For many people, Halloween is a time of great fun when costume fanatics get to show off their alter egos through dressing up as B-movie horror characters, cartoon protagonists/ antagonists and, unfortunately, racial stereotypes.

The older people get, the more ludicrous — and sometimes more creative — their costumes become. Once the age of majority is reached, most would rather take their costume ideas to a house party rather than go knocking on doors asking for candy. It is in these situations that the particularly interesting side effects of cultural appropriation begin to take place.

We tend to think that we exist in a postracial society. Because the civil rights movement has seemingly ended, many people no longer see racism as an issue, and anyone who brings it up is attempting to subjugate the opinions of the majority for their own tyrannical gain. Arguably, this is not the case.

Today our attempts at stereotypes still reflect the archaic costumes of the past, though in a more subtle way that often goes beyond skin colour — “sexy geisha,” “illegal amigo” or, for the even less creative, plain old blackface. For many, the reading of this article will stop here. It's largely unpopular by most standards to bring this topic up as Halloween is a time of partying and celebration, not politics.

But how do we exactly answer these calls to suggest alternative costumes? Ignoring it has not helped very much, but then again, campaigns against them seem to have accomplished very little. What is it about cultural appropriation that puts off so many people to the point of anger and reactionary responses? I still struggle to figure this out myself.

There has to be some way to convey this idea without coming off as being accusatory. People who wear these outfits feel that they are being unfairly called out on the grounds that they may be a bad person. While this is completely subjective, the general idea is not to “oppress,” “control” or simply make an assumption about the person's moral outlook. If anything, this is a way for us of privileged backgrounds to take a step back, realize the consequences of our actions, and become better people in the process. We really have no need to become defensive and angry.

We're largely a product of our own environments. No one can be a complete individual when our actions and opinions are based off of what we are surrounded by. It's a pity that we are normally surrounded by stereotypes still in the year 2013 and sensationalist media isn't doing anything besides giving confirmation bias to those who have pre-defined opinions on a group of people. Add this to what your parents' opinions are and how they may have affected you. The result: a product of Western socialization. From here, if you decide to wear a costume like “sexy native princess,” you have to critique yourself and look at the context of your actions and what it actually means in relation to the natives whose land we currently live on. The chilling numbers of 582 missing and murdered aboriginal women from the 1960s to 2010 has left such a large impact on their communities that the UN has called upon our own country to investigate instances of police misconduct and failure of law enforcement to address these issues. With our current government rejecting this call that is supported by Human Rights Watch, these cases have received little attention from the federal establishment and the violence against aboriginal women and men continues. Now view this context when you see a non-aboriginal wearing a revealing “Pocahottie” costume at a house party. Not only are most of — if not all — these costumes completely incorrect in terms of culture, they perpetuate this insensitivity that tells the mainstream world, “This is what this group looks/acts like.” It also continues to sexualize this group of people and subconsciously perpetuate violence against them. We're not going to end sexual assault tomorrow, but it doesn't help when we turn a group's traditions or person into fashion accessories.

As a society that is apparently multicultural and respectful, I feel we are just patting ourselves on the back because we never had an extensive terrorist group like the Klu Klux Klan that unleashed a reign of hate and segregation laws. It's easy for a person who is not affected by stereotypes to look at that historical period and say, “Wow, glad that's not me!” before embarking on their Halloween shopping trip to pick up an outrageous “Mexican” costume. We try to convince ourselves that these are just simply caricatures and that no harm is intended, whether we know it's incorrect or not. The old phrase “political correctness” is always brought up as a negative term to describe the supposed boogeyman that controls the freedoms of average citizens when, in fact, this is completely widespread and ignored.

Halloween can be a time to really show off your creative skills and have fun. I've seen some amazing costumes created by people who spend serious amounts of time making them, and these people rarely if ever spend that time making a racist costume. These are the people that actually make this event enjoyable and fun. Why not spend your time doing something like this? Or maybe try something different than a culturally ignorant costume you bought for $20 from Walmart? Have we really run out of ideas that we're at the point of just continuing these trends where we erode our supposed respect of different cultures, or are we simply just too naïve to see otherwise? If only we could come to an understanding as people, we could find an answer.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.