Bowing to left-wing pressure, U.S. online retailer Amazon.com has taken down “wartime refugee” costumes for children on its Italian and German sites dw.com reports.
To British and American readers the move would seem to come at an odd time, but for Germans and Italians the upcoming season of Carnival is their chance to dress up.
The most interesting thing about the costumes in question are that they are obviously not meant to represent the continent’s current migrants, but Amazon has still removed them for fear of causing offence.
The boys’ costume consists of brown trousers, a white shirt, grey sleeveless jumper and a flat cap. It is something more reminiscent of wartime comedy Dad’s Army than the ongoing war in Syria. The girls costume is equally innocuous, being a long dress infinitely less flashy than anything worn by young girls today.
The costumes look old because they are based off of children from the first and second world war when both mothers and their children were often evacuated from cities targeted for bombing raids, and ended up in places less likely to be bombed like Wales or small rural towns.
The reaction from German leftists was to criticise Amazon, with one user of the site saying, “to this very day, our parents can barely mention being refugees and dispossessed, and their grandchildren are supposed to have fun with costumes?” and other users saying the costumes were in “bad taste” and that Amazon should remove them altogether.
Italians were just as upset about the costumes with Oliviero Forti, immigration division director of Caritas saying the items were “shameless” and stated to the Telegraph that, “it is a question of good taste and of having the courage in certain moments to recall products that are no longer appropriate.”
The recent movement against offending costumes has led left-libertarian American comedian Bill Maher to comment, “the PC police have to stop lecturing us on which Halloween costumes are inappropriate, or insensitive and leave Halloween to the people it was created for, middle-aged gay men.
The fake outrage people get 364 days a year to be hyper-sensitive about everything. there has to be one day where going too far isn’t just okay, it’s celebrated. Halloween is supposed to be politically incorrect, that’s why we say ‘trick or treat’ instead of ‘placate and coddle.”
Police in France also banned what they deemed as “dangerous” costumes last year as well after a teenager caused a terror scare dressed as Mr. T from the 80’s action TV programme the A-team. The French government declared that any costume with a gun, sword or knife would not be allowed stating on their twitter, “have fun, be imaginative, scare people – but don’t terrorize!”
Carnival in Venice, Italy began Sunday and lasts until February 9th and the German carnival begins in early February. The largest Carnival in German is on edge after the New Year’s Eve sex attacks in the city and warnings by a witness to them that the carnival could be even worse.
Amazon customers can rest assured that despite no longer being able to purchase the “migrant” outfits, they can still buy “sexy burkas” and “Fuck You Merkel” t-shirts.
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