‘Buzzkill’ Democrats are canceling Halloween
At least the Lower Merion kids are learning the most important lesson of the intolerance of the left — that everyone, including children, shares equally in its misery.
Earlier this month, the Lower Merion school board canceled the district’s Halloween parades — ending a tradition that’s been around for more than half a century — in the name of safety and “inclusion.” Unsurprisingly, the board is comprised of all Democrats.
Liberals in the progressive, “woke” stream of the party are making Democrats as a whole known as mirthless fun killers who are hellbent on forcing left-wing ideology into American institutions. Rather than harbingers of progress and inclusivity, progressives like those on the Lower Merion school board seem more like the persnickety Puritans of the 1600s. They also used their political power to shut down Halloween.
Even former President Barack Obama, in a recent interview with the podcast Pod Save America, said that Democrats can sometimes be a “buzzkill.”
But that didn’t stop the Lower Merion school board from wallowing in its own virtue.
The school board claims it canceled the parade not only because of safety concerns, but also to make those who don’t celebrate the holiday feel more included — singling out children who don’t celebrate the holiday because of their religion as one group it seeks to protect. Because nothing makes a child feel more of a bond with their elementary school peers than adults banishing one of America’s most beloved holiday traditions, and claiming it’s because of said child’s religious beliefs.
I’m a religious person who sometimes does not let my children partake in certain secular things. I’ve never met a fellow traveler who wanted to cancel traditions — especially for other people’s kids. Many religious parents believe our child’s spiritual growth requires learning to live in the world alongside others of different backgrounds. That means supporting the rights of others to celebrate their traditions, even if we do not partake.
The board also claims the Halloween cancelation was for those who didn’t celebrate the holiday for “cultural reasons.” Is that code for, “Let’s blame the immigrants, too?” Whatever it meant, it sure feels like it was grasping for an excuse to justify foisting progressive ideology on kids.
And canceling Halloween for safety reasons? Lower Merion High School has football games almost every weekend in the fall that are open to the public. That the board used the Roxborough High School shooting as fodder to cancel a beloved tradition is a shameful bit of rhetorical scapegoating. If what happened in Roxborough was the real concern, wouldn’t it make sense to cancel all the football games rather than the annual Halloween parade? Or does the football team make money for the district in a way Halloween parades do not?
If what happened in Roxborough was your real concern, wouldn’t it make sense to cancel all the football games rather than the annual Halloween parade?
The board also fanned the flames of a (fake) culture war by claiming the canceled parade was to help working parents. This pronouncement plays into the misogynistic trope that working parents (read: moms) and our kids are emotional wrecks because we can’t be at every school event.
It’s hard not to see the board’s move as ideological, rather than inclusive. The Lower Merion school board, in canceling the parade, is being intolerant of everybody who celebrates Halloween. And the New Left is perfectly fine with intolerance, as long as it’s directed at the right people.
I can’t help but wonder if the Lower Merion school board handpicked Halloween to cancel because of the Americanness of how we celebrate. The holiday in its current form evolved from the Celtic pagan religious festival of Samhain that 19th-century Irish immigrants brought with them to the United States.
Americans are globally renowned, and a bit of a global curiosity, for the “extra” way we celebrate. Some other countries — including the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates — are even upping their Halloween game to be on par.
It is perfectly fine for a parent to have their kid sit out Halloween for any reason. But canceling a beloved, local Halloween tradition when the vast majority of the nation plans to celebrate the holiday seems like the school board is looking for a culture war that wasn’t there to begin with.
None of the kids in Lower Merion is better off because of the board’s decision. Rather, as President Obama rightly pointed out, they’re probably just walking on eggshells like the rest of us.
But at least the Lower Merion kids are learning the most important lesson of the intolerance of the left — that everyone, including children, shares equally in its misery.