"This deranged individual was looking to create fear and anxiety. We don't believe that he is a student, rather an outside provocateur."
Said Rabbi Mendel Matusof said, quoted in "UW-Madison releases statement after Adolf Hitler costume seen on State Street" (WKOW).
Here's a Reddit discussion — replete with a photograph of the person wearing a Hilter costume on State Street. I found that via this other Reddit discussion, where somebody says, "If it's any consolation, I was told by a bartender on State Street that the dude got his ass kicked."
UPDATE: Channel 3000 quotes the police report, which makes 3 important points:
1. Wearing a Hitler costume is protected speech, so no crime has been reported.
2. Even though "no reports received by MPD rise to the level of a prosecutable crime," it nevertheless identified the person and interviewed him.
3. It turns out that this person "has a cognitive impairment due to a past traumatic brain injury."
ALSO: Who called the police on a guy in a bad costume? Did anyone call the police on the person who beat up this mentally impaired person?
Posts
90 comments:
I’ll probably see dozens of kids dressed as Ho’s, devils and such today when I’m handing out treats to kids.
As a Christian am I allowed to be offended?
"Even a holiday which celebrates debauchery, irreverence, and immature or dark humor should have no place for words or actions of hate."
...
replete with a photograph of the person wearing a Hilter costume on State Street
Let me know when everyone with a "Che" shirt on is banned for their "actions of hate"
Until then?
GFY, Lefties
Is it "hate" though, and not just a joke in poor taste?
Hate? Hate? HATE?
"I hate Hitler so I mock him in the fashion of Hogan's Heroes" one might say?!?!
The guy did a fair job with the costume.
What is the problem with going out as Hitler for Halloween?
Would there be similar problems with dressing up as Jeffrey Dahmer?
oh wait...
What about an Obama mask on a rodeo clown?
Fascists don't like humor of any kind being directed at them. But Obama loved making jokes about other people.
Just dressing up like a National Socialist doesn't automatically make you a democrat. But there is a lot of overlap in that Venn Diagram.
So what? If you have free speech this is the kind of thing you put up with. It's a guy dressed as Hitler. Not remotely scary.
You know who else wore a Hitler costume to a party? Hitler!
Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), Inequity, and Exclusion (DIE). #HateLovesAbortion
Rabbi Mendel Matusof is making a public fool of himself. Doesn't he have better things to do with his time?
He reminds me of that Yale student, Jerelyn Luther, who made a public fool out of herself by complaining about Halloween costumes.
How much fear was there if he got beaten up? He inspired some primitive emotions, but I don't think fear was a top one. There was probably more joy in seeing someone who could be beaten with a small chance of repercussions.
On the flipside Trick or treat in Milwaukee was yesterday. A little girl...maybe 3-4...came up and said the usual "Trick or Treat." I gave her some candy and she hugged my legs and said "I LOVE YOU!" I hugged her back and said "I love you too!" So sweet! She was dressed as some kind of princess.
I think a sexy Adolf Hitler costume would be okay, but only if the girl was really cute. It's in poor taste otherwise.
So no Trump costumes, either, given that he is Literally Hitler?
Say what you want about Hitler...the dude killed Hitler.
He was dressed as an economist / painter / anthropologist.
It's too bad the Rabbi is so clueless about the origins of Halloween, the night before the Christian celebration of All Saints' Day. It's not a celebration of "debauchery".
Hitler died 77 years ago. If seeing a man in a Hitler custume, scares people - mission accomplished. Its Halloween. If its antisemtic and therefore verboten, then perhaps every documentary about Nazi Germany should be pulled from the airwaves, and all pictures of Hitler destroyed.
This country has beome moronic. Stupidity on stilts.
It's ok; the person who expressed the really bad opinion was violently physically assaulted.
If you’re going to beat up a guy for dressing like Adolph Hitler, then let us remember the Biblical injunction: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
Watch how you dress up today, ladies and cross-dressing gentleman.
Oh, and if Rabbi Matusof doesn’t like the implications of our constitutionally protected right of free speech, he is welcome to leave this country and live elsewhere. There’s a nonzero chance Israel will take him in.
Megan Markles boy Prince once wore a Hitler costume. Can we cancel both of them??
I’m so old I remember when Bugs Bunny dressed up as Hitler. Not sure what that means here, but it has to be a data point.
Everyone is a big baby now.
"UW-Madison stands against antisemitism and all forms of bigotry and discrimination.
If they perceived this to be an anti-Semitic act, why was it necessary to add the rest of the statement? I am sure that you know the reason why.
"We don't believe that he is a student, rather an outside provocateur"
Based on what? Your belief college students wouldn't do anything provocative?
You know who else wore a Hitler costume to a party? Prince Harry!
I think my response to that would've been an eye-roll. Maybe I'd ask if he was going as Hilter. But no one gets Monty Python references these days.
Too soon.
Chaplin did a visible impression.
Kill For Peace finds a way.
Enigma said..."I hate Hitler so I mock him in the fashion of Hogan's Heroes" one might say?!?!
Hogan's Heroes, which was literally made by people who fought Hitler and enjoyed by people who suffered under Hitler, couldn't be made today because it's too pro-Hitler.
“I disagree with what you choose to wear, and I will beat your ass severely if you DO wear it.”
I have seen a trend this year of small children dressed as Jeffrey Dahmer. One was carrying a bucket with "severed hands" in it. That is FAR FAR FAR more offensive than some kid wearing a costume of a guy who has been dead and harmless for nearly eight decades.
Halloween will always have wildly offensive costumes. It's part of the point of Halloween. Pushing the envelope, experimenting with taboos, blah blah blah. Other than his sensibilities -- and I have them too -- what part of the good rabbi was damaged by hearing that someone was wearing a mimicry of a guy who was an enemy of his grandparents?
Saw a meme last Friday, "Somewhere someone is planning a costume that will fuck up the rest of their life." It felt true.
Here's a Reddit discussion — replete with a photograph of the person wearing a Hilter costume on State Street.
Were Ron Vibbentrop and Heinrich Bimmler there with him?
At least he wasn't a gay prostitute.
John Cleese in Fawlty Towers. Hitler's funny walk. Mel Brooks, "The Hitler Rap" in To Be or Not To Be.Classic.
Sophomoric humor. Oops. No more humor for sophomores.
My brother's girlfriend brought her daughter and a friend over on Saturday. Both are freshman at University of Wisconsin.
They both said is sucked right now. Both got underage drinking tickets for being caught in a bar at 18 a few weeks ago. They said the cops raid the bars looking for underage drinkers and raid the frat houses too. Between COVID and the totalitarian control thirst of the administrators and liberal local government, why would these kids want to waste their money at UW? They sell prestige. Nothing more.
When I was in school in the early 90's Eastern IL, U of I, and Southern IL had bar entry ages of 18 and 19 if you had a student ID. This kept everyone corralled in the bars instead of throwing keggers around town. Made sense.
How much fear was there if he got beaten up?
He was critically afraid. Something similar happened to a Republican canvasser. And who can forget the inauguration day parade, Antifa mobbing vehicles, and Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter invading neighborhoods in the traditional DIE style.
Seen in the Castro one Hallowe’en: a yeshiva boy with shawl and locks holding hands with an adorable blonde Hitler Jugend, with those cute shorts and knee socks.
So by words or actions of hate, I doubt they mean the people that assaulted the guy enjoying the holiday, thus there is a place for it. It is just the acceptable words and actions of hate.
Is there not one photo of the person in costume? Or is it deemed too offensive to show it?
Hard to believe not a single photo exists.
Next year my brother and I are going to go as Paul Pelosi and David DePape.
Cheap costume. Tighty Whiteys. One guy wears a gray wig, one a wig with a pony tail. Couple of hammers.
Instead of saying "Trick or Treat" you can just knock on everyone's door and ask, "Where's Nancy?"
Velly interesting. Dat old Debel Jew Hatred is coming back. Where else would we expect to see it other than the Lutheran upper Midwest?
I well recall when a star Badger running back (Ron Dane?) was hit in the head with a hammer in the bar district of Madison.
Wondering if Hitler got hammered.
Oh dear, what must be think of The Producers?
Just to be Clear, though.. It's Still OKAY, to wear a shirt that says: Murder ALL Christians;
Right? i mean, right?
It’s a pervasive thought pattern repeated over and over again. You got to get violent to promote peace and harmony.
link to Darkhorse clip
Seriously, How about if you went as that D-lister 'lady'? with red hair and trump's bloody head?
That'd be Hilarious? Wouldn't it? i mean, wouldn't IT?
But I would be OK with a Mao or Stalin costume, I assume.
Who speaks for the 6mm others as well as the 90mm murdered by Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot et al?
Who complains about people masquerading as their murderers?
Oh yeah, they do not have "A World of their Own". Sorry, forgot. My bad.
John stop fascism, vote republican Henry
Or perhaps, now that Ukraine is back in fashion, a Stalin costume would receive the same opprobrium. He did murder 5mm Ukranians in the Holodomor.
Never forget.
But never forget any of the 100mm victims of socialism.
John stop fascism vote republican Henry
Have the left come out and deplored that the Hitler-costume guy got beaten for exercising his freedom of speech? I won't hold my breath on that.
Surprised one could find a Hitler costume. Does Amazon have them? (And no, I am not going to search for it lest Google chase me down until the end of time.)
Thinking back to Monty Python and Adolf Hilter characrer.
Beating up Nazi-themed costumers seems like a crime of opportunity, i.e. there are people who would love a chance to attack a weaker person w/o punishment, and that's as close as you'll find these days. Probably a pedo costume wouldn't give the same license in 2022.
But never forget any of the 100mm victims of socialism.
A subset of social progress under Maoism alone, not including reproductive justice under State's Choice, NOW her Choice with equity and inclusion... come into my parlor said the witch to the children... whack'en, hack'em, cook'em, my kiddies, and your little dog, too. Also, informed consent, safe sanctuary, retributive change.... Here's Nancy... Johnny!
Maybe he was dressed as Mel Brooks dressed as Hitler. Mel Brooks loved doing Hitler sketches.
""This deranged individual was looking to create fear and anxiety." So your response, oh esteemed rabbi, is to react in fear and anxiety? And encourage students to do the same?
Seems to me that not giving him what he wanted (if that was even his intent) would be more effective than doing so.
But not reacting to a Halloween costume with fear and anxiety might just be white male privilege.
I’d probably say to the dude, “you’d better be careful, there’s a lot of intolerance and hate around, these days”.
John henry said...
Or perhaps, now that Ukraine is back in fashion, a Stalin costume would receive the same opprobrium. He did murder 5mm Ukranians in the Holodomor.
Stalin killed those people by driving farmers off their land and starving them to death. Pol Pot did the same thing.
And at this very moment countries in Europe led by leftists in the Cult of Climate change are...
driving farmers off their land.
Discuss.
My radiologist, who specializes in treating prostate cancer, let his office staff decorate for Halloween. A candy bowl at the receptionist's desk held individually wrapped life savers and a half dozen rubber index fingers.
Not one of his prostate cancer patients thought the imagery in good taste,and every one of us laughed. Take that, Hitler!
So, leftists get to decide what is and is not acceptable for other people to wear based upon what they feel? And if said leftists don't like it, they get to kick the shit out of that person?
That's a real good way to get yourselves killed.
It’s aggressive affirmative action.
RNB already said the first thing that popped into my head -- Prince Harry!
It is hardly news that the laws are not enforced in Madison.
Aaaaargh, Paul Zrimsek beat me to it. The North Minehead By-Election!
No friendship with "benefits".
Bobbing for apples, not an urbane euphemism.
Punch, drunk humor without the darkness.
Witches and warlocks with no child, or animal, aborted, euthanized.
Wombs... rooms offered as first choice with informed consent, sanctuary, and responsibility.
Back... black holes... whores h/t NAACP are for-profit and social justice.
#MakeLoveNotAbortion
Was there anyone actually afraid of the lone person in a costume of Hitler? I can understand people being offended by the costume but actual fear? Also I believe Prince Harry once wore a Hitler or Nazi costume, what's the statute of limitations on being justified in beating someone up for wearing one of those costumes?
Not all mass murderers are equal. Highly selective outrage never seems to go out of fashion.
This story reminds me of other stories I've heard. Those stories typically take place in an Islamic country like Pakistan it involves people hearing about a person defiling the Koran or disrespecting Mohammed and then a crowd going to the offender and either beating him up or killing him.
Isn't imitation the sincerest form of mockery?
Case-in-point: White Chicks; trans-social males in feminine clothing; Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter; Democrat governors in black-face; Pride Parades sans lions, lionesses, and their [unPlanned] cubs; Diversity [dogma], Inequity, and Exclusion (DIE); over four years of nationwide insurrections, election denial, and speaking truth through projection; climate stasis; etc.
Amazon does not seem to sell Hitler costumes. Though my search brought up a very odd costume called "Anita Waxin" It is a man's costume of a blond woman in a lifeguard swimsuit with large fake breasts and HUGE tufts of fake pubic hair poking out. I think I'd prefer Hitler...
What if someone dressed up as Charlie Chaplin dressed up like Hitler?
The guy was dressed as Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator.
"Dark humor is like food; some just don't get it."
(This is usually shown on a poster with Josef Stalin.)
Did Harry get cancelled and/or have his arse kicked for his nazi costume yet?
When did we as a society decide it was OK to physically attack someone for their costume?
At first I couldn't understand why anyone would dress up as Hitler for Halloween.
Then I got to thinking that maybe it's because of our current political discourse. The Left calls the Right fascists, Nazis, and Hitler. The Right calls the Left fascists, communists, and ChiComs.
Maybe there is such hyperbole in our political discourse that dressing up as a Nazi Hitler is just a reflection of the way we talk politics nowadays.
Charlotte Rampling wore the National Socialist uniform well in the movie The Night Porter.
Bits and pieces of the uniform, anyway.
Maybe NSFW depending on where you work
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/d38cff24-5867-47a3-93ef-567d11be72e8.8f8a7dde20947f67cfa03f0747b4c4b5.jpeg?odnWidth=1000&odnHeight=1000&odnBg=ffffff
"This deranged individual was looking to create fear and anxiety. We don't believe that he is a student, rather an outside provocateur."
So what?
Rather than a beard, the good rabbi ought to grow a sense of proportion. It's Halloween, an ancient pagan festival intended to reduce Death itself to a laughing matter -- a little scare is healthy and fun.
Is Mendel Matusof a Holocaust survivor? No, he's not even forty and appears to be a frustrated grievance monger using his clerical office to stir up a lot more fear and anxiety than a Halloween Hitler could hope to create. Good work, Rabbi Shithead.
I'd like to hear from Mel Brooks on this matter. In 1983 he created a substantial ruckus among the grievance mongers when he posed for a magazine cover dressed in a very accurate Hilter costume to promote his re-make of the Jack Benny classic, To Be or Not to Be. As I recall, he was pointing out that the most effective weapon against Hitler and his followers was tragically underused by the Germans themselves. Was he right? Could Hitler have been laughed off the stage of History? Who knows, I'm too ignorant to judge. But I'm quite sure Rabbi Matusof is equally ill-equipped to judge a Halloween prank.
Reminds me a bit of the bit from "Love and Death." The difference between German Jews and Polish Jews?
German Jews have stripes, Polish Jews are the ones with horns.
I wonder if a Jud Suess getup would attract any attention?
If you feel fear and anxiety from seeing a person in a Hitler costume, I am sorry for your derangement and mental impairment. And please get some help.
A couple of years ago we had a teenager show up on Halloween in an SS uniform. My reaction was visceral. He got yelled at and no candy.
It's supposed to be fun. We get literally hundreds of kids showing up I barely tolerate the slasher costumes. I give extra to the cute or funny ones.
I rather liked the 3 embarassed looking 15 year old girls who seemed to be wearing slut costumes.
Kind of a dual purpose costume that can be interpreted as scary or ridiculous.
Butthurt was inevitable though.
Maybe an obviously Trans Hitler would be acceptable.
Who called the police on a guy in a bad costume?
A Democrat.
Who da guest you people would pick the Hitler Hill to die on?
Found the Nazi.
He was a threat to our democracy.
Thank goodness he didn't wear a Trump mask. Madison would have hung him from a lamp post and burned down the city.
Didn't Halloween and trick or treat used to be for kids? Its rather embarrasing that adults today, as in many other things, won't give up their childhood pleasures and move on. I'm trying imagine my parents putting on a Holloween costume. LOL!
Anyway, the next time I'm asked to a Costume ball, I'll put on black face and go as Justin Trudeau. The leftists won't complain.
"Didn't Halloween and trick or treat used to be for kids?"
No.
I've only known one person who dressed up as Hitler for a Halloween party. It was about 30 years ago and he was extremely far left in his politics. It's weird how people freak out when someone does something like this before they know the context. Plus, it's not like dressing up as Hitler for Halloween means that someone is going to suddenly commit war crimes. People dress up as the Devil all the time for Halloween and nobody freaks out about that.
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