EDITORIAL: Ignore the preening finger-waggers when it comes to a Halloween costume

Halloween used to be a day where kids of all stripes, completely pure of heart, could dress up as whomever or whatever they wanted. But now, in the age of political correctness and social justice warrioring, there’s almost nothing a child can wear that won’t prompt some overly sensitive progressive soul to collapse in offense.

As political commentator Dave Rubin tweeted last week: “If you wear any type of costume this Halloween you are racist. Best to sit in a room alone, eat candy and think about how horrible you are.”

That would seem to be how the great minds at Cosmopolitan magazine feel. Redbook editors, writing in an essay for Cosmo, have now declared that no matter how much your daughters might love Disney princess Moana, you better make sure these children are properly woke toward Hawaiian culture. Seriously.

One passage from the essay: “Moana is a really special character to young girls of Polynesian descent who have never seen a Disney princess who looks like them, just like how Tiana from ‘The Princess and the Frog’ likely resonated with young black women who had waited decades to see themselves represented. White girls have plenty of princesses to choose from — there’s Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty … you get the idea. If your Caucasian son or daughter doesn’t get to be exactly what they wanted for Halloween, encourage them to take a step back and realize that they’re awash in privileges that the real Moanas and Tianas of the world will likely never see, because the world is full of racist (expletive).”

This is all utterly fatuous and ridiculous, a point made by National Review’s Kyle Smith in response to the essay. “The left used to insist on seeing people as individuals, not as members of groups. The goal used to be that kids of different races would play together oblivious to one another’s superficial differences. This was commendable, and many a race barrier has fallen. Now the left is determined to put those barriers back up, to teach kids to obsess over race.”

In fact, the typical kid marching through the neighborhood, knocking on doors for a couple hours on a crisp fall night in search of treats and a little fun with friends, isn’t wearing a costume to make a political statement or offend. As HotAir’s Ed Morrissey wrote, “Those transgressions almost all come from adults rather than kids, who just want to have innocent fun by briefly inhabiting the roles of their favorite characters. The only harm that entails is to the fragile sensibilities of the New Puritans on the Left, who have most definitely spent the last few decades reducing people to their DNA and melatonin structures.”

So if your child wants nothing more than to dress up as Moana — or any other harmless characters — ignore the preening finger-waggers at Cosmo and Redbook.

Happy Halloween!