Monday, November 4, 2013

In The News

Today, Matt came across this story about a girl who dressed as a Boston Marathon victim for Halloween.

(I won't post a picture of the costume, but there is one in the link.)
The headline sums it up nicely, really. This whole thing quickly became a shitshow.
My initial reaction, looking at her costume, was that she's clearly a runner because she had the gear to put this costume together, but that she must not really know what it means to be a member of the "running community." Matt's response was that she doesn't know what it means to be a member of any community.

Further insight into the article shows that she's made multiple dumb decisions...and these decisions led to this most recent one - the costume - becoming a huge deal.

I'm not condoning the response by any means. I think calling her home, threatening her parents, etc, is beyond gross. She deserved backlash, but not at all the way it escalated.
Took the words right out of my mouth, Rebecca Brown
 I also don't find her apology to sound genuine. Her "I made a mistake" excuse is probably one she used for posting her license online and posting nude photos to Tumblr. Clearly this girl doesn't learn from her mistakes. Not to mention that she seems to go back and forth on accepting responsibility and claiming she thought the costume was perfectly acceptable.

And don't get me started on the whole, "I have a friend whose dad was in the marathon and he was okay with it so..." To me, that smacks of "I have a black friend so I can't be racist" and other such excuses. It's pathetic tripe.

When did being offensive become the equivalent to being funny? Where did genuine humor and wit go?

As a runner (hell, as a human being), I don't know how someone could think of the Boston Marathon bombing and think of it as fodder for Halloween. To me, that would be as bad as dressing up as a 9/11 victim for Halloween. How is that at all funny or acceptable?

Really, I'm just saddened by the whole thing. It's ugly on all sides.

Had you seen this story before today?
What are your thoughts on the costume? On the response?

ABK

15 comments:

  1. I don't think I can even comment....does common sense not enter someone's mind at some point and shout 'NO' at you????

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    1. That's how I feel...like, how is this even an option that comes to someone? How do you not second-guess it for a moment?!

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  2. I don't know how I came across this story but I did see it over the weekend. The second that I saw the picture I teared up. I can't believe that she would think that costume could be acceptable! So sad!

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    1. It seriously confounds me that she would think this is at all okay!

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  3. I am stunned that anyone on this planet would do this. I hadn't heard of this and I'm really sorry I did. WTH?

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    1. Ah, sorry for bringing some bad news into your blogfeed :( The good news is that for every imbecile involved in this debacle, there are 1000 smart, good people out there who share our thoughts on it!

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  4. I saw this online this afternoon, insane! Really can't believe she did that!!!

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  5. Boyfriend brought this to my attention yesterday. While her costume was incredibly inappropriate and not even remotely funny, the people who are calling her and her parents and sending death threats are equally as disgusting. I just wish that social media wouldn't give stuff like this the time of day. Her boss could have fired her for being incredibly inappropriate and ended it at that.

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    1. I totally agree. I think being fired is a pretty stringent consequence. The irony is clearly lost on those whose response it is to threaten and bully her.

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  6. The whole thing is so senseless. Even if she never went through the thought process of "is this inappropriate?" surely she must have shared her costume idea with friends.... did none of them tell her how inappropriate the costume is? Or do a whole group of people think this is a really funny, cool costume? I can't even comprehend ...

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    1. You raise a good point. How did so many people approve of this costume? Maybe the only people she knows are as common-senseless as she is.

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    2. Birds of a feather and all that jazz...

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  7. Hey, did you hear about the two people who dressed up as the Twin Towers? Yeah, that happened, too.

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    1. Oh dear lord. I'm assuming it wasn't in a "standing tall and proud" kind of way? What is WRONG with people?!

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