Halloween is a crass American import – I'll never indulge it

verdverm

technically, American imported it from Celtic traditions and the source is much closer to home for UK https://www.historyhit.com/what-are-the-origins-of-halloween...

Kevin_Flynn

tl;dr Former editor of GQ hates America and thinks brits are dumb for having fun on Halloween. Played dress up at GQ for entire career, hates people who dress up. :|

epsteingpt

Totally crass. Who wants an excuse to have fun, have kids and co-eds dress up in flirty clothing, and eat candy? Who would EVER think that's a good idea. America sucks.

vintermann

But if we aren't homogenized, how can we market the Halloween special episodes, the Halloween merch, the Halloween hamburger menu and the Halloween latte? Thanksgiving seems to be a harder sell.

junek

Fun is cool actually. That’s my hot take

thenthenthen

In some places in Asia, Halloween is commodified and appropriated to voice dissent. It was crazy to see. It is now crushed (some times literally rip)

rayiner

It’s a collective action problem. The government should ban it.

kashunstva

Like many holidays, it can be overdone. But kids have fun; and flirty costumes aren’t required. The last time that I took my daughter out before she aged out of the tradition, we went as plague doctor and victim. We worked for weeks on the setup. It was a lot of fun for the family. The pseudo-holiday I object to is “Black Friday” which shouldn’t be a thing here in Canada, but it is now. It’s ridiculous. Our Thanksgiving is in October, not November. And given the official anti-Canadian policy in the U.S. federal government, I couldn’t be any less interested in U.S. marketing exports.

jamesholden

I personally like that people can take a day to be silly and even dress up and try things they never have before. If you don't like the commercialization of it, don't play into it. Getting some makeup and a few accessories, and making lasting memories with friends and family only sound positive to me. Perhaps this is why it is more popular now than Easter; as anyone can participate sans religion.

HWR_14

A day about eating candy, wearing fun costumes and watching a popular genre of movies is more popular than a day commemorating a failed terrorist attack in a sectarian conflict? Especially between two religious groups that have shrinking memberships in the population. Let me shake my hand at the clouds and swear my undying loyalty to how much better than me and innately deserving of rulership a specific family dynasty is.

etempleton

God forbid kids have a fun holiday to get candy and dress up.

ctmlr

Halloween was explicitly banned in New England for most of our history. I believe the Irish brought the tradition here much later and then American consumerism came along turning into what it has become Personally I'm over it, candy is bad for you anyway.

teyc

It’s a memetic spread. Businesses latched on and started selling accessories, orange pumpkins et c. Christmas trees and Santa Claus came first.