Comments

1
This is really comment @154, as there are 153 comments on Dan's six-year-old article that he linked to.
2
Oh Dan, some of us het males have always embraced Halloween/All Hallows Eve/Samhain. For myself, I embraced it so much I made my mother go into labor at a Halloween party.
3
Not-safe-for-squeamish-alert: apparently Halloween in Thailand involves knives, and other things, poked through lips and cheeks. Skip about 1:45 to 2:25.
4
I wish they'd bring back Hollywood Squares so Bill Maher would have some place to fuck off to.
5
Halloween used to be, and should still be, for kids only.

And by kids I mean 6th grade and less, with the occasional "older kid" picking up scraps at the far end of Trick or Treating around 9 o'clock.

Adults should be there to give out the candy, buy them outfits, walk them around the neighborhood with flashlights and make sure they stay away from the house full of sociopathic ex-hippies who put LSD in the peanut butter cups.

6
We have only started celebrating Halloween over the last few yrs in Australia. Until I read an article re it's importance in helping children cope with death and trauma, I thought it a silly thing.
Now I understand its purpose.
7
Bill Maher for President!
8
@5: Halloween should be about terrifying strangers. You want candy, you better steel your nerves and step boldly up the Steps of Nightmares to knock on the door to the House of a Thousand and One Jump Scares.
9
@5

Christmas, too.
10
@5: However, sociopathic ex-hippies living together tend not to waste good LSD.
11
@Dan: tell that to the gay (male) couple stepping out in matching sequin minidresses in my neighborhood this evening. Long live homo+hetero+allpointsinbetweenween!
12
I live in New Orleans. Halloween is for everybody!
13
Fuck him. I love mariachi.
14

Maher is frustrating because he can be so right and smart about something, and within the very same show, say something so irritatingly asshole-ic and blind to his own wealthy-male-privilege that it makes me wanna scream. This episode began with him reading from Canada's citizenship guide which specifies that the country does not tolerate "barbaric practices such as spousal abuse, honor killings, female genital mutilation, or forced marriage." Good for Canada and good for Bill for bringing this up and agreeing that these things are barbaric.

Yet this same enlightened man ends the show, during his interview with David Spade, by comparing his and David's "plight" in only dating much younger women, with the plight of gay and trans folks. Bill says WITH A STRAIGHT FACE that no one would applaud middle aged men like he and David for exclusively dating young women like they would if Bill stood up at age 60 and said he was gay. Really Bill? Seriously? You think those two "plights" compare? What exactly about a 60 year old guy with somebody young enough to be his granddaughter would or should warrant applause? How does this involve bravery vs the bravery/risk it can STILL take/involve for someone to come out? And no one on the panel, 2 out of 3 of which were white middle aged men, groaned, nor did anyone in the crowd. Not a peep.

15
He's so right.

PC bullshit.
16
Where I went last night (granted, it was a gay bar in a gay neighborhood), there were tons of slutty male costumes. My favorite is when guys do a slutty version of a costume that wouldn't normally be sexy. I've seen sexy winged monkeys before, by last night there was a near-naked sexy tin man, slutty scarecrow, and pretty bare lion -- as well as a sexy Lollypop Guild Munchkin. Sexy zombies (thank you, Nicholas Hoult and "Warm Bodies" for making that acceptable). And the best: a slutty Cat in the Hat.
17
Bill Maher is right. It's isn't "brave" for old dudes to chase after younger dudes. It's been going on since back when togas were in fashion, and isn't some kind of "social justice" nonsense.

The Halloween scolds are just another lousy byproduct of the Twitter activist trend. Any any former liberal know: liberals aren't liberal.
18
1000+ scorchingly hot 20 something gay guys at nyc halloween parties.... plus some cool straights and old people like me. Pervert Matinee Friday at Capitale, Voss at Madame Tussaud's Saturday, Alegria Halloween tonight at Webster Hall...
19
@17: what a coincidence: conservatives don't conserve.
20
@3 oh no somebody might see something uncomfortable! How dare we not warn others of possible negative emotions.
21
@20: It's perfectly appropriate to warn others about pictures of self-multilation depravity.
22
I didn't "how dare" Dan, or even criticize him for not providing a warning. I was just providing a service to the non-sociopaths among us who don't enjoy seeing that sort of thing. It wasn't a demand, you know? You can still play that part over and over again if you want.
23
I think that what Bill was talking about during the "we're not congratulated" part was in reference to a conversation he had with a previous guest (I forget whom it was), where they were talking about their choice to never marry. He resents the fact that men like him who choose to remain single and "play the field" are considered overgrown children who don't have the "maturity to commit." He's made the case in the past that everyone now, regardless of sexuality or kinks, are "celebrated" except for straight men who live outside the norm of the nuclear, monogamous family unit. He says that he gets hounded by the "why have you never married" question a lot.

I think that's the context for his brief statement, not that he prefers women young enough to be his kid (though I guess that doesn't help with the "overgrown man-child" cliche).
24
@22 - I'm with you. I get the whole self-mutilation thing in the abstract - demonstrating mastery of the flesh and all that - but in the concrete... I'm afraid I'm just never gonna be okay with it.
25
@23 - that makes sense, and Maher's point (if that's what it was) even has some validity. But it is basically impossible to disentangle that point and perspective from wealthy-male privilege entirely. He has the option of still "playing the field" because he's successful - and in good physical condition because he can afford an awesome gym membership and maybe a personal trainer and/or consulting nutritionist. Moreover, the consequences of going into retirement and old age with no wife and no kids are relatively pleasant for a guy who can pay for a great retirement home with a seaside view, and doesn't need his wife's help or his kids' financial contributions. His sexual/romantic options, in these regards, are a product of his privilege.

Doesn't make him a bad guy, just part of a minority so extreme that it's a stretch to equate it with anything, let alone a beleaguered minority.
26
Everyone makes sacrifices to get the life they want, even straight white guys. I wouldn't want Maher's life. I wouldn't have wanted to make the time, effort, diet, privacy, autonomy sacrifices he's made. I wouldn't want to do what he's had to do to get where he is, and stay there all of these years. I don't begrudge him some of the perks that his fame has gotten him. He works for it. And it's none of my business anyway.

I don't think that he's saying he has it easier than trans people or poor schlubs who don't have the time or energy to play basketball or jump on a trampoline to stay in shape (that's his exercise routine). I think what he was getting as is that he's hated for making jokes about other people who live outside the norm, but he's mocked and criticized for doing the same. It's a double-standard.

But I do see what you're saying, and he'd serve himself better if he didn't use Jenner or other sexual minorities to make his point.
27
Sorry! "easier" should be "worse."
29
@28. Well, I don't think he's asking for "celebration." I think he'd just like the double-standard judging to stop.
30
No one wants to address the actual content because the rest of their comments are critiques of bros wearing a feather on their head to a music festival. I absolutely agree and love his comment about 'lazy liberalism.' And that's what this is. Every year we get the same articles passed around the liberal blogosphere hand-wringing about some stupid college kid's poor taste in Halloween costumes. We make sure to berate each other and express adequate outrage while changing no hearts and minds. If my (<10yo, hypothetical) kid wanted to dress up as an Indian for Halloween we would have a talk about Native Americans, early American history, and he would be a chief, headdress and all. And there would be nothing wrong with that.
31
@25. Here's where he's coming from. The entire segment is good, but you can skip to 4:33.
32
@30, I remember a few years ago, watching Parenthood, and the character of Jasmine Braverman dressed up as Pocahontas for Halloween, and I immediately thought, "Oh Lord, tomorrow I'm going to go online and this is all I'm going to see. Great."

But I didn't see anything about it. To this day, I don't know if it was because Joy Bryant is black, so none of the liberals felt comfortable criticizing her or because no one but me watched the show. Either way, I hate that my first reaction was to worry about the virtual bitch-slap she was going to get. Liberals take the joy out of everything.
33
@ 5 - Adults should be there to eat the acid-laced peanut butter cups so at least they might enjoy walking their kids around with a flashlight.

But seriously... drugs have changed since the 60s. It's extremely hard to get good acid nowadays, so as Raindrop said, the sociopathic ex-hippies wouldn't waste it on kids. They'd give them crap ecstasy full of speed instead. Or ask for the kids' Ritalin in exchange for plain, unlaced candy.

Besides, the sociopathic ex-hippies probably live in a home for older people by now, and trick-or-treating kids don't get anywhere near those.
34
@31 - Ok, I see what he's saying. And by extension, you. It's a good point. I wish our politicians could have that kind of attitude. As illustrated brilliantly (and hypothetically) in this comic:

http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly05042…
35
@34. Yes, I couldn't seem to explain myself well enough, but I knew what he was trying to say; unfortunately, he got one sentence out before he was interrupted, and so the context was completely lost.

Thank you for this comic. Thank you SO much. Unfortunately, I think that liberals would be as offended by it as conservatives, just for different reasons.
36
@4 Excellent. Your comment hit the sweet spot where mean-spirited intersects totally hilarious. I think even Bill Maher would laugh.
37
On the one hand, I can't help but think someone's a racist dick if they dress up in a cheap imitation of Native religious garb and go out and get wasted and obnoxious. How we talk about vulnerable populations does have an effect on how they are treated. That being said, I do agree with his point about "lazy liberalism". If you spend more time criticizing how people talk about others than you spend actually helping others, that's not being very self-sacrificial, and you should reevaluate how committed you are to progressivism.
38
BM is wrong about hobos. They would have been truly offended to be described this way. In the 1930s, a "hobo" was someone who traveled from place to place and worked. Someone who traveled from place to place without working was a "tramp."

And as amusing as most of this schpiel was, things like the naughty nurse costume are offensive not by themselves but because sexy stuff is usually the ONLY option in the women's section of the costume shop. A whole wall of that is offensive. And the geisha costume is a problem not because of real geisha but because of real Asian-American women who are expected to act like the stereotype.

One day we'll be able to wear whatever we want for Halloween but only after the stereotypes and racism and sexism have lost their power in real life. One day a samurai or Indian costume will just be a historical figure. One day a perfectly researched African queen costume will be impressive and not offensive. But the sun on that Halloween has yet to rise. One day, one candy-filled, spooky day...
39
@50 I think you're just demonstrating the point that one can take virtually any costume and bend oneself backward to find something offensive about it.

Cowardly Lion? Oh that reminds me of Cecil being shot. Fireman? Oh that reminds me about gender hiring issues in traditionally male careers. Wall-E? Oh that movie was chock full of fat-shaming.

The woman's section of the costume store is filled with sexy costumes because that is what many women buy. Women who don't want to be sexy can buy something from the rest of the store, which tends to be mostly unisex costumes. Or, of course, anyone can also make their own costume.

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