Twin Towers fancy dress students condemned

Two students who dressed as the Twin Towers in a fancy dress competition have been condemned by university and students' union bosses.

University of Chester students Amber Langford and Annie Collinge, both 19, won the Halloween competition at a nightclub in Chester.

Their outfits depicted flames and explosions during the 11 September 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

They apologised for causing offence, which they said "was not intended".

The University of Chester and Chester Students' Union said they "utterly condemn the appalling photos which have been shared on social media".

Source

I'm posting this British news story because I am curious as to our American friends thoughts on the matter.

The words "Freedom of speech" are tossed around a lot on here, particularly by those on the other side of the pond.

You have cartoons of Mohammad sparking controversy and religious hate, Muslim bashing left, right and center, trolling and cyber bullying...all looked down upon, but yet somehow OK in the eyes of many as it is all "freedom of speech".

So, two young girls, dressing in rather tasteless outfits, seemingly mocking one of the greatest tragedies/disasters of our time, and even winning the £150 best fancy dress prize...is it just outright appalling, disgusting and as low as one could go...or is it OK as they are entitled to their free speech and freedom of expression?

Personally I think they should have had drinks thrown at them and turfed out of the club, but that is just my opinion...what about your opinion?

reply to post by woogleuk

Of course they have the right to be boors but, the real question is why did they win the contest?

reply to post by woogleuk


I cant believe this is even in the news, this isnt a news story, this is rabble rousing.

The 911 attack was an attack on the western freedoms. So what we will do is take away peoples rights to express themselves freely.

This is just another case of a propaganda story.
It would seem the moral of the story is we are free as long as we dont try to express that freedom.

Im sick of people taking offence, some people need to get over themselves.
They feel the need to tell everyone else what their version of freedom should consist of.

Yes it was tasteless, it used a horrific event for a halloween costume, we have been using monsters and horror for our halloween costumes for years, it was never a problem, but in this age of rewriting the dictionaries and political correctness how dare we offend anyone. Should we then ban halloween?

Heres an idea, how about we just abandon the whole freedom thing.

/sarcasm.

reply to post by woogleuk


If they had spent more than 5 minutes on those costumes, i'd be fine with it. Being offended wont kill anyone.

However i condemn them for artistic laziness and poor execution.

woogleuk

Two students who dressed as the Twin Towers in a fancy dress competition have been condemned by university and students' union bosses.

University of Chester students Amber Langford and Annie Collinge, both 19, won the Halloween competition at a nightclub in Chester.

Their outfits depicted flames and explosions during the 11 September 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

They apologised for causing offence, which they said "was not intended".

The University of Chester and Chester Students' Union said they "utterly condemn the appalling photos which have been shared on social media".

Source

I'm posting this British news story because I am curious as to our American friends thoughts on the matter.

The words "Freedom of speech" are tossed around a lot on here, particularly by those on the other side of the pond.

You have cartoons of Mohammad sparking controversy and religious hate, Muslim bashing left, right and center, trolling and cyber bullying...all looked down upon, but yet somehow OK in the eyes of many as it is all "freedom of speech".

So, two young girls, dressing in rather tasteless outfits, seemingly mocking one of the greatest tragedies/disasters of our time, and even winning the £150 best fancy dress prize...is it just outright appalling, disgusting and as low as one could go...or is it OK as they are entitled to their free speech and freedom of expression?

Personally I think they should have had drinks thrown at them and turfed out of the club, but that is just my opinion...what about your opinion?

Tasteless and offensive but neither should be against the law. It is their freedom of speech to dress up as they want just as it is mine to call them a couple of mindless, attention whore, twats.

OTOH, the most tasteless part of the story is that they got first prize. Still, it is a private business (the nightclub) so they should hand out prizes as they see fit.

Well... freedom of speech. Enough said.

In the states, 3 or 4 days after they were selling these hair accessories that made you have a plane entering your head on one side and a massive explosion coming out the other side of your head so... I mean... Halloween costumes, come on...

You think that was offensive... if right next to them I had dressed as a zombie nazi SS officer with a leash on a friend dressed as a zombie concentration camp prisoner with a half ripped and rotten star of david on his arm, damn we would have made news all over the world, and those poor girls wouldnt even have made it to the footer on their local crappy newspaper...

Still... article 19 of the dhr says I can. So can they.

skalla
reply to post by woogleuk

 

However i condemn them for artistic laziness and poor excecution.

edit on 6-11-2013 by skalla because: typo

Yes I agree, lol.

Disgusting outfits and probably disgusting people.. why else would you wear such a thing.

Something tells me they would not be so keen on wearing these over in the US.

reply to post by FraternitasSaturni


I don't find it offensive, just a really stupid, immoral idea.

But, I was trying to look at it from, say, a member of a victims family in this case...how would they feel seeing such an event being made a mockery of?

I strongly believe in freedom of speech, but with it I truly believe there should be a sense of decency and compassion.

I suppose though, this particular story is also the fault of the press, had they not published it, it would have no doubt gone unnoticed, apart from the few at the club and whoever reads these girls tweets/Facebook.

It's just a shame that some people have to abuse their freedoms for the need to anger and / or upset others (by others I mean anyone directly affected by whatever the subject may be).

fatpastyhead
Disgusting outfits and probably disgusting people.. why else would you wear such a thing.

Something tells me they would not be so keen on wearing these over in the US.

Because it was Halloween fancy dress?

Did they hurt anyone? Apart from a few fragile feelings?
What caused more offence?
The girls doing this for a competition in a small privately owned nightclub or
The Sun newspaper putting it on the front page to cause outrage.

Damn we have people wearing Jimmy Savile outfits. Get over it, its called dark humour for a reason.
Its called freedom for a reason.

reply to post by skalla


They are pretty bad, I though the "explosion" on the right girls outfit was some sort of weird can-can dancer, lol.

Guess those uni budget cuts affect the arts departments more than others, lol.

woogleuk


It's just a shame that some people have to abuse their freedoms for the need to anger and / or upset others (by others I mean anyone directly affected by whatever the subject may be).

You cannot abuse your own freedom, you can only abuse the freedom of others.
What are the chances of any 911 victims relatives being in the club?
This will only affect them now because its front page news.
In fact the government releases stories just like this one to cause anger and an emotional response for the sole reason to control you through knee jerk reactions.

So then do we now abandon government?

So far we are banning halloween, freedom and government, I dont like where this is heading....
A monarchy dictatorship with no public holidays, no freedom and no fun.

I think the costumes are tasteless and tacky, but that is an opinion others may feel very differently about, so freedom of speech would be the over-riding value. If everyone agrees it's over the top, they get the cold shoulder and eventually leave. I think that's the extent of what is right to do and the University should have had no say anyway.

This happened at a nightclub, right? Unless the University owns it? Where did they even have a place to express an official position? Do they get directly into stating positions on every student activity which happens or just when Media makes a deal about it? (i.e. just when it's politically motivated in saying anything)?

reply to post by woogleuk


I have wondered why the Muslim's seem to be so successful at taking over England, these girls and your rant about Muslim bashing explains a lot.

With a little more effort on the Muslim side of the equation these girls will be wearing Burqa's next Halloween wishing they still had there right to freedom of expression.

Just an observation, don't get in a twist about my using my freedom of speech...cheers !

OneManArmy

Because it was Halloween fancy dress?

Because they had aircraft and skyscrapers in pagan times that the terrorist pumpkin men destroyed to get their 12 virgin frogs.... I do understand your point, but it's hardly a Halloween theme is it?

Did they hurt anyone? Apart from a few fragile feelings?

Probably not as much as they hurt their reputations and social standing, but in some of these cases it can have real severe effects on those directly associated with tragedies such as this. Imagine a mother of a son/daughter who was killed on 11/9/2001 seeing this in the paper, the memories of their loved ones being mocked?

Nobody not related to the incident should be offended, but what about those who are involved?

The Sun newspaper putting it on the front page to cause outrage.

I agree with this, as I stated in an earlier post, and this could also be where my real problem lies....the MSM reporting pointless stories, probably knowing full well it will rattle a few cages.

reply to post by OneManArmy



I am over it. The point is there are lots of people that are not and its these people we should show our respect for.

I cant be bothered to find a link for this as it's so lame, but i heard on the radio today that 2 Birmingham Uni students were censured in some way for going to a fancy dress party in "Racist" costume. I forget what one of them was wearing, but i'm pretty sure it was darn mild. The other was dressed as a mexican bandido i think - handle bar 'tache and sombrero.

You have to let your self be offended at some stuff. In this case you really would have to downright force yourself.

Stop the madness!!!!1111one!!!

ETA: i found my FUUAAA:

the other one went as Sacha Baron Cohen doing "The Dictator"

University of Birmingham bans 'racist' Mexican fancy dress

woogleuk


I agree with this, as I stated in an earlier post, and this could also be where my real problem lies....the MSM reporting pointless stories, probably knowing full well it will rattle a few cages.

Exactly.

fatpastyhead
reply to post by OneManArmy

 

I am over it. The point is there are lots of people that are not and its these people we should show our respect for.

edit on 6-11-2013 by fatpastyhead because: spelling

Then that is an issue you need to take up with the Sun newspaper for making this a story at all.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


The nightclub appears to be owned by a company not associated with the university.

That being the case I feel the university should have no say / action in the events.

No official punishment should be served in this incident, legal or otherwise, as the girls were just expressing their freedom of speech.

What should happen is their friends and colleagues need to show them that some things are just not funny...