Sunday, November 05, 2006

U. Penn Halloween party

Ain't the Good Witch of the North costume hip?

14 comments:

Mr roT said...

Taranto was uncharacteristically whining about this here. Can you work up any caring about this? This is about what Pepe says is a muslim spitting on the sidewalk and the conservatives emptying their bowels.

Tecumseh said...

Emptying their bowels? Hardly. Just disgust. That's all.

Mr roT said...

Would you feel disgust for a Hitler Halloween costume? Mussolini? Stalin? Mao? Any other murderer past or present?
This is certainly no worse and Hitler costumes were pretty common before we became a nation where the commonest sentence is 'That's offensive.'

Tecumseh said...

Look, it's not the costume per se. Of course, almost all people who wear Nixon or Saddam or whatever masks do it just for fun (well, their idea of fun). I doubt anyone wears Stalin or Hitler or Mao costumes, except perhaps one of the dumber British royals, but that's not the point. The way I read the story, that mfckr wearing a suicide bomber mock attire was doing it to sing the praises of said bombers, to make a statement, yes? Statement being: blow up the kufr to smithereens. OK, OK, free speech and all that, will say JJ. But does such "free speech" have to be encouraged with benevolent smiles by the President of an Ivy League school? Would the Pres of your college proudly pose next to a guy sporting a suicide bomber jacket and an AK47, and put the pic in the recruitment brochure for said college? Beam me up, Scotty.

My Frontier Thesis said...

It's Halloween. That's all I'm saying.

Mr roT said...

Right, mft. And I don't think the arab guy at Penn was saying anything of the sort. The way he was holding his little green book and his AK-47, acting out the part was a good bit of (very) black humor, I'd say. He's also sporting his own background and skin color, I might add.
As far as the reception Amy Gutmann gives, here part of what Taranto is right on. If they had been acting like a Reconstruction lynch mob, things would have been different.
But his nonsense about this being cool because the Islamic Jihad kills Jews is ridiculous and reeks of 'insensitivity'.

Arelcao Akleos said...

I guess my thoughts on this would depend on the guy actually sporting the costume. For example, if he is a leader of a campus group calling for the extermination of Israel or for the glories of the worldwide Umma then it would seem he was taking advantage of Halloween to engage in a Fuck You Kufr To Death where "deniability" was built in. In that case, admiration by the UPenn community for such would be disturbing.
Nevertheless, even if it was as above, the critter certainly has his right to wear his heart on his sleeve. Presumably, then, an admirer of Miosevic's regime would have the same right to wear a costume as General Malik at Brzenica? [spelling probably off for both].
Hey, it was Halloween, and the night offers "deniability" to all sorts of critters and their kinks. Taranto should have sat back, taken a good glug of some fine Tawny Port, and said "fuck the kid".

Arelcao Akleos said...

OK, Milosevic, Malik, Scerbrnica are my last stabs at it. If spelling is still off, then tell that to the last mayor of New York, Googliani.

Mr roT said...

Prevailing ignorance would have absolved any of Milosevic's henchmen of Halloween costume insensitivity unacceptability.

Tecumseh said...

Milosevic sounds OK. But I think you meant Ratko (!) Mladic and Srebrenica.

On the substance, though -- looks like JJ has convinced pretty much everyone on this one. I don't really want to dissent, but I still think something is rotten in this story. hey, how come JJ has not responded to my question on whether his Pres would do the same thing at his college, and brag about it? Somehow, I suspect JJ is gonna play dumb and pretend he has not heard the question. Duhhhh....

Arelcao Akleos said...

Ya probably right. A decade ago is Antiquity to most of our compeers.

Mr roT said...

repeat the question, please.

Arelcao Akleos said...

"Can you work up any caring about this"

Question repeated per JJ's request

Mr roT said...

Uh, I asked that question. Do I have to answer questions I was just poking others with? That's not fair.