PC gone too far? Halloween disrespectful to Witches!!!

A school in Washington State is cancelling their annual halloween festivities this year. They gave three reasons for cancelling, one of which is that Halloween does not accurately represent witches or those that practice the Wiccan religion.

The district said Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.

"Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion and so we want to be respectful of that," Hansen said.

The Wiccan, or Pagan, religion is said to be growing in the United States and there are Wiccan groups in Puyallup.

On the district's list of guidelines related to holidays and celebrations is an item that reads: "Use of derogatory stereotypes is prohibited, such as the traditional image of a witch, which is offensive to members of the Wiccan religion."

"I do lots of things that are not revolving around wearing a black outfit and stirring a cauldron," Wiccan priestess Cheryl Sulyma-Masson said in an interview with ABC News in which she explained that Wiccans, or Pagan Clergy, celebrate nature.

full story:
abcnews.go.com...

Maybe I'm not being sensitive enough but I think that this just shows how being politically correct has gotten out of hand.

What are your thoughts? Any Wiccans on ATS willing to share their opinions?

Jemison

To quote Charlie Brown...."Good Grief!"

Not a Wiccan myself, but I know many, and NONE of them have a problem with Halloween...or the depiction of a witch associated with it. They accept that such a witch is already in the common psyche, and to try and do anything about it is absolutely futile.

When the hell will this PC nonsense end?

Political correctness has turned this country into one where way too many people are afraid to speak their minds because they may hurt some bastards feelings. I'll always speak my mind and to hell with anyone who doesn't like what I say. I'll never fall into the realm of PC where I feel like I need to hold back on what I really think.

So now the kids cant have Holloween at school because the school thinks the poor wiccans may get mad. That's retarded.

There's always some group that will get pissed about something or another.

So, should we stop all the school plays that center around Christmas and Easter to be PC the the non-christian religons? This is BS!

I definitely understand the need for sensitivity in these situations. Everyone's rights and feelings need to be considered. Most of my friends consider themselves wiccan or otherwise "pagan." We've always gotten along just fine, even though we don't share all of the same spiritual practices. Surely Samhain and All Hallows Eve (the latter of which was a Christian adaptation of the former, and which exists primarily for the delight of children now, more or less) can coexist peaceably. I mean...can't they? If not, it's just sad.

Couldn't the school simply omit the stereotypical decorations, and then proceed otherwise as normal? Surely there's a way for everybody to be happy and end up with the respect they deserve at the same time. I wouldn't want to be disrespectful toward anyone, or deprive kids of their Halloween. There must be a suitable compromise.

*Sigh* Some people are waaaay too sensitive. I'm a Witch, and Halloween/Samhain is my favorite holiday (Yule being second). The image of the Crone is quite appropriate to the holiday, as are those of ghosts & undead, and the traditional "green face" of the witches merely shows their connection to the Faery faith. In fact, I collect Halloween witch stuff and decorate with it all year round! I really don't see what there is to get all worked up about if you're a pagan or a witch.

I love Halloween. I always go as Grady Philpott. He has a black eye, missing teeth, wild hair, and blood spilling out from everywhere. Grady is the personification of all that is not PC, the image of the man who dares to speak his mind in the PC world (not the magazine).

Actually, I think traditionalists are looking at Halloween and its origins because of all the heat given Christmas and Easter and whatnot.


[edit on 04/10/21 by GradyPhilpott]

Nobody takes Halloween that seriously, it's just a day to complain about. Every year, the same damn stories, the same outrages.

Guess what? Next year Christian groups are going to complain. Witches are going to complain. Somebody is going to complain about something, and we will have to listen to the same complaints we've heard for years, and there will be threads complaining about the annual complaining.

She turned me into a newt!!







...I got better

These folks need to light up. It's Halloween; it's not meant to be a literal representation of *anything.* Before you know it, the skeletons will be complaining that their bones don't *really* stay attached at the joints, then the ghosts will start whining that they *don't* actually wear white sheets with holes cut out for eyes....

Where does it end?

Originally posted by TexasConspiracyNut
So now the kids cant have Holloween at school because the school thinks the poor wiccans may get mad.

Excuse me, but, this is not happening becuase "poor Wiccans" called raise to it. The school did of its own course.

I am a Witch, and OBVIOUSLY take no offense to Halloween being that I take my own daughter trick-or-treating.
I highly doubt you'll find any Witches that are against Halloween. If anything, you will find Witches that would only like others to know what Halloween, Wicca, Witches, and Pagan beliefs in general are really about. But that is not ours to coerce of anyone, we rather just make the information and knowledge available if inquired of.

Originally posted by Apoc
She's a witch!


She turned me into a newt!!







...I got better

LMWAO

Misfit

Misfit beat me to it -- the school (which may not have any Wiccans associated with it (or known Wiccans. There's nothing like stirring up controversy by announcing that you're a witch. It's nearly on par (nearly) with coming out as gay or lesbian.)

Speaking as a Wiccan, I have no problem with the holiday. In fact, I love it and always have.

Maybe we Wiccans need to get together and set them straight and remind them about the "maiden/mother/crone" aspect of our religion.

I'm thinking about starting a religion called "Orcism", calling the members "orcs" then suing Peter Jackson for slander.


[edit on 21-10-2004 by Apoc]

[edit on 21-10-2004 by Apoc]

It's probably a sneaky move by fundamentalist Christians. Reverse psychology. Simulated outrage is all the rage these days.

Originally posted by Hecate100
It's probably a sneaky move by fundamentalist Christians. Reverse psychology. Simulated outrage is all the rage these days.

Heh, if it is, would it then be called a case of reversed reverse psychology?

We know they don't listen to us, guess they would then find out we wernt lying, that we don't push against anothers will.

Misfit

You obviously didn't get my un-PC response. The whole thing with the school is stupid. That's all. I don't have any beef against Wiccans. I realise you guys in general have no problem with Holloween. Somebody cranked up a big stink about it though or it would have never been brought up at the school board meeting. I wouldn't want one of you guys to get pissed at me and cast a spell or something! Just kidding

Don't be silly, Texas. I don't think anyone felt you were condoning such an action, as I certainly didn't. Nor do I know any Witches or Wiccans that would waste their time to cast a spell against someone just because they posted an article.

@ TexasConspiracyNut


No prob - after your reply to yourself, I had to read your first one 2x over to see just how it was meant to be taken, and I got it now - as in: the school is saying "poor Wiccans".

Jeez, men on the moon, rovers on Mars, I can type to China, but technology has yet to overcome the lack of inflection on the PC (silly little emoticons just dont do it for places lik this, heh).

TexasConspiracyNut gets double takes from the candy bucket, lol

Misfit

Phew! I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking this is over the top. I think it would be funny if the Wiccans sent a letter to the school saying that they were offended that the school was cancelling the halloween festivities and using them as an excuse.

Jemison

IMO

PC is a big fat flaming load of excrament set in place by the illuminaty to further engineer us to be drones too afraid to speak our mind. when someone says something or does something pollitcally incorect they are only exposing their own ignorance of the world, proper actions would be taken against that indivual according, thus solving the problem at hand. when everybody is afraid to say anything is when there has been an effective implimentation of thought control. we are too afraid to say what we think so we have to come up with some sort of non-sensicle jabbering. there are always consequences for your actions, PC is pre-emptive solution, which only makes us disillusioned to reality.

that is to say, if you piss off the witches, they will turn you into frogs and boil you in their caldron!



[edit on 21-10-2004 by sturod84]

This all goes to remind me that extreme PCers and extreme Puritans have this in common - a complete absence of a sense of humor/sense of fun, which they probably had surgically removed. I guess the dourest of PCers would say that humor and fun is disrespectful, since it involves ridiculing someone or something.

So stop laughing, people! We must stop making jokes, it's disrespectful to others! Humor has no place in an enlightened society!