# Resolved: People who are offended by Halloween are officially idiots. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849 "2009-10-31T15:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/81 "2009-11-01T23:18:46Z")
I can’t help but wonder if some of the anti-Halloween spirit is because it is (sorta) a Roman Catholic holiday. And if not, don’t those bozos know anything about it or that the celebration of Holy Days (in this case All Saints Day) traditionally begins at sundown the evening (thus All Hallows (Saints) Eve) before? Rubes. Chawbacons. Learn something before spouting off, for once. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/82 "2009-11-01T23:26:17Z")
> [@furt](#): > > I agree with the OP and everyone else, and I hope they will join me in being equally peeved at the idiots who insist on calling Christmas “the season” or “the holidays” or somesuch blather. Christmas is not the only holiday in that time of year, in case you didn’t know. Saying “Happy Holidays” is simply being more inclusive of holidays during that time of the year in addition to “Christmas.” ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/83 "2009-11-01T23:30:49Z")
How about Happy Winter? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/84 "2009-11-02T04:00:05Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > You have fundie Americans in Bangkok? What the fuck are they doing there? Someone needs to fuck their heads off. Missionaries. Some are extremely entertaining. They’ll stand in the middle of Khao San Road, our backpackers’ ghetto, and SCREAM the word of the Lord. They’ll stand at the entrance to Nana Plaza, a three-story bar center, SCREAMING what sinners the rest of us are. That last one may actually be somewhere on YouTube. I’ll try to look it up this week. In the excellent [The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Heroin_in_Southeast_Asia), Alfred McCoy mentions in a footnote that one missionary who worked for a Christian medical NGO got caught sterilizing local girls up in the Northeast without their knowledge, to prevent more pagans from being born. It’s a good book, but I’ve never been able to find corroboration for that particular claim. And fundie-Christian Thais! I knew a girl here who was one. Nice girl in all other regards, but man, don’t bring up religion around her. Seems she spent a year in Oklahoma as a high-school exchange student and became converted. Actually spoke in tongues at some meeting there. Her parents seemed amazingly tolerant. A traditional Chinese-Thai merchant family, she still lived with them at age 30. When Chinese holidays like Ching Ming came around, she would not participate in traditional activities like cleaning the ancestors’ graves, saying that would be evil. Her family was remarkably tolerant, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/85 "2009-11-02T04:31:48Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Nobody came to our house, either. Whatever will I do with this large bowl of Reese’s Cups and Kit Kat bars? The only witch that has prayed over them is the Witch of Empty Calories. I’m pleased to report that in less than 24 hours I have successfully eliminated the PiperHousehold Reese’s Cup surplus, making the world just a little bit safer. Those little suckers will never tempt anyone else again. _[burp]_ ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/86 "2009-11-02T04:51:07Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > You have my sympathy. (I presume that explains the past tense of “dated”?) Well, she never prayed over his candy, but she did kneel under his nuts. So they are probably still dating. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/87 "2009-11-02T14:36:58Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You should see some of the costumes those MIT students come up with. Dammit, I’m hanging around all the wrong universities. I was stuck near BC. The only students I talked to were a Playboy bunny, a stripper, a 19 year old cougar, and… I don’t know what the 4th one was, so I’m guessing a very cute witch who was demonizing some candy. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/88 "2009-11-02T15:42:17Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Fake Orff. I thought telling other posters to fake orff was banned under the newly wimpified Pit rules. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@Lady\_of\_the\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_of_the_Lake)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/89 "2009-11-02T15:53:58Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > Few years later, we had to keep the lights in the house turned off and hide in the basement to trick the trick-or-treaters into thinking we aren’t home. Because… demons, or something. We had a family in our town who did this! But we think the kids had turned on the lights without the parents knowing (we saw them peaking at us from the curtains). My friend Jenna and I knocked, did the whole ‘trick or treat!’ thing and were yelled at for several minutes by their mother. It ended with her dramatically pointing at the lit porch light, pausing in mid rant and slamming the door in our faces. Then, the porch light mysteriously went out, leaving my friend and I to wallow in the darkness of our evil ways. Well…we \*were \*dressed as cheerleaders that year… I did the whole candy thing alone this year, though the dog tried to help (by attempting to lick the trick-or-treaters when they reached for candy.) ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/90 "2009-11-02T16:20:14Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > as you do not pronounce _Samhain_ as if it rhymed with _ham train_ OOooooohhhh yeah… ridin’ the ham train… all the way to [Baconville](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=baconville&sll=42.423145,-72.441752&sspn=0.607222,1.056061&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Baconville,+Franklin,+Massachusetts&z=15). _Ridin’ that train, High on… ham. Sam I Am you’d better Watch your speed._ ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/91 "2009-11-02T16:39:19Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > · Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood… What makes her think babies are innocent? Every baby I’ve every seen comes into this world covered in blood and innards. It ain’t their blood either. > [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > …“Trunk or Treat” (where the kids visit cars in the church parking lot rather than going door-to-door)… What could go wrong? On a side note, if the trunk is filled with ‘treats’ where do they keep the dead hookers? ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/92 "2009-11-02T16:46:31Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > St. Nicholas does not come to the Rhymer house any more. After 2004’s ack-ack incident, he gives my airspace a wide berth. > > Not that that will save him. Sooner or later I’m bringing that fat bastard down, and his little deer too. If you manage to ground one of the deer entirely unharmed, I offer to take the animal off your hands, by way of the nearest kosher butcher. Arctic venison, yum! ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/93 "2009-11-02T17:23:18Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > Looking at it now, of course I think it’s all silly. Christians get very, very deep into the sentiment of “Yeah, modern Halloween isn’t itself bad, but it’s BASED on evil things, so we shouldn’t take part in it,” and overlook the fact that Christmas and Easter are based on pagan traditions (let’s count the number of christmas traditions that require us to admire or ritualize nature: missteltoe, yule logs, christmas trees, holly..), so if you’re going to say Halloween is bad because it started from satanists fucking small babies with razor blades or whatever they think, you have to be just as upset about every other holiday. Valid point. BUT, just to be a bit picky, Halloween does still emphasize those pagan rituals, or at least pay some homage to them. Christmas and Easter can both be celebrated as Christian holidays without even paying attention to the basis of the decorations. So all that has been pretty sanitized, or has had the negative pulled out of it, if you will. Halloween hasn’t. It’s a different kettle of fish. I mean, it’s not like we, as a culture, celebrate All Saints Day, but just use the older things as window dressing. The pagan symbols, the references to evil, are part and parcel of the whole thing. I’m not saying that people take them seriously, but it is a different situation. > [@](#): > > Though, it’d probably be prudent to be teaching kids that holidays and traditions mean different things to different people, and that not everybody participates in them. Agreed ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/94 "2009-11-02T17:29:01Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > What could go wrong? [A child could die.](http://www.clickorlando.com/news/21487885/detail.html) Highway 50 is a fairly busy four lane road in Orlando(ish). Who knows, if the kid had been trick or treating in a neighborhood where the residents would be aware and drive slowly, it might not have happened. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/95 "2009-11-02T17:30:19Z")
[http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=fantasy+fest&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=oxXvSsigBYGyNo6vjYQM&sa=X&oi=video\_result\_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCQQqwQwAw#](http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=fantasy+fest&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=oxXvSsigBYGyNo6vjYQM&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCQQqwQwAw#) I have been to many Fantasy Fests in Key West. That is a little different spin than kid stuff. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/96 "2009-11-02T17:32:44Z")
This whokle thing bothers me. One example given was when people “shut down” their festivities because ONE person (the Jehovah Witness) complained? Why didn’t they just retort with the old “too bad get over it”? Really. If this is where we are heading, all it would take is ONE malcontented busy body to ruin anything and everything. That’s just spineless bullshit. JWs don’t celebrate ANYTHING. So what? They can “not celebrate” all they want, and they can also mind their own damn business. > [@](#): > > I can’t help but wonder if some of the anti-Halloween spirit is because it is (sorta) a Roman Catholic holiday. And if not, don’t those bozos know anything about it or that the celebration of Holy Days (in this case All Saints Day) traditionally begins at sundown the evening (thus All Hallows (Saints) Eve) before? In my old neighborhood, we Catholics had no problem with Halloween at all. We’d all be out trick or treating, throwing eggs at each other, having a good time. None of the parents, priests, nuns, or anyone else, had any issues with it. > [@](#): > > I do, however, have a problem with people who go out of their way to make others feel bad about celebrating. Especially those who go out and celebrate Mardi Gras, which is the same thing, only not modified for children. Exactly. If you don’t want to participate, fine. But don’t fuck it up for everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/97 "2009-11-02T18:33:42Z")
Agree with the OP; and also those offended by the word Christmas are also idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/98 "2009-11-02T19:04:36Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > If you manage to ground one of the deer entirely unharmed, I offer to take the animal off your hands, by way of the nearest kosher butcher. > > Arctic venison, yum! I’m not getting why you’d think I’d try to bring Rudolph or his repulsive brethren down even ALIVE, much less unharmed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/99 "2009-11-02T19:47:13Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Agree with the OP; and also those offended by the word Christmas are also idiots. It’s been my impression, here in the States at least, that the holiday verbiage some find offensive is of the “Happy Holidays” variety –some Christians are offended that people _aren’t_ specifying Christmas, not the other way 'round. They’re the ones who are offended most loudly, anyway. I don’t mind Christians wishing me Merry Christmas as long as they don’t mind me wishing them Happy Holidays. My fiance and I live in a small apartment building, so we sat on the front steps to hand out Halloween candy. We like seeing the kids’ costumes. There are always a few dubious candy collectors, though, like the high school kids accompanying their younger siblings and also collecting for themselves, or the kids who don’t even bother to dress up, or the mom who took a piece for her one-year-old, who was asleep in his stroller. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849/100 "2009-11-02T20:21:55Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I was once forced to attend religious ed classes after school at a nearby Catholic school, St. Cecilia’s. I kid you not, at the end of the hallway was a life size plaster statue of this saint, lying on a platform, with her throat clearly cut and blood dripping on the floor! The Catholic church of my youth was notable for its several dozen statues (I kid you not, about fifty). One of my favorites was a lovely young woman with her hand on a giant spiked metal wheel–apparently what she had been martyred with. > [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > That would make AWESOME porn! Welcome to some 90% of hentai. > [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Nonsense. I’m a gen-X’er and I have many happy memories of \*\*sacks_full_of_candy_!!! Born in '83 and I, too, experienced the joyous candy sacks. > [@SteveG1](#): > > In my old neighborhood, we Catholics had no problem with Halloween at all. I think you may have misunderstood the point. As I read it, it was not “Catholics have a problem with Halloween,” but rather, “Other Christians have a problem with Halloween because it’s partially based on a Catholic Holy Day.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-people-who-are-offended-by-halloween-are-officially-idiots/515849.md?page=6)