Illegal Alien Halloween costume

aerial

Millions of Mexicans are (have been) crossing the border ILLEGALLY and living in America ILLEGALLY and have become a big problem in America. This problem has become very political since the politicians are afraid to let officials do their jobs by arresting ILLEGAL immigrants. To add a Hispanic face mask would be a true depiction of one of the most talked about problems in the USA today.
Racist? NO.
Politically correct? NO.
Tasteless? That would be a matter of opinion,
insensitive? Do criminals deserve sensitivity? Minimal.
Is it the truth? Hell YES![/quote]
this is only talked about by lou dobbs. most of us think that it may be a problem but it is not the worst problem facing this country. to put a hispanic face on it IS racist. why don't you just dress up in black face if you think it is ok? if you are so bent out of shape about this problem why not join the border patrol and do something about it rather than advocate for outright racist halloween costumes on this bbs?[/quote]



I am doing something about it...I also posted my opinion answering the question...can't go to the border... I have to work...that does not mean I am advocating racism

gimmesometruth27

aerial wrote:

By the way the 9/11 terrorist were wearing clothing that we wear in the USA, they also hung out at a tity bar in Dayton the day before they attacked us. Muslims are not supposed to go to tity bars.

and your point here is??

it has absolutely nothing to do with the illegal "alien" costume.

it is laughable that you are equating a halloween costume meant to be worn for one day out of the year with terrorists wearing regular clothes worn here. if they were going to carry out that mission what were they supposed to wear, their "muslim clothes" from saudi arabia? that would not have blown their cover or anything...

aerial

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

aerial wrote:

By the way the 9/11 terrorist were wearing clothing that we wear in the USA, they also hung out at a tity bar in Dayton the day before they attacked us. Muslims are not supposed to go to tity bars.

and your point here is??

it has absolutely nothing to do with the illegal "alien" costume.

it is laughable that you are equating a halloween costume meant to be worn for one day out of the year with terrorists wearing regular clothes worn here. if they were going to carry out that mission what were they supposed to wear, their "muslim clothes" from saudi arabia? that would not have blown their cover or anything...

If you're so comfortable with *Mexicans* in a costume and mask why not a terrorist in costume and mask? We start down a slippery slope to nothingness, you know the costume dark skin, a robe, head turban, sandals and a beard but then again we can't we've had our own homegrown terrorist Terry McVeigh remember him and if I do recall he was white.

it was just an answer for this post.........anyway it's just a costume

keeponrockin

aerial wrote:

keeponrockin wrote:

I plan on dressing up as Jesus Christ for halloween. As an atheist, is this offensive or hilarious?

If you dress as Jesus how will anyone know your an atheist?
How about a muslim niqab (muslim face covering ) with a stripper out fit below the neck? Offensive or hilarious?

Most people know I'm an atheist, I'm pretty open about it.

And that muslim costume would be both offensive and hilarious, but I'd enjoy it.

aerial

keeponrockin wrote:

aerial wrote:

keeponrockin wrote:

I plan on dressing up as Jesus Christ for halloween. As an atheist, is this offensive or hilarious?

If you dress as Jesus how will anyone know your an atheist?
How about a muslim niqab (muslim face covering ) with a stripper out fit below the neck? Offensive or hilarious?

Most people know I'm an atheist, I'm pretty open about it.

And that muslim costume would be both offensive and hilarious, but I'd enjoy it.

LOL...nice to see a sense of humor on here.

keeponrockin

I don't think anyone in the world has the right NOT to be offended. AS LONG AS it's done in good fun. Once an individual (non-public figure) is picked on, there might be an issue. If one wants to wear a costume and offend they should go right ahead, however, if t hey know it could be offensive, they should not complain about backlash. (Rush Limbaugh comes to mind, offending everyone then complaining when there's backlash)

cincybearcat

Once again, people looking for any reason to get "outraged" and try to push their agenda...no matter how stupid they look doing it.

Cosmo

cincybearcat wrote:

Once again, people looking for any reason to get "outraged" and try to push their agenda...no matter how stupid they look doing it.

...
I agree. Like I said, an alien (Martian Spaceman)... no big deal. If it were a big black moustache, sombrero, bandileros... yeah, i can see it being a problem for some. Not me.
http://dallasvintageshop.com/wp-content ... andito.jpg

keeponrockin

Cosmo wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

Once again, people looking for any reason to get "outraged" and try to push their agenda...no matter how stupid they look doing it.

...
I agree. Like I said, an alien (Martian Spaceman)... no big deal. If it were a big black moustache, sombrero, bandileros... yeah, i can see it being a problem for some. Not me.
http://dallasvintageshop.com/wp-content ... andito.jpg

What about the alien with a sombrero?

Personally, it could offend some, but I would probably laugh.

Cosmo

keeponrockin wrote:

Cosmo wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

Once again, people looking for any reason to get "outraged" and try to push their agenda...no matter how stupid they look doing it.

...
I agree. Like I said, an alien (Martian Spaceman)... no big deal. If it were a big black moustache, sombrero, bandileros... yeah, i can see it being a problem for some. Not me.
http://dallasvintageshop.com/wp-content ... andito.jpg

What about the alien with a sombrero?

Personally, it could offend some, but I would probably laugh.

...
Me too.
And I'm not sure where the protest (of many kinds) originated... from people actually getting offended... or from people who think people will get offended.

gimmesometruth27

many stores are banning it now. i like how the guy says that illegal immigrants are bringing an epidemic of tuberculosis into this country when the research shows it is at an all time low. shows how out of touch some of these people are.....

Alien Halloween costume spooks immigrants
Some retailers, including Target and Walgreens, have pulled the item

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33402451/ns ... ethnicity/


updated 4:42 p.m. CT, Tues., Oct . 20, 2009
MIAMI - Immigrant advocates are urging retailers to pull a Halloween costume depicting a space creature in orange prison garb emblazoned with the words "illegal alien," while a group that supports strict immigration laws says such a move impinges on freedom of speech.

Beyond the holiday uproar, the dispute highlights the controversial nature of the phrase illegal alien — still the government's official term for those in the country without a visa, though many national politicians and media increasingly avoid using it.

Since Friday, when the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights in Los Angeles first raised the issue, companies including Target, Walgreens and eBay have removed the costume from their inventory. Still, many local retailers continue to stock the costume that also comes with a "green" card — which technically makes the alien legal.

At costume stores in Miami, the responses have been mixed.

Don King, whose mother immigrated from Cuba, bought pirate and Homer Simpson costumes Tuesday at Halloween USA in midtown Miami, where the costume is on sale but has attracted few customers. "It's a joke," King said. "I really don't think much of it."

A few miles away in the Little Havana neighborhood, workers at a popular costume store said it was not something they would carry because it was discriminatory. They do stock a human taco costume, replete with a Mariachi hat.

Perpetuating a stereotype?
Cashier Carmen Torres, who recalled facing discrimination after arriving from Cuba as a young girl in the 1960s, said the costume was tasteless. "They haven't done anything bad. you can punish those who are criminals, but not people who are trying to, trying to work," Torres said.

Target has said it sold the costume online only and that it was posted by accident because it did not meet the company's standards. eBay said it asked sellers to remove the costume because it "does not allow items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance, or promote organizations with such views."

Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesman for the immigrant coalition, said the costume "perpetuates this idea we have about undocumented immigrants as alien foreigners, strangers, scary."

Cabrera said he knew the costume could be taken as a play on words but the jumpsuit was too close to what many immigrants must wear in detention centers, "where they can spend months at a time, and where there is a lot of suffering."

"That the creature was holding a green card was a stab at a (broader) community," he said, because it suggests even with a legal document, immigrants are still scary criminals.

Free speech
But William Gheen, head of the North Carolina-based political action committee Americans for Legal Immigration, said efforts to get stores not to sell the costume amounted to an attack on freedom of speech. He urged Americans to buy the costumes in protest.

"I looked at the costume and thought it was kind of funny. The only thing that wasn't funny was how many illegal immigrants are in this country," said Gheen, who has given speeches suggesting Latin Americans are bringing an epidemic of tuberculosis to the U.S., despite government figures showing the illness is at an all-time low.


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Gheen said he didn't understand why people would have a problem with words used in federal law.

"This is a battle over psycholinguistics," he said, referring to the study of the relationship between language and the psychology or behavior of those who use it. "Nobody is supposed to be able to use the words 'illegal aliens' ... except in the government literature."

'Xenophobe's nightmare'
There's a big difference between how words are used officially and what people say in popular language, said Charleton McIlwain, professor of race and media at New York University.

"When people (informally) talk about immigrants, the term aliens seems to almost exclusively get used for Mexicans or other Latin Americans. We don't talk about Canadian aliens," he said, adding that the prison jumpsuit creates an association with more serious crimes like drug dealing, rape and murder.

Many major media organizations, including The Associated Press, no longer use the term "Illegal Alien" unless quoting an individual or official statute.

During the 2008 election, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain used the phrase "illegal immigrants."

The illegal alien prisoner costume is not the only one out there. Another illegal alien mask recently on the market sported a baseball cap and a black mustache. Rich Zagone, whose company produced the mask as a joke to tweak people he calls "xenophobes," has pulled the product since the controversy began.

If he does sell it again next year, he says he'll have the words "Xenophobe's nightmare" stitched to the cap.

But Zagone added: "More than likely we will not sell it next year as we have learned that rubber masks do not make a good medium for social commentary."

pateljam

YourDirtisMyfood wrote:

Funny or distasteful?

http://news.aol.com/article/targets-ill ... e%2F721428

back to the question... I think it is damn funny! LMAO.

keeponrockin

Why is there such a fear of offending people?

Heatherj43

Its insulting? To who? The people that are not suppose to be here? Who cares? I think its a novel idea someone came up with.
Its okay to have costumes of little french maids and the like.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

I'd like to know why somebody actually put the term Mexicans in quotation marks, somehow implying that the term is offensive. Maybe I don't wanna be called "Canadian" anymore either.

Second, it's awesome and harmless. it's ridiculous that this is even an issue. It's a fucking alien mask! and it's not called Illegal Hombre or Illegal Chicita or anything racially slurring like that. it's a play on words for a halloween costume.

I say it's funny, not even remotely close to offensive.