Australian school apologises for Hitler costume prize

[Bill Mattocks]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11111456

A Catholic school in Australia has apologised to parents after teachers awarded a costume prize to a child dressed as Adolf Hitler.
The class of nine- and 10-year-olds had been asked to dress up as famous people at the school in Western Australia.
Teachers declared the winner to be a boy who dressed as the Nazi leader, who was wearing an outfit featuring the swastika.
The principal said in hindsight the school would have done it differently.

Gee, ya think?

 

[mook jong man]

Yeah they would of let him dress as Osama Bin Laden instead.

Come on we're allowed to have our fair share of dickheads just like everybody else.

 

[crushing]

What if it really was the best costume? People that dress up as famous people we like need to step it up!

 

[CoryKS]

Did he do something wacky with it, like the ol' arrow through the head prop? Because otherwise it's just cliche.

 

[CanuckMA]

But at some point, ya gotta think What the hell were the kids PARENTS thinking as well.

 

[crushing]

Did he do something wacky with it, like the ol' arrow through the head prop? Because otherwise it's just cliche.

I was thinking more along the lines of a song and dance routine from The Producers.

 

[MBuzzy]

What I find funny is that the article talks about teaching the KIDS about the sensitivities surrounding certain historical figures. What about the idiot parent that ALLOWED their kid to dress up like that. I mean, the kid didn't do it himself.

 

[72ronin]

Poor kid,
Not only are his parents morons, but the school are just as blind LOL

Guess History isnt any of their strong points!!

 

[dancingalone]

Devil's Advocate: Is Hitler a bad subject because he's a relatively recent historical figure? Would it be OK to dress up as Mao or Stalin, 2 men who caused ever more deaths than Hitler did? How about Julius Caesar or Napoleon?

 

[Ken Morgan]

Devil's Advocate: Is Hitler a bad subject because he's a relatively recent historical figure? Would it be OK to dress up as Mao or Stalin, 2 men who caused ever more deaths than Hitler did? How about Julius Caesar or Napoleon?

Damn, I was going to say the same thing.

I’m sure my grandfathers would be rolling over in their graves if they knew I practiced Japanese MA with a Japanese sword.

Emperor Hirohito and the Kaiser I’m sure fit into the category of historical figures that at one time were viewed with absolute hatred. What about the devil? Or an angel? Or mohammad?

 

[Blade96]

Devil's Advocate: Is Hitler a bad subject because he's a relatively recent historical figure? Would it be OK to dress up as Mao or Stalin, 2 men who caused ever more deaths than Hitler did? How about Julius Caesar or Napoleon?

at my university few years ago an acquaintance of mine came to university dressed up as napoleon. He even went downtown St. John's to our annual halloween mardi gras as napoleon. no one cared. They thought he had a great looking costume.

 

[Omar B]

For some reason this makes me think of Fascist Superman

Of Nazi Superman

But really, a catholic school, and the parents let their kid dress as one of great mass murderers in history? Nutjobs.

 

[Sukerkin]

I am clearly some evil person who secretly regrets that we won the Second World War as I don't see that there is anything gained from suppressing the memory of one of the fascist tyrants of the era.

Glorifying is a whole other thing of course, as is turning into a light hearted figure of fun (which, to me, is worse still) but not forgetting is essential.

Yes it's in poor taste but, for once, I am on the side of 'villain' of the piece it seems i.e. the school was right not to forbid it and wrong if they do other than apologise to those souls who were really offended (rather than just 'acting out' to show how lovely they are).

 

[CoryKS]

I am clearly some evil person who secretly regrets that we won the Second World War as I don't see that there is anything gained from suppressing the memory of one of the fascist tyrants of the era.

Glorifying is a whole other thing of course, as is turning into a light hearted figure of fun (which, to me, is worse still) but not forgetting is essential.

Yes it's in poor taste but, for once, I am on the side of 'villain' of the piece it seems i.e. the school was right not to forbid it and wrong if they do other than apologise to those souls who were really offended (rather than just 'acting out' to show how lovely they are).

I suspect this is the case in the large majority of these stories. "Come see how wonderfully sensitive I am to the plight of others."

 

[Tez3]

I can't see Napoleon in the same light as Hitler at all. Napoleon wasn't evil and was his country's leader, sure he took his country to war and invaded a couple of other countries but that was common practice at the time, he was no different than the rest of his contemporaries. He gets a bad press because he lost.
You should only dress up as Julius Caesar in hot countries, not a good look in the UK, even he wore trousers when he was here!

I think the fact that the kid dressed as Hitler shows more that the school is failing to teach history more than anything else. If all Hitler is to the children is a 'famous figure' I think the syllabus may bear looking at.

 

[Empty Hands]

I can't see Napoleon in the same light as Hitler at all. Napoleon wasn't evil and was his country's leader, sure he took his country to war and invaded a couple of other countries but that was common practice at the time, he was no different than the rest of his contemporaries.

Compared to Robespierre and The Terror, and maybe even the Directory, Napoleon counts as a big improvement.

 

[Tez3]

Compared to Robespierre and The Terror, and maybe even the Directory, Napoleon counts as a big improvement.

Well, it was par for the course in those days.

 

[K-man]

Devil's Advocate: Is Hitler a bad subject because he's a relatively recent historical figure? Would it be OK to dress up as Mao or Stalin, 2 men who caused ever more deaths than Hitler did? How about Julius Caesar or Napoleon?

Is it not a matter of degree? Not all Germans were Nazis and very few of the German people were 'bad'. If the kid had dressed as Rommel, complete with swastika, would the reaction have been the same? Rommel would not have been as recognisable that's all. What if the kid was dressed as Ghenhis Khan, or Idi Amin? They were as bad as Hitler, yet now Ghengis Khan is a respectable historical figure. The difference is, he won and the world moved on.
To my mind, poor taste and poor judgement but like it or not, Hitler is an historical figure.

 

[dancingalone]

I can't see Napoleon in the same light as Hitler at all. Napoleon wasn't evil and was his country's leader, sure he took his country to war and invaded a couple of other countries but that was common practice at the time, he was no different than the rest of his contemporaries. He gets a bad press because he lost.

If killing people or causing people to die is evil, then Napolean was definitely evil as was Caesar. I wouldn't white wash his deeds just because he lived a scant 120 or so years before Hitler did.

Hitler is rightfully reviled, but we definitely have a peculiar sense of good and evil if we don't consider Napoleon up there in the bloody hands index. I mean we have people calling Tony Blair and George Bush war criminals, right? I think some perspective is called for.

 

[dancingalone]

Is it not a matter of degree? Not all Germans were Nazis and very few of the German people were 'bad'. If the kid had dressed as Rommel, complete with swastika, would the reaction have been the same? Rommel would not have been as recognisable that's all. What if the kid was dressed as Ghenhis Khan, or Idi Amin? They were as bad as Hitler, yet now Ghengis Khan is a respectable historical figure. The difference is, he won and the world moved on.
To my mind, poor taste and poor judgement but like it or not, Hitler is an historical figure.

I think the Nazis are a sensitive topic thanks to the grim pictures of the Holocaust that we have all seen. They are rightfully reviled.

Still if we are being consistent, people like Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great or Tokugawa Ieyasu should receive rather more condemnation than the usual admiration they draw.