Below is a email I received regarding my comments on the NYT piece on rules pertaining to  halloween costumes. Read it. It makes good points, of which I am much sympathetic, so there is no need for a either/or debate. Moreover, reasonable people can, may, and do disagree.

Still, the point I want to make is that we are running the risk of sanitizing culture. I agree that we should not demean or dehumanize others, and that certain costumes are beyond the pale of decency. But the criteria cannot be that someone, or some group, will have their identity bent out out shape. I am reminded of a essay I read recently. It is from Amartya Sen's essay, "The Smallness Thrust Upon Us," which is reprinted in Amartya Sen, The Country of First Boys and Other Essays, edited by Antara Dev Sen & Pratik Kanjilal (New York: The Little Magazine/Oxford U. Press, 2015). In the essay, Sen begins:

'There used to be a me,' said Peter Sellers in a famous interview, 'but I had it surgically removed.' Removal is challenging enough,but no lees radical is surgical addition--or implantation--of a 'real me' by others who propel us in the direction of a new view of ourselves. We are suddenly informed that we are not really what we took ourselves to be: not Yugoslavs, but actually Serbs ('You and I don't like Albanians'), or not just Rwandans, but Hutus ('We hate Tutsis'), or--as some of us old enough may remember from the 1940s--that we are not primarily Indians, or human beings, but in fact just Hindus or Muslims (who must respectfully confront Muslims, or Hindus, on the 'other' side). 'Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,' Ogden Nash had proclaimed. 'But hating, my boy, is an art.' That art is widely practiced by skilled artists and instigators, and the weapon of choice is identity.

Id. at 43. We think we have something special to protect in our identity, but it is mainly a social-political construct thrust upon us by foes and, all to often, by 'friends'. It is primarily a tool for our being socially and politically manipulated by others, or for our politically manipulating others. In the final analysis is anyone essentially Irish, German, Polish, Japanese, American, or Indian, etc.? In the final analysis is anyone just a catholic, a jew, a moslem, a buddhist, a Jain, etc? In the final analysis is anyone essentially male, female, transgender, etc? In the final analysis is anyone essentially left- or right-handed? No! We are not essentially this or that? And we should not let other define of as essentially this or that, and we should especially not define ourselves as essentially this our that. Have some imagination. Be Walt Whitman, be large enough to contain the contradictions, the many differences. As Sen writes, 

[W]e belong to very many different groups, and we have to choose out priorities between them. Even though the allegedly irresistible demands of a parochial identity--of a sect or a community or even a nation--may be invoked to bully us into submission, we have to resist smallness being thrust upon us. 

Id. at 46. What the restrictions on halloween costumes does, though well-intended, is impose a subtle requirement on us to place identities on the others. Don't offend those who identify themselves racially, or ethnically, or gender-wise, or by professions, etc. Be parochial, and respect others being parochial. Be white bread. Be boring. Be neutered.

Not me! I want to live in a robust society, where there is diversity of thought and ideas, diversity of values, diversity of perspectives. Why, because I am not absolutely sure I am right about anything, let alone everything. So, unlike the fascist among us (be their conservative, or liberal, religious or secular, etc.) I need the diverse perspectives. Why would I want to live is a society where everyone is like me? Or like you? God, either would be HELL. But that is were we are headed in this sanitized society we are developing. Give me the discomfort of diversity, the risk of being insulted and hurt by others insensitivity to me. It will not kill me. It will make me stronger. And it will help me figure out who I want to be in all its contradictions, inconsistencies, etc.

Respectfully,

ME

Postscript Also, keep in mind that Halloween, or All Saints' Eve, or eve of All Hallows Day, originated as the beginning of the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. [citations omitted] Halloween is in part a evening of mocking death before we remember and honor the dead. Life/living mocks death. The fascists mock life/living.

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From:
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2015 1:09 PM
To:
Subject: 

"Dear L, 

And yet, just a couple of weeks ago, you posted a thought-provoking piece about dehumanization. Could it be that these costumes, appropriating the culture of an exoticized "other," desensitize in the name of fun and contribute to a person's dehumanization of others? Maybe it's not so fun for everyone.  I agree that it is unfortunate we need rules to make people more conscious of this possibility. Certainly it would be preferable if everyone could just be more aware, but for educational institutions, perhaps it is our job to use rules to raise awareness so that it becomes inculcated and habitual.

Respectfully"

On Oct 31, 2015, at 12:16 PM, I wrote:

I get it. But things like this certainly sap the honest fun out of life. Universities and students are becoming neo-fascisit! RULE. RULES, AND MORE RULES!

Halloween Costume Correctness on Campus: Feel Free to Be You, but Not Me By KIRK JOHNSON  Universities and student groups are issuing recommendations about costumes, which tread a line between flattery and mockery that is not always obvious.