Now parents are worried their little girls want to dress as Moana for Halloween

Sadly, stupid politically correct nonsense has intruded on Halloween, in particular, the selection of costumes for the kids to wear while they go out pestering the neighbors for candy. Apparently, parents are having conniptions over whether or not their daughters should go out dressed as the latest favorite Disney princess, Moana, the heroic Polynesian navigator who braved the Pacific in the company of a deity played by Dwayne Johnson, the actor formerly known as “the Rock.” Such a thing might be considered cultural appropriation.

What is cultural appropriation?

Cultural appropriation is the latest made-up crime invented by social justice scolds to annoy people. In essence, it is taking on or enjoying someone else’s culture without permission. For instance, when I make pho tai or chicken tandoori for dinner, I am culturally appropriating from the Vietnamese and the Indians respectively. If I sing an Irish folk song after the third Guinness at my favorite pub, then I am appropriating Celtic culture, except maybe not because I am one-quarter Irish.

What does this have to do with Halloween?

In seems that a lot of people and things that the kids are clamoring to dress up as are nonwhite European, such as Moana. Disney, in its charming way of being diverse, has been making movies about heroines who are not white European, such as the spunky, Polynesian navigator.

Your average eight-year-old, who is not as woke as her parents, wants to dress up as Moana because she loved the movie and thought that the character is kinda cool. That dressing up as a Disney Princess would be wrong from a racial aspect would never occur to her unless her uptight parents tell her.

As an aside, it occurs to me that two of my nephews, with my sister’s permission, appropriated Japanese culture when they went Trick Or Treating as a pair of ninjas many years ago.

For shame.

Get a grip

Your humble correspondent has a bit of advice for parents, especially the mom who doesn’t want her little girl to be Moana because it is cultural appropriation but also not Elsa from “Frozen” because it is white privilege. Get a grip.

The whole point of dressing up for Halloween trick or treating is that one is supposed to pretend to be someone or something one is not.

Kids don’t dress up as Moana because they want to be Polynesian. They do so because they want to be a specific Disney character whom they admired from a movie they saw. It is not racist, appropriative, or anything else but charming and cute. Leave the social justice warrior nonsense at home and let your kids be kids without guilt tripping them.