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Ignorance, paranoia over phony Halloween sex-offender 'threat' more frightening than ghosts and goblins

I wrote last week that I expected more media hype surrounding the phony-baloney non-threat of registered sex offenders assaulting trick-or-treaters on Halloween, and sure enough the stories are rolling in like the tide. Just looking at recent Texas examples, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Perhaps most startlingly, in El Paso a TV station reports that law enforcement is so enamored of the prohibition of Halloween decorations, they're considering similar rules for Christmas! (To stave off the rampant assaults of carolers, perhaps?)In this sense, Stephen Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive" this weekend in D.C. is incredibly well timed. OTOH, at least a few folks out there are beginning to counter these absurd memes. In the Wall Street Journal today, Lenore Skenazy, who blogs at Free-Range Kids, has an excellent column titled "'Stranger Danger' and the Decline of Halloween" (found via the blog Sex Offender Issues) in which she offers the insightful observation that "Halloween is the day when America market-tests parental paranoia...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on October 27, 2010 (boomark / email).