zealots who feel it is their duty in life to protect the rest of humanity from itself. Take a look at a sample of books that have been banned over the years:

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