Soccer Dad

The Difference Between Nazis and Suicide Bombers on Halloween

From Democracy Project:

Penn President Poses with "Suicide Bomber"

University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann threw her annual Halloween costume party at her home Tuesday night. Among the guests was Saad Saadi, who came dressed as a suicide bomber, complete with plastic dynamite strapped to his chest and a toy automatic rifle. Worse, Gutmann posed with Saadi!

An obvious question: would Gutmann have posed with a guest--or even allowed him into her house--if he'd dressed as Adolf Hitler or a Nazi SS officer? A KKK member?

But in modern liberal circles, posing as a Palestinian suicide bomber (see his kefiya) is just fine. After all, he mainly tries to kill innocent Jews.

Volokh's Conspiracy does not see this as a big deal and compares it to dressing up as a Nazi:

Now there is a more complex argument, I suppose, that could be made: wearing a costume suggests that the depicted person's activity is a laughing matter. I take it that this would be a possible objection to people's dressing as Nazis for Halloween. I should say that I wouldn't object myself to people's dressing as Nazis for Halloween; still, I assume the sensible argument wouldn't be "by dressing as a Nazi you're endorsing Nazism" but "by dressing as a Nazi you're suggesting that it's OK to use Nazis as a subject of light-hearted fun." Yet even this isn't that persuasive an argument in my book. There are contexts in which light joking about suicide bombers or Nazis might be strikingly inapt; a Halloween party, on the other hand, doesn't seem to me to be one.

Instapundit counters:

The Nazi analogy is, I think, a poor one. Nazis are a vanquished former enemy. Suicide bombers are a current enemy. Could that be a relevant difference?

I think the gut negative reaction to this is based on something simpler--

There is a consensus that Nazis who murdered millions were evil.
Therefore: To dress as a Nazi is not taken as a 'statement' of approval--so it is assumed as a parody on Halloween, though perhaps not at other times.

There is no consensus, but instead a significant number of people who claim, that the suicide bombers who go around blowing people up are really freedom fighters.
Therefore: To dress as a suicide bomber therefore can imply a stand in that debate, or at least as condoning it--especially when standing next to an authority figure.

Daled Amos

Update: According to The Daily Pennsylvanian:

Engineering senior Saad Saadi came dressed as a suicide bomber, or, as he alternately titled the costume, a "freedom martyr."

That certainly clarifies his intent.

UPDATE by Soccer Dad: linked by memeorandum or, more specifically, here.

Technorati Tag: Halloween and Suicide Bombers and Terrorism and Islamic+Jihad

Posted by daledamos at November 3, 2006 12:24 AM