Well put, NDP. The gore and blood and spookiness is not real. It’s cartoon gore and blood.
In fact, I believe that Halloween serves a useful purpose for us, and that’s that we can, once a year, look at the uglier aspects of life in the face and laugh at it. Courting the macabre is very life-affirming. It thrills us to thing of unspeakable things and emerge unscathed. Plus, an evil skull with glowing red eyes and a bloody dagger through it is way kewl. Every schoolboy knows this.
I agree tdn --and lord knows our culture is death-phobic as it is.
I don’t equate TnT with a “value system” per se–it’s innocent fun.
Oh, never mind–what **excal ** said again. and Maureen, as well.
It can be amazing how silly prohibitions appear once they are ended. YMMV.
NDP:
I understand what you’re saying, and we will simply disagree on whether such reminders of gore and death are personally disgusting. But it bothers me that they are out in full view and hard to avoid. It’s weird to me that a mother who is breast-feeding must be oh-so-discreet, and is expected in some places to hide out in the bathroom, when blatant images of gore and violence are on display for the most innocent to see. But that’s another discussion entirely.
FWIW, one of my dearest friends, a lady who likes to put tiny vases with fresh flowerbuds in her kitchen and bathroom, also actually enjoys Tim Burton movies and thought The Corpse Bride was a cool movie. To each his/her own.
Right, I agree with you here. I was responding to eleanorigby’s point about people not allowing their children to participate in Halloween just because they themselves don’t like it. I was just saying that people are going to make decisions about what their kids can and can’t do based on their own values, so it makes sense that if someone doesn’t like Halloween then they won’t want their children involved.
No, I have said before that I personally do celebrate Halloween and even dress up my child who is too young to go out trick-or-treating yet. (Look at me, I am pushing my Halloween-celebrating values on him! 
)I personally do disagree with her choice, I just felt that some people here are insinuating or even stating her kids are going to grow up feeling left out, outcast, resentful, unable to function or date, whatever and I think that goes too far. I was puzzled about the level of defensiveness, not that people disagreed with her. I should know better in the Pit, but I just found myself going WTF as the thread went on.
D’oh, that should be I CAN accept. :smack:
What religion would that be? Just curious.
And see, even if she keeps them out on Halloween, I’m sure they hear all their friends talking about their costumes and trick or treating and such leading up to the event. There’s always excitement, and it probably sucks a bit to be left out.
I don’t think she’s a bad mother, but I do think she’s a bit anal, and probably making a fuss over nothing. And this idea that “we shouldn’t steal other people’s cultures” is bullshit. It’s one thing to start adopting a cultural icon to be cool, it’s another to learn a bit about the traditions of others, and attempt to participate if you enjoy it. ALL cultures are the result of stealing from one another.
Siege, thanks for the invite, but nowadays, religion just isn’t my bag. At least not as far as church and such goes. But thank you just the same.
[QUOTE=grayhairedmomma :rolleyes: As I’ve said not everything has to have a deep meaning behind it. Why can’t you accept that my decisions are different than yours?[/QUOTE]
Because this is a debate board, and you posted something people disagree with. That’s what we’re all here for. If you aren’t willing to debate the merits of your beliefs, you shouldn’t share them.
Anyway, the problem with a topic like this is, if you were raised with Halloween as part of your childhood, the idea of your parents refusing to let you participate is almost unthinkable. It would be a huge punishment, like not being allowed to celebrate your birthday. It’s hard to disassociate oneself from that. So, to most of us, it sounds like your punishing your kids, quite harshly, every single year, when they haven’t done anything wrong. 'Course, your kids, having never celebrated Halloween, have no idea what they’re missing out on, and probably don’t think it’s such a big deal. But for anyone for whom Halloween is a tradition, it’s astonishing that a parent could forbid that to their children, and not be a horribly cruel parent. Which isn’t fair to you, but I hope it gives you some insight into why you’re getting the reactions you’re getting.
I still can’t help feeling sorry for you kids, though. Not hugely sorry, since they seem to be pretty lucky with you in other respects, but just a little sorry none the less.