As we’re approaching Halloween, it’s no surprise that there has been some recent controversy on the issue of costumes.
While Walmart made an embarrassing mistake of accidentally labeling its adult plus-size costumes as “Fat Girl Costumes,” there has also been growing concerns over the ethics of having an “Ebola” costume.
Though Ebola has killed thousands of people worldwide, it seems that less people are offended by the prospects of having Ebola costumes than the mislabeling of the plus-size costumes.
Yes, it’s strange when you think about it. For the comparison offers some insight into our values.
Indeed, fatness and self-esteem issues can become just as life threatening as Ebola, but the words “Fat Girl Costumes” pose no direct threat to anyone’s well-being.
On the other hand, dressing as an Ebola virus could just as well be the same as dressing as someone’s killer. And here you have to wonder what their relatives or loved ones think.
Yet still, according to the New York Post, Ebola disease suits are the hot costume this year. This has pushed people to question whether the Ebola costume itself is ethical and, while I do think there is something fishy about the matter, I don’t think that’s the right question.
Let’s suppose we have an answer: it’d either be a “yes” or a “no.” If the answer to the question “is the Ebola costume ethical?” is “yes,” then there be no shame in wearing an Ebola costume. If the answer is “no,” then one might be a bit more apprehensive about it.
But this kind of discussion unfruitful.
Regardless of whether people ultimately think the costume is ethical or not, surely, the New York Post did not intend to offend people.
If anything, the New York Post was probably using humor to cope with the grim realities of the dangerous disease.
And we do this all the time — the racist jokes, the sexist snide comments, jokes about babies, jokes about one’s religious beliefs.
We all know that they are offensive and in many ways unethical, but that’s not the point. The point is, they feed our raging sardonic tendencies and cravings for a certain type of humor.
They have become a part of our ethical values — values that allows us to judge between what makes something offensive and what doesn’t.
And so far, it seems that these values are telling us that an Ebola costume is humorous, while the label “Fat Girl Costumes,” is not.
I am not disagreeing with this verdict, but I do think that a more important question to ask would be whether this kind of societal ethical values are the kind of values we want to endorse. And if so, I wonder, just what it would entail.
