Oct 30 2006
The truth is stranger then South Park
I blogged the South Park Steve Irwin bruhaha, and I honestly didn’t think it was as big of a deal as it was being made out to be, particularly when there was quite a bit in that episode that was so much more offensive.
Even so, I wasn’t prepared for the fact that someone would really use Steve Irwin’s death as a Halowe’en costume.
They did. The award goes to….Bill Maher. Now I generally like him, though some of his comments irritate me.
But this is somewhat disappointing. Geez Bill, even Satan (ala South Park) thought this was a bad idea…
Best line so far is from Ian at Hot Air:
I guess the store was sold out of assclown costumes.
Well done Mate! Make sure you wear that on your next Australian tour.
Blogged at Michelle Malkin, Wizbang, Andrew Sullivan, TGS, Perez Hilton, Hot Air, Say Anything
One Response to “The truth is stranger then South Park”
I learned of Maher’s outfit in Googling what kind of costumes were done this year. As a Penn alum, I was deeply disturbed by the suicide bomber/mock executions at the president’s party, but as much by the Amish girl and milkman, Cory Lidle running into a building, and Steve Irwin. I can now conjecture that the Amish girl costume was prompted by New York magazine’s citing that as one example of what would count as bad taste; a surprise to learn that the Irwin costume was derived from Maher. Maher attempts to justify his costume as a political statement, but I don’t know that he has a long record of commitment to highlighting the dangers of man vs. animal encounters, and he seemed unconcerned that young people would just get the signal that Halloween costumes are for being tasteless and mocking victims. At least following their posts one only hears them say they did these costumes because "it was funny." I don’t know whether Maher wore the costume on the street, at a private party, or on his show, but obviously his young emulators didn’t appreciate the difference of what you can do if you’re Bill Maher, who gets to silence criticism by issuing a debate-stifling "New Rule: quit hassling me" statement, vs. a normal person out in public, or a guest at a less than private party (i.e. Penn’s, open to all students), where if you don’t have a strong political reason or a statement to articulate, then I can’t imagine why you’re doing it.Please let me not die in an unusual way that makes me a future Halloween costume.