Editorial: Costumed fun not an excuse for ignorance

Halloween approaches, as does the inevitable flood of offensive, uninspired costumes that’ll fill house parties everywhere.

While perusing thrift and novelty shops for a makeshift getup, it’s easy to fall into the trappings of ready-made costumes like Native American chiefs and drunk Mexican bandits. But those representations fail to accurately present the people who live the cultures pilfered for a conversation point.

A lazy attempt at cheekiness does not outweigh the devaluing of underrepresented cultures and voices.

Cultural appropriation, the adoption of another culture without a full understanding of everything that comes with it, is often framed as oversensitivity, an attempt to limit multiculturalism and restrict free expression. But this isn’t an issue of freedom, it’s about respect. Such arguments assume that those participating in cultural dilution are actually interested in respectfully presenting the subjects of their outfits. In almost every case, that’s simply not true.

And if you still consider cultural appropriation a term borne from liberal brainwashing, realize that blackface is just another form of stripping racial identity for petty jokes. Nobody decent would be willing to say that behavior is anything other than horribly offensive, but it’s the same idea.

In the same vein, if you’re planning on having a themed party, please don’t make it something as ridiculously inappropriate as the University of Texas at Austin’s Phi Gamma Delta chapter’s “border patrol”-themed party last year.

Apparently confused about what was supposed to be a “Western-themed” party, students showed up at the fraternity’s house wearing ponchos and construction hats with names such as “Jefe” and “Pablo Sanchez” written on them.  

There are so many possibilities when it comes to Halloween — literally, an endless array of options — that it’s astounding that a group of people would choose a theme based on a race or nationality.

For many people in college, Halloween costumes function solely as an outfit to wear while getting drunk — and that’s OK. But when you’re trying to tackle an outfit based on a stereotype, or that comes with a history often riddled with oppression, you’re exploiting another group’s suffering for your own shallow purpose.

Not all indigenous people walk around in feathered headdresses, because those items hold spiritual significance beyond finding another cup of Franzia. Similarly, not all South Asian people work as convenience store clerks. White people dressed as Apu from “The Simpsons” don’t necessarily think they’re appropriating a culture, but those partygoers are reinforcing a stereotype as the primary image associated with an entire ethnicity.

The tangible harm these insensitive costumes cause is usually limited, but treating a different culture as humorous or only valuable as a fashion choice is a perfect example of ignorance.

So, please, when you’re strolling the aisles of Spirit Halloween or The Salvation Army in the next few weeks, bypass the cheaply made cultural garb and go for something more creative. Maybe dress up as Ken Bone this year instead.