Nobody wants children trick-or-treating as Buckwheat or Osama bin Laden.
And it's not adorable to pose as gun-toting assassins or ax-wielding killers wearing hockey masks.
But it comes as no surprise that schools in California and elsewhere have gone too far in prohibiting harmless Halloween costumes that some people deem inappropriate.
In some districts, vampires aren't welcome. In others, all masks are forbidden. Even fake fingernails have been barred.
Good grief, Charlie Brown.
Limiting Halloween to the blandest, least threatening imagery not only eliminates popular Disney characters, it also deprives children of a chance to have creative fun with harmless fantasy involving such traditional figures as witches, ghouls and goblins.
A caring, thoughtful friend at work, Martha Quillin, found out the hard way when her church decreed that children attending a Halloween event couldn't wear anything scary. Her imaginative and excited young daughter, a would-be witch, was crushed.
"How scary is an 8-year-old in a black dress and a cheap pointy hat?" Martha asked.
At my daughter's Halloween party Friday, a young boy came as a cute Darth Vader of Star Wars. You know, the evil, maniacal torturer and cold-hearted killer of entire worlds.
We saw a charming Hermione of Harry Potter fame. That spell-casting rule-breaker and proud co-conspirator against authority.
On Halloween, we willfully served candy to a youthful couple of soul-sucking devils.
Our own little Cleopatra could hardly guess at her precursor pharoah's unsavory history.
Thankfully, we encountered no one dressed as that most horrifying creature: congressman.
Matthew Eisley is editor of The N&O's North Raleigh News and Midtown Raleigh News.
Costumes should not be demeaning
By Michael Biesecker
Staff Writer
Watching the television show "Mad Men" last week, I was struck by a scene, set in the early 1960s, where two children trick-or-treated as a hobo and a gypsy.
I turned to my wife, a teacher, and asked whether she could imagine sending our kids out the door dressed as a homeless person or an ethnic minority with a long and tragic history of persecution.
Yes, times have changed. There were costumes I wore as a child that would clearly be questionable in today's multicultural world.
I remember going to school as a Crusader knight with a big red cross on my shield and a wooden broadsword drenched in the imaginary blood of heathens. In a post-9/11 era, when we're fighting in two wars in predominantly Muslim countries, invoking the history of a Christian invasion of the Holy Land where women and children were slaughtered in the name of religion is probably not a good idea.
Like a lot of people, I am of the mind that our society is often far too preoccupied with political correctness.
However, I agree with rules at many schools dictating that costumes should not demean any race, religion, nationality, disability or gender.
Dressing your little boy as an Indian chief, unless you happen to be a Native American, is no more appropriate than slathering him in blackface to be Barack Obama. Better nix the tomahawk, as well.
I saw several 'tween girls Saturday dressed in what could only be described as sexy outfits. If you're above the age of consent and you want to masquerade as naughty nurse, I won't judge.
But I can guarantee that if my little daughter someday wants to wear fishnets, she'd better be costumed as a cod.
Because whatever disguise we choose for Halloween, we're revealing a lot about ourselves.
Michael Biesecker is a staff writer.
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