Halloween Demonstrates Dichotomy of Conservatism

[josephpalazzo]

No, I was trying to point out that what's wrong with it is that somehow no one really seems to question why a holiday can be both the embodiment and antithesis of so many things at once.

Ok, I hear what you say, but most people are uncomfortable with anything, be it a celebration or something else, that embodies opposing views. The threads in this forum give an ample sample of that.

[Draconic Aiur]

 Ill Sam Hain/Halloween all i want and there's nothing you can do about it

[Munch]

Ill Sam Hain/Halloween all i want and there's nothing you can do about it

[TomFoolery]

Ok, I hear what you say, but most people are uncomfortable with anything, be it a celebration or something else, that embodies opposing views. The threads in this forum give an ample sample of that.

I wasn't trying to say people aren't allowed to have opposing views. I was merely trying to acknowledge the hilarity of having deeply held opposing views on it at all, when I think the majority of people view it as just a secular holiday in which kids dress up in costumes and solicit neighbors for candy and adults view it as an opportunity to put on dorky wigs, hats, and masks and get drunk at parties.

We try really hard to make things into things they just aren't, and deep down, the American tradition of Halloween doesn't go a whole lot deeper than that.

[jonb]

In my part of England Halloween was never much of a thing our day was November the fifth, bomb fire night, of murder treason and plot.
Halloween is slowly coming in because of all the American programs that litter British TV. So I get occasional rabbles of little children begging for sweets at my door and watch their faces fall as I say to their parents 'Do I look like a fucking Yank'.

Unfortunately the bomb fire night of my youth is dwindling, too many burns from fireworks for the PC crowd, but it is a fine celebration of Guy Fawkes failure to blow up the houses of parliament, where we get to publicly burn effigies of Catholics or anybody else we don't like at the time. Now what could be better than that?

There are a few places where the celebration is still strong so I send you a video of one of these to get a flavour of a good night out.

https://youtu.be/2OttNo41ab0

[josephpalazzo]

... the American tradition of Halloween doesn't go a whole lot deeper than that.

Blasphemy!

[Munch]

In my part of England Halloween was never much of a thing our day was November the fifth, bomb fire night, of murder treason and plot.
Halloween is slowly coming in because of all the American programs that litter British TV. So I get occasional rabbles of little children begging for sweets at my door and watch their faces fall as I say to their parents 'Do I look like a fucking Yank'.

Unfortunately the bomb fire night of my youth is dwindling, too many burns from fireworks for the PC crowd, but it is a fine celebration of Guy Fawkes failure to blow up the houses of parliament, where we get to publicly burn effigies of Catholics or anybody else we don't like at the time. Now what could be better than that?

There are a few places where the celebration is still strong so I send you a video of one of these to get a flavour of a good night out.

I'm usually first to regard children as annoying, loud little goblins. But I do love halloween, because of my love of horror, so I always have a tub of sweets ready for any kids, which given how my house is tucked behind other houses, they rarely come by, its usually a good amount left over the next day.
And when it reaches midnight, I lock the door, sit back with my leftover sweets, and watch a new horror movie I've not seen before. Better then christmas.

[TomFoolery]

But I do love halloween, because of my love of horror, so I always have a tub of sweets ready for any kids, which given how my house is tucked behind other houses, they rarely come by, its usually a good amount left over the next day.
And when it reaches midnight, I lock the door, sit back with my leftover sweets, and watch a new horror movie I've not seen before. Better then christmas.

That's why it's critical to not buy candy you don't like, and also why I refuse to jump on the nut free, gluten free, fat free, sugar free, asbestos free, mercury free candy served by the let's-make-the-world-allergy-proof bandwagon. I do love my Reese's Pieces and Almond Joys. :)

[Hakurei Reimu]

Oh noes, you have discovered my strategy for eating loads of candy guilt-free! Curses!

[GSOgymrat]

A coworker, who knows I love Halloween, asked me if I was going to have a teal colored pumpkin. Teal pumpkin? She said it was to show you have non-candy treat, like toys, for children who have food allergies. My response was:

[TomFoolery]

A coworker, who knows I love Halloween, asked me if I was going to have a teal colored pumpkin. Teal pumpkin? She said it was to show you have non-candy treat, like toys, for children who have food allergies. My response was:

I would have said:

[AllPurposeAtheist]

For me it's just something we did as kids that nobody really does much anymore. My childhood included long nights of wondering around the neighborhood and other neighborhoods we didn't even live in often alone when we fell behind the other kids or got ahead of them and there was never really any fear except loose dogs or the occasional creepy house with to many bushes and no lights. Usually towards the end of the night our bags of candy got way to heavy and our feet hurt and we had to lug all that shit back home.
By the time my own kids were old enough to take out it was more like me standing around playing body guard to keep the other little fucking trouble makers from beating them up and taking their candy then eventually they got old enough to go out by themselves until I realized that they just looked stupid out vying for candy that really should have been reserved for little kids.
As far as adults getting all dressed up. ..oh grow up.  If you need a reason to drink just realize you're gonna die someday. That's reason enough and none of this crap is really scary at all just like scary movies don't scare me in the least.It's a kiddie thing. If you can't keep your kids safe then don't partake.  It's the epitome of adults playing kid in a way that leaves me feeling that they're phonier than a 3 dollar bill, but then again I'm just no fun.

[TomFoolery]

You forgot the needle in the apple terrors.

Saw this today and made me think of this topic:
http://aboveaverage.com/how-to-spot-suspicious-halloween-candy/

[Mike Cl]

Saw this today and made me think of this topic:
http://aboveaverage.com/how-to-spot-suspicious-halloween-candy/

That is exactly what I was talking about!!  Kids by the hundreds fall prey to this insidious candy trapping of our kids every year!  Hell, I forbid my daughter to leave the house on Halloween (never mind she is in her 40's and lives in a different city) just to keep her safe.  I trick-or-treat myself so that she won't be cheated out of her tooth decay.  I then return home and run the candy thru my testing stations, one piece at a time.  So, she can then have her sugar high with the knowledge she is safe.!!!!  Just can't be too careful with all the Satanists out there.  Oh--one tip I've learned over the decades--never trick-or-treat on a street where you've seen a sacrificial goat.

[Hydra009]

I stumbled on a blog post that perfectly articulates why I like Halloween:

Halloween gives us permission to face fear, anger, sadness, death, destruction, and taboos. We shouldn’t necessarily need permission to approach these subjects, but I think we often feel like we can’t most of the time. Society has made them unmentionables. We come into contact with them only when we have to, and then because they’re so unfamiliar to us, we’re unequipped to face them. I don’t think it’s healthy or even possible to try to avoid dealing with the darker aspects of life, and because society tries to pretend they don’t exist, we need an outlet. Halloween provides that outlet.

In October, we feel that we are allowed to openly express the things that all year round we’ve been pressured to keep buried. They not only become allowed, they become expected. Few people, at least in the area where I live, do nothing for Halloween. Yards and houses are decked out in grotesque decorations. Adults and children alike design their most fearsome costumes. People host parties centered on macabre themes. Art shows pop up featuring gruesome works. There’s even a community zombie run, not to mention the ghost walks and haunted shows.

It’s the time of year when we can openly approach the disturbing and uncomfortable as a community, and as a community, break our own community rules.

But it does more than that.

It provides an outlet that turns fear, anger, sadness, death, destruction, and taboos into amusement, which is very important for a couple of reasons.

First, we need to know that fear doesn’t rule us. Taking fearful and somber topics and reducing them to comical absurdities allows us to face our fears and build the tools for overcoming them. The whole purpose of so many aspects of Halloween is to scare the shit out of people, and we do it deliberately to ourselves. There’s something exhilarating about approaching the things that disturb you and choosing to face them down. It’s empowering to take fear and turn it into a positive, fun experience. Seeking out fear in a safe environment gives us an opportunity to build tools to use in less safe environments. We learn that fear can be exciting, not just terrifying. We find ways of soothing ourselves as we head into the unknown, and we discover the tremendous high that comes when we face a fear and conquer it.

Second, it’s important for us to “blaspheme.” Taking the somber or taboo topics and turning them into a game gives us a break from their seriousness and takes away their power. Humor is an important coping mechanism, and dark humor (or satire) has a long history of helping people through difficult transitions and of enabling social action. Whether it’s someone buying a costume of a priest, which has recently taken on a more sinister quality than the mere desecration of a sacred symbol, breaking gender norms, or dressing up as a zombie Jesus, Halloween gives us a means of safely denigrating things that are normally off limits. It allows us to point out the irony of the world around us and to reduce or release the tension that is built up. Humor and ridicule bring these things back down to a form that we can handle.

Halloween temporarily rescinds the taboo on the macabre, allowing us to psychologically address death.  It also allows us to face our fears through harmless mock horror and gives us a great opportunity to satirize normally sacrosanct things.

I'm starting to see why it's not a Bible Thumper's favorite time of year.  This way of overcoming fear of death stands in stark contrast to their supernatural comfort blanket.  Plus, the holiday stands out as seemingly an inverse of their values - a night of wickedness and mischief rather than godly and proper.  They're probably also not thrilled about supernatural entities paraded around as amusing absurdities rather than serious and real.