by Mackenzie O’Guin
Halloween is a magnificent time of year, particularly for costume geeks like myself. I spend a considerable percentage of my Octobers scrolling through pages upon pages of costumes, hoarding Pinterest DIYs, and raiding every Halloween Express in the Kansas City Metro area. One of my favorite holiday traditions is doling out candy to an array of costume clad trick-or-treaters. Every year, I can always rely on a predictable assortment of Disney princesses and superheroes, each one more charmingly innocent than the last. Thus, you can imagine my surprise when a small child in a Hazmat suit knocks on my door, the word “Ebola” sprawled across his chest.
My shock shortly morphed into disgust. Ebola is a virus that has brought thousands to slow, agonizing deaths, yet here is this child making light of it for the sake of a Halloween costume. And, that was just the beginning. Sprawled across social media were similar offenses, such as a “Ray Rice and Girlfriend” costume.
Ravens linebacker Ray Rice beat his then-fiance unconscious in an elevator and proceeded to drag her unconscious body off, leaving her lying face down on the ground like a rag doll. But, of course, why wouldn’t domestic violence be a charming, if blatantly ironic, couples costume? The most heartbreaking part of the Ray Rice costume fever is Janay Rice’s response:
Why stop at the normalization of deadly epidemics and domestic abuse when you could take it one step further: children dressing as ISIS terrorists. ISIS, a well-financed and organized terrorist group in the region of Syria and Iraq, practices methods so extreme that even Al Qaeda has disowned any relations to it. These methods include beheading four journalists on video, a scene that was reenacted in this child’s costume. An State of Islam flag bears witness to the beheading of a doll clad in similar orange garb to the aforementioned journalists at the time of their beheadings.
These disturbing displays highlight a glaring flaw of society– people would rather exploit tragedy than empathize with victims. Unfortunately, the injustice is not only limited to Halloween. Almost daily, I hear ‘jokes’ regarding major issues that should never be reduced to a witty punchline. By minimizing others’ affliction, one diminishes the sufferers’ humanity. Now, rather than being victimized by a single force, they are being victimized by an entire society of people who have milked their pain for personal benefit. Not only does that condone violence, but also an indifference towards the misfortunes of others. If you find that humorous, be my guest, but remember: if it were your loved one dying of a virtually incurable disease, being beaten mercilessly, or enduring ungodly torture, would you still be laughing?
