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(CNN)   It's still relatively early, so maybe you haven't found the dumbest thing you're going to read yet. So how about a CNN editorial declaring that we need to make Halloween evil again so kids can learn about the importance of good in fairy tales?   (cnn.com) divider line
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    More: Stupid, Good and evil, Fairy tale, Evil, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, major kids' movies, best friends, Editor's Note  
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1673 clicks; posted to Main » on 30 Oct 2022 at 2:26 PM (21 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



73 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest


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west.la.lawyer [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 10:54:53 AM  
Anderson Bettelheim reporting?
 
johnryan51 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-30 11:16:57 AM  
Let's hide behind the chainsaws!
 
Badmoodman [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 11:17:29 AM  
The author:

media.cnn.comView Full Size


A Witchy Woman.
 
North_Central_Positronics [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 12:37:05 PM  

johnryan51: Let's hide behind the chainsaws!


"Smart."

i.pinimg.comView Full Size


/speaks in sarcasm font
 
Chompachangas [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 12:59:00 PM  
I've always said "Kids ought to be scared on Halloween"

i.imgur.comView Full Size
 
Cafe Threads [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-30 1:55:00 PM  
There's a couple next door, childless by choice, nevertheless set up an annual Halloween display. I was so excited that year they dressed up as monsters and came to the door moaning and groaning with the treats, I made sure all the kids who stopped by my house stopped by theirs, as well.

My apologies to the parents of the eight-year-old who ran screaming from their door in absolute terror, but isn't that what Halloween is really all about?
 
hubiestubert [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-30 2:32:47 PM  
Horror tales are the modern equivalent of fairy tales, and with the same purpose to teach folks how to behave, and not f*ck with strangers.

The thing is, the current holiday has been divorced of its place by parents. They lost the track about being the Eve of All Hallows. Had parents not freaked out about demons, Catholics, and witches, it could be culturally counterpointed with All Saints Day.

Instead of blaming the day, maybe take a look at the Disney-fication of classic fairy tales, and all their frights.
 
The Irresponsible Captain [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 2:33:20 PM  
The world is scary enough. let the kids enjoy things while they can.
 
Raider_dad [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 2:33:21 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Claude Ballse
2022-10-30 2:34:00 PM  
tl;dr; Angry Brit is angry about a modern American holiday taking root in England.

/Jocularity, jocularity!
 
CrazyCurt
2022-10-30 2:34:17 PM  
I am so tired of "the old ways were best" attitude in the USA. The old ways SUCKED! What's even dumber is Americans use NEW ways, like the Internet ( not all that new anymore really ), to spread their OLD ways BS. I want the future. I am tired of constantly living in the past.

/ "Living in the Past" is a good Tull song.
 
bighairyguy [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 2:35:10 PM  
Evil like Hansel and Gretel maliciously destroying an old woman's house and murdering her after she invites them in?
 
Minor Catastrophe [OhFark]
2022-10-30 2:35:33 PM  

Badmoodman: The author:

[media.cnn.com image 480x270]

A Witchy Woman.


Is that Joel Olsteen on a typical Sunday night once honoring the Sabbath is complete?
 
Trocadero
2022-10-30 2:39:05 PM  

Raider_dad: [Fark user image 400x300] [View Full Size image _x_]


res.cloudinary.comView Full Size
 
professionalenabler
2022-10-30 2:40:31 PM  
In The Know: Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?
Youtube 0McggLIYmnE
 
yet_another_wumpus
2022-10-30 2:41:49 PM  

CrazyCurt: I am so tired of "the old ways were best" attitude in the USA. The old ways SUCKED! What's even dumber is Americans use NEW ways, like the Internet ( not all that new anymore really ), to spread their OLD ways BS. I want the future. I am tired of constantly living in the past.

/ "Living in the Past" is a good Tull song.


Fark user imageView Full Size


The odd part about the book is that if you read the author's biography, you'd expect a guy who worships the past (he may well worship the history).  Turns out he knows enough of it to know just how bad it was and wasn't afraid to tell it. He might have sugar-coated it a little, but if he did it was because people wouldn't believe the truth.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/795898.The_Good_Old_Days_They_Were_Terrible_
 
Claude Ballse
2022-10-30 2:44:05 PM  

Badmoodman: The author:

[media.cnn.com image 480x270]

A Witchy Woman.


Meh, she looks fine to me.

It's her opinion I disagree with, not her face.
 
fatassbastard [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 2:47:16 PM  
"We need your dumbest take on Halloween."

"OK, that might be too dumb, but we're up against deadline, so let's see how it goes."
 
Snarfangel
2022-10-30 2:50:17 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
NM Volunteer [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 2:53:56 PM  
Let people dress up and have fun on Halloween.  If they want to see evil, they can watch the latest World War II movie and see actual monsters (the Nazis).
 
ctighe2353
2022-10-30 2:56:01 PM  

hubiestubert: Horror tales are the modern equivalent of fairy tales, and with the same purpose to teach folks how to behave, and not f*ck with strangers.

The thing is, the current holiday has been divorced of its place by parents. They lost the track about being the Eve of All Hallows. Had parents not freaked out about demons, Catholics, and witches, it could be culturally counterpointed with All Saints Day.

Instead of blaming the day, maybe take a look at the Disney-fication of classic fairy tales, and all their frights.


The guy is reviewing movies for 8 year Olds and complaining they are not truly evil?

Well some kids just can't take that yet and that's what these movies are for.  There are plenty of true to the spirit Halloween movies depicting real evil and there are movies tailored to children.  This is what living in a society is all about, not about his need to see true evil in movies.
The fact he's arguing the actions of witches are evil demons is not realistic enough just shows how ridiculous the entire article is.

I'm just happy my kids are FINALLY ready for scary movies, wife does not watch them and it's less fun alone.
 
Death Rocket [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 2:59:05 PM  
We did a trunk or treat last night at the local fairground. I know, read the hate in the thread the other day. We live in the country and have never had a tricker treater. Ever.
 We showed up with my hotrod hearse big cam chugging away and set up to give away too much money worth of candy from the coffin with a zombie thing in it. When I was informed that that might be too scary.   I smiled back and said it's Halloween, they'll be fine.    We didn't fit in with the bland suv people mover things.  Some people had neat stuff in the backs though.
 Once the event was underway, there were no detractors only compliments and questions. Also little kids side eyeing the guy in the box. Scare them, we're all going to die eventually. Can't let the joy police steam-roll the spooky out of it.  I told several people in xmas themed costumes that they were too early.  Politely trying to tell them to let it alone.

Fark user imageView Full Size


/drugs are expensive I'm not giving them to your kids
//take candy from strangers
///don't let your first ride be your last!
 
morg
2022-10-30 2:59:07 PM  
Opinion: I need 500 words before midnight. No, I don't care at all what it's about, doesn't even matter.
 
SNAFUq
2022-10-30 2:59:32 PM  

Minor Catastrophe: Badmoodman: The author:

[media.cnn.com image 480x270]

A Witchy Woman.

Is that Joel Olsteen on a typical Sunday night once honoring the Sabbath is complete?


Plot twist: the old lady was the main character and the moral I'd watch what you eat.
 
genner
2022-10-30 2:59:36 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size


Ok done.
 
SNAFUq
2022-10-30 3:00:56 PM  

SNAFUq: Minor Catastrophe: Badmoodman: The author:

[media.cnn.com image 480x270]

A Witchy Woman.

Is that Joel Olsteen on a typical Sunday night once honoring the Sabbath is complete?

Plot twist: the old lady was the main character and the moral I'd watch what you eat.


Whoops, wrong comment...
 
ctighe2353
2022-10-30 3:03:15 PM  

CrazyCurt: I am so tired of "the old ways were best" attitude in the USA. The old ways SUCKED! What's even dumber is Americans use NEW ways, like the Internet ( not all that new anymore really ), to spread their OLD ways BS. I want the future. I am tired of constantly living in the past.

/ "Living in the Past" is a good Tull song.


In this case the old ways have not changed, entertainment has always varied based on the intended audience.  This person is just going through the normal progression of life and reflecting his current state of mind.

When he was 8 he was watching Charlie brown Halloween just like the rest of us, scarier things start 12 or 13.  He is just remembering the wrong age at which he experienced things or he has sadistic parents.

I have friends who would watch the most terrifying slasher movies with their 4 year old, now he's 14 and yes he is a bit odd.  I don't blame it on the movies but their entire take on parenting.
 
drayno76
2022-10-30 3:21:59 PM  

ctighe2353: I have friends who would watch the most terrifying slasher movies with their 4 year old, now he's 14 and yes he is a bit odd. I don't blame it on the movies but their entire take on parenting.


Counter Point:  My 12 year old watched Dora The Explorer, Wonder Pets, and nothing but kids shows and PBS until she was about 8.  Then she started watching her own things, mostly kid's shows still. Around age 9 we let her watch Buffy and Dr. Who.  She didn't get her first real dose of horror flicks until this year and a friend introduced her to the original Scream. 

She had a relatively normal childhood, mostly playing games and going to school.  She's 'a bit odd' too.  This month her current  WTF thing is everything is 'Weezer.'  You remember how in the original Smurfs TV show they would 'smurf for smurf berries' where smurf was a generic verb, or adverb, sometimes a pronoun. That's how she uses the word Weezer.  It's irritating as all hell. 

Teenagers in general are bit off.
 
trappedspirit
2022-10-30 3:23:59 PM  
This was a not too bad movie review.
 
Daeva
2022-10-30 3:27:06 PM  
Christian right, we want to make you so miserable and shiatty that the terrible things we do seem good.
 
austerity101 [BareFark]
2022-10-30 3:27:15 PM  
I dunno about all that, but what I am tired of is taking every single villain and turning them from "evil" into "misunderstood" over and over again. It's basically victim-blaming, saying, "Hey, you weren't nice enough to this person, so now they want to murder you and everyone you know." It's pretty f*cked up. I don't need to feel sympathy for Maleficent or Cinderella's stepmom or whatever. Nothing excuses their behavior.
 
ComaToast [OhFark]
2022-10-30 3:32:02 PM  
I try to be evil by dressing up as a hedge fund manager, but the kids don't understand, so I put loose Circus Peanuts in their bags and they run off screaming into the night.

/John Wick fears me
 
neongoats [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 3:32:45 PM  
Wut.

I mean most of America is evil the entire rest of the year, might have one day where they aren't.
 
Baloo Uriza
2022-10-30 3:35:17 PM  
*scans article*

Whatever, loser.  Most folks I know use it as a drinking holiday and an excuse to bust out fursuits.
 
Feel_the_velvet
2022-10-30 3:37:18 PM  
The outlook for success at the new CNN is grimm.
 
LoneVVolf [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 3:41:36 PM  
I'm doing my part; picked up 50lbs of Necco wafers yesterday.
 
Fast Moon
2022-10-30 3:41:57 PM  

CrazyCurt: I am so tired of "the old ways were best" attitude in the USA. The old ways SUCKED! What's even dumber is Americans use NEW ways, like the Internet ( not all that new anymore really ), to spread their OLD ways BS. I want the future. I am tired of constantly living in the past.

/ "Living in the Past" is a good Tull song.


People who reminisce about how things were in the "old days" think they're remembering how a particular time period was better, but what they're really remembering was how a particular age was better.  "In my days we didn't have to worry about XYZ" wasn't because the policies of those years were better, it was because they were a child and therefore didn't have to worry about XYZ.  "I don't remember anyone worried about inflation in 1957!"  Yeah, because you were farking 8 years old and that just wasn't a thing on your radar at the time.

For basically anyone ever, they think civilization peaked when they were 10-15 years old because that was the time when they were old enough to do stuff, but not old enough to worry about having responsibilities, so life was pretty friggin' sweet.
 
Endus
2022-10-30 3:50:31 PM  

austerity101: I dunno about all that, but what I am tired of is taking every single villain and turning them from "evil" into "misunderstood" over and over again. It's basically victim-blaming, saying, "Hey, you weren't nice enough to this person, so now they want to murder you and everyone you know." It's pretty f*cked up. I don't need to feel sympathy for Maleficent or Cinderella's stepmom or whatever. Nothing excuses their behavior.


I actually really like seeing the fall from grace.  But for that to happen, there needs to be a fall.  People seeking redress for the wrongs they did aren't villains.  Inigo Montoya wanted to hunt down the man that kill his father, and he did, and then he stabbed him to death while mocking his fear, and it was glorious, and Inigo is a hero for it.

They need to pattern these movies after Breaking Bad, in terms of character arcs, not the standard heroic redemption story.

The worst recent one was Cruella.  Not only is she entirely sympathetic and you're rooting for her, she doesn't even have a reason to hate dalmatians by the end.  She's just openly not villainous.  It's more Count of Monte Cristo but fashion-themed.  The best one that's Disney-adjacent was Wanda Maximoff's arc from Infinity War/Endgame through Wandavision and Multiverse of Madness.  She went from a wronged hero, to someone losing her mind due to grief and desperation, to fully losing herself and doing absolutely heinous things to innocent people just for being in her way.  It's sad because you can still see the person she used to be at the core of her, but she no longer really has moral limits in that last film.  That's a decent fall from grace storyline, where it's justified the whole way down.  You kinda get her in Wandavision and maybe it's okay because she didn't realize what she was doing, but it's just an iterative step on her path to evil.  She didn't know what she was doing to those people because she didn't want to think about it, not because it was beyond her capacity to understand.  But nobody's excusing anything; she walks away in Wandavision because nobody can stop her.  It's not Breaking Bad-level writing, but it's at least a proper fall from grace character arc.
 
cherryl taggart [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-30 4:05:47 PM  
Look, idiot author, kids have enough scary stuff to deal with every day.  Active shooter drills have replaced duck and cover drills from my childhood.  And I didn't really understand what I was ducking from.  I guarantee that kids know exactly why they are practicing for active shooters.

Leave them alone to enjoy what little happiness and innocence is left for them.
 
ArcadianRefugee
2022-10-30 4:07:04 PM  
Was Halloween ever "evil"?
 
ChimpMitten
2022-10-30 4:07:42 PM  
sisters-cum-coven

I came.
 
The Irresponsible Captain [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 4:09:40 PM  

CrazyCurt: I am so tired of "the old ways were best" attitude in the USA. The old ways SUCKED! What's even dumber is Americans use NEW ways, like the Internet ( not all that new anymore really ), to spread their OLD ways BS. I want the future. I am tired of constantly living in the past.

/ "Living in the Past" is a good Tull song.


We can say it the new way

64.media.tumblr.comView Full Size
 
RandomInternetComment
2022-10-30 4:17:51 PM  

NM Volunteer: Let people dress up and have fun on Halloween.  If they want to see evil, they can watch the latest World War II movie and see actual monsters (the Nazis).


...turn on faux news?
 
It'sMorphin'Time [BareFark]
2022-10-30 4:22:30 PM  

austerity101: I dunno about all that, but what I am tired of is taking every single villain and turning them from "evil" into "misunderstood" over and over again. It's basically victim-blaming, saying, "Hey, you weren't nice enough to this person, so now they want to murder you and everyone you know." It's pretty f*cked up. I don't need to feel sympathy for Maleficent or Cinderella's stepmom or whatever. Nothing excuses their behavior.


So remember how the first Pride was a riot? The point of these movies is saying 'if you don't stop Othering people for being different, you might end up with social violence'. It's an important message.

/also Maleficent was just an AU.
 
chitownmike
2022-10-30 4:24:14 PM  

austerity101: I dunno about all that, but what I am tired of is taking every single villain and turning them from "evil" into "misunderstood" over and over again. It's basically victim-blaming, saying, "Hey, you weren't nice enough to this person, so now they want to murder you and everyone you know." It's pretty f*cked up. I don't need to feel sympathy for Maleficent or Cinderella's stepmom or whatever. Nothing excuses their behavior.


Um, they don't really exist soooooo
 
ChimpMitten
2022-10-30 4:26:51 PM  

austerity101: I dunno about all that, but what I am tired of is taking every single villain and turning them from "evil" into "misunderstood" over and over again. It's basically victim-blaming, saying, "Hey, you weren't nice enough to this person, so now they want to murder you and everyone you know." It's pretty f*cked up. I don't need to feel sympathy for Maleficent or Cinderella's stepmom or whatever. Nothing excuses their behavior.


There is definitely a "bullies are people too" thing that has been going on in the "teen disney" genre, and while true, shouldn't be used to excuse their behavior.  Although exploring the cause of the bad behavior, in order to understand and avoid it, is worthwhile in my opinion.

I really liked Pearl in that regard.  Here is how the character became as farked up as they are, and you can relate, but they are still completely farked up and are in no way redeemable.

While I'm talking recent horror movies, Barbarian was awesome and I am almost tempted to show my daughter the first 45 minutes for all of the subtle warning signs that a man can put out.

The rest is... farking fun.  Might rewatch that again as it is on streaming.
 
Hinged
2022-10-30 4:33:40 PM  
Slow news day.
 
austerity101 [BareFark]
2022-10-30 4:43:35 PM  

It'sMorphin'Time: austerity101: I dunno about all that, but what I am tired of is taking every single villain and turning them from "evil" into "misunderstood" over and over again. It's basically victim-blaming, saying, "Hey, you weren't nice enough to this person, so now they want to murder you and everyone you know." It's pretty f*cked up. I don't need to feel sympathy for Maleficent or Cinderella's stepmom or whatever. Nothing excuses their behavior.

So remember how the first Pride was a riot? The point of these movies is saying 'if you don't stop Othering people for being different, you might end up with social violence'. It's an important message.

/also Maleficent was just an AU.


Except that gay people aren't villains or evil.

It's all ret-conning. It's going "Sure, they're the villains, but OOH WHAT IF THEY WEREN'T THOUGH??" It's nonsensical. Don't take a villain and then make a case for their villainy.
 
Porous Horace
2022-10-30 4:48:31 PM  
Y'all pissy when people don't celebrate a holiday rooted in Christianity.
 
Circle Girl [TotalFark]
2022-10-30 4:49:16 PM  

austerity101: I dunno about all that, but what I am tired of is taking every single villain and turning them from "evil" into "misunderstood" over and over again. It's basically victim-blaming, saying, "Hey, you weren't nice enough to this person, so now they want to murder you and everyone you know." It's pretty f*cked up. I don't need to feel sympathy for Maleficent or Cinderella's stepmom or whatever. Nothing excuses their behavior.


I want to know why Cinderella's stepmother looks more like Cinderella than her own daughters.  😕
 
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