EDITORIAL: Beware of real and fake dangers, and have a Happy Halloween

Halloween is scary. It is a long-held tradition intended to evoke manufactured fear.

We want little fake ghosts and goblins, pretend presidents of the present and past, personified pumpkins, witches and monsters of all kinds walking the sidewalks with parents or guardians. They ring the doorbell and demand a treat to avoid getting tricked.

It is all for fun.

While most people enjoy the horror movies, costume parties and trick-or-treaters, we need to keep the terror entirely manufactured — not real.

Every fall, we hear warnings about real monsters who might spike apples with razorblades or lace candy with poison. This has largely been exaggerated, hyped and manufactured as the United States hasn’t seen a child killed by a Halloween treat in generations.

Sadly, we see a new spate of children accidentally killed this year by an imported poison that looks just like popular brands of Halloween candy. The federal government warns us:

“The Drug Enforcement Administration is advising the public of an alarming emerging trend of colorful fentanyl available across the United States. Since August 2022, DEA and our law enforcement partners seized brightly-colored fentanyl and fentanyl pills in 26 states. Dubbed ‘rainbow fentanyl’ in the media, this trend appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people.”

The DEA also warns of fentanyl in blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk.

Dr. Nicholas Goeders — professor and chairperson of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Neuroscience with Louisiana State University Health Shreveport — said the chance of fentanyl-laced Halloween candy is low. Yet, he believes all parents and guardians should inspect Halloween candy before allowing children to consume it.

“Parents and caregivers should always make sure that their children’s Halloween candy is in its original packaging,” Goeders told Fox News. “That it hasn’t been opened, and it doesn’t have a bunch of loose SweetTarts or something else that they’re eating.”

While adults should ensure treats are safe, they should also keep children safe from traffic. This Halloween horror is neither hyped nor manufactured.

A 2019 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed four decades of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and found pedestrian fatalities rise by 43% on Halloween.

The study noted that trick-or-treaters in dark Halloween costumes are difficult to see. Additionally, the report explained, adults attend Halloween drinking parties that put more drunk drivers on the streets during trick-or-treating hours.

This year, we have a fashionable new horror. The University of Colorado-Boulder wants to ensure Halloween costumes don’t offend anyone. A page of “Halloween Safety Tips” on the university’s website includes the following “safety” tip:

“Cultural appropriation — the inappropriate use of ideas, symbols or stereotypes pertaining to another culture — is a common offense among Halloween costumes. These types of costumes are offensive because they often reduce a culture to a caricature…”

Fake warnings don’t get scarier. Or more unreasonable. Everything about Halloween reduces a person, thing or group to a caricature. Costumes = caricatures. Don’t set out to offend, which almost no one does.

Modern academia sees the mere observation of another culture as offensive. A warrior costume with a tomahawk must offend American Indians. A child dressed as a nun could offend Catholics. Pretend witches = offended Wiccans. The popular Genghis Khan costume surely offends Asians, and Day of the Dead costumes appropriate Mexican tradition. Universities across the country offer sweeping “appropriation” warnings this year, causing students to laugh out loud

The very act of celebrating Halloween culturally appropriates the Catholic All Saints Eve and the ancient Gaelic Samhain festivals.

Let’s all use common sense this Halloween. Check the children’s treats, beware of drivers who can’t see dark costumes, and ignore those who play appropriation “gotcha” to demonize young people having innocent fun. Have a Happy, safe and fright-filled Halloween.