The Freedom of Expression, Bad Taste… Both.

Posted on December 7th, 2007 by Christopher.
Categories: Current Events & Politics.

Penn State - Virginia Tech Students - Costumes

Penn State - Virginia Tech - Costume - Guy

Two Penn State students, dressed as Virginia Tech shooting victims, at a Halloween party have enraged people from the Virginia Tech community, as well as the entire country.
Penn State officials were quick to respond to the costumes.

“We are appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity, indifference, and lack of common decency and sense by dressing up in this manner, the school said.� The fact that one of these individuals is actually from Virginia, makes it even more difficult to understand. Just because something is within the bounds of the Constitution and free speech, does not mean it should be undertaken. We certainly condemn these ugly and senseless actions. Most Penn Staters are as offended by this as anyone from Virginia Tech would be– and rightfully so. These two people do not represent 90,000 Penn State students. They represent themselves.”

After seeing the pictures, a Virginia Tech student created a Facebook group called, “People Against This Costume.” Some of the upset members have left threatening messages to the Penn State students.

“This is a group of college students who now think it’s trendy to be upset about their friends being killed,” one of the two Penn State students who wore the costume said. “I don’t know what they teach people in Virginia Tech, but at Penn State we don’t learn to threaten people with murder to teach them that murdering is wrong.”

He goes on to defend the pictures.

“The thing is, everybody’s making a big stink about Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech was 32 deaths out of the 26 thousand that happen in America everyday,” he said. “That’s the problem with college students. They all live in an ivory tower of privilege. They don’t understand, when it all boils down to it, it’s someone wearing a costume.”

9 comments.

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Christine the Lioness mentioned

Interesting. I agree it’s in bad taste, but first of all, the fact that Penn State has to put out a statement to let the world know that the actions of those two students doesn’t represent 89,998 others… is ridiculous. You think?! Really? College students don’t have to get approval from the Provost office of their college before wearing a costume? You’re kidding. Penn State, as far as I’m concerned, made it into an even bigger deal by lending any credence to people who would suggest that these two students do somehow represent the Penn State student body. Second, I guarantee the people who are threatening these kids online DID NOT even know any of the victims. People who knew the victims personally and were affected are probably not the ones threatening murder. They’ve experienced the effects of murder and they wouldn’t throw it out as an idle threat. I too am so sick of people being offended for other people. It’s one thing to find something in poor taste, but when you cross the line and become offended by something that had nothing to do with you personally. They just want attention by trying to find a moral high ground when the real moral high ground comes from letting people do their own thing and realizing that criticizing a Halloween costume is something you can do relatively easy from your dorm room instead of actually having to get out and put in an effort to make a difference.

December 9th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent thought this

While I wouldn’t advocate killing these morons for their sophomoric attempt at humor/attention-grabbing, I wouldn’t be feel especially bad if someone else kicked their pathetic asses — and yes, one of the victims at VT was a former baby-sitter for my kids, so it is personal for me…

Quite frankly, I’m surprised they weren’t expelled, given the politically correct climate on campus these days.

December 10th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent remarked

To quote a certain Pirate who once said to Christopher — “You�ll smoke a turd in hell for that one anyway�”

Yeah, I think that applies to these 2 fine students…

December 10th, 2007

Trouble the Pirate said this

Just to clarify… I was quoting Robin Williams…

This reminds me of the episode of South Park, where Matt and Trey’s characters theorize on the number of years something terrible has to be in existence before one is publicly allowed to joke about it… I think the answer was “21-point-something”… But I am probably wrong, it was a while ago…

December 10th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent uttered

You may be quoting Mork, but it still applies to these morons.

We had a highly controversial incident where a frat hosted a black-face Halloween party a few years ago and, if memory serves me, they included nooses on the trees out front of the frat house. I believe they were NOT expelled, but the house lost its charter for a couple of years and the University (or maybe the national organization) required heavy supervision when the chapter was re-chartered.

Surprisingly, cheating often gets you less punishment than tasteless behavior. I know of one student who was caught plagiarizing and got an F for the course. However, after 6 years, the disciplinary action is expunged from the student’s record, so there is NO permanent record that the offense took place.

December 10th, 2007

ProphetJoe the Irreverent stated

5 comments and no one has mentioned the devilish tits in the second photo…