Every year when October rolls around, I find myself frowning in the face of online anti-Halloween hate speech.
Oh yeah, I'm calling it hate speech, and if you're offended by that then I'm definitely talking to you. Whether your hatred of Halloween is religious, historical or political, you have the right to feel that way. Just like I have the right to remind you that nobody cares.
Don't get me wrong, I love hating stuff. Unlike most Halloween haters, though, I don't feel the need to preach at other people about their choices. Here are a few examples of what naysayers might bust out:
>>"Halloween is a pagan holiday." So? When's the last time a pagan persecuted you?
>>"It's a celebration of evil." And? Did the government cancel Columbus Day yet?
>>"It's a ploy for candy companies to make money and perpetuate the obesity of children." You think one day of trick-or-treating is more harmful to kids than the fact that pizza sauce counts as a serving of vegetables in school lunches?
Direct your angst somewhere that it can make a difference. If you come to me trashing Halloween, you won't get anything but the stank eye and one very loud, attitudey comment: "Don't nobody care what you talking 'bout."
I don't wanna hear you talk about how Halloween is "The Devil's Day," only to turn around and host an anti-Halloween party at your church where you give out candy to costumed children. I don't wanna hear anyone referring to girls' sexy outfits as "Slutterween costumes" as if the end of summer made it taboo to show some skin. (It's my personal belief that most Slutterween-shamers are just mad they couldn't pull-off a sexy costume themselves.) I don't wanna hear people bitching about how early stores start advertising for Halloween when nobody seems to mind that Christmas pretty much owns the entire end of the year. To say it plainly, I'm intolerant of your intolerance.
I like Halloween but the day itself isn't that big of a deal to me. I'm an entertainer for a living; I wear crazy outfits whenever I want. I walk into investor meetings for my upcoming magazine with purple eyebrows, a leopard-print jumpsuit and a Beemo phone case, and I get nothing but hugs and smiles. However, for people with a standard day job, that outfit just might get them fired. Halloween is a chance for everybody to walk on the wild side, to rock a costume of a whole different personality.
On Oct. 31, nobody is going to be thinking about how Halloween originated from a pagan festival more than 2,000 years ago, celebrated by Celtic people who believed the dead could walk among the living on that day. They're gonna be thinking about how awesome it is that they get to turn up in their costume for an entire weekend. Are you against turning up? If so, you're the one who's really evil.
If you choose not to participate in any Halloween festivities because it's against your personal beliefs, I support that. You should always be true to yourself. But once you take it so far that you are on Twitter preaching at people who do participate, you lose my support. Any ideology that requires you to force your beliefs on other people is way scarier than Halloween ever will be.
RedEye special contributor Nikki Lynette, a Chicago native, is an indie recording artist whose music appears on MTV, VH1, Showtime and more.