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A Brooklyn high school student was reprimanded by school officials for coming to school in a Hitler costume. The Post reports that 16 year old Walter Pertyk was taken out of his second period English class at Leon M. Goldstein High School (named after a "prominent Jewish educator") over his Halloween garb.
"Excuse me, fuhrer, can I talk to you for a minute?" is how Petryk recalled the dean, Paul Puglia, summoning him out of class.Wow, Dean Puglia is pretty funny. And clearly Pertyk knew he would push buttons, since he dressed as Charlie Chaplin on the subway and on the way to school. But his parents supported his costume. Stepfather Howard Bloom, who lost relatives during the Holocaust, said, "If he had wanted to advocate my genocide, I wouldn't have allowed [the costume]. That wasn't the spirit in which he was doing this at all. He was doing it in the spirit of Monty Python and Mel Brooks." We suppose being "Young Frankenstein" for Halloween was too obvious.Puglia then allegedly asked, "Are you out of your mind, you idiot?" and ordered him to the office with, "Consider yourself my prisoner of war."
Pertyk said he understood the concerns of administrators that faculty members had lost relatives in the Holocaust. But he maintained the costume was a parody protected under his right to free expression, and refused to take it off.
"I figured somebody would say something eventually, but I really do believe that people have a right to express themselves," said Petryk, an aspiring comedy writer who counts Mel Brooks, "Weird Al" Yankovic and the Monty Python cast among his idols.
It sounds typical of high school behavior - the desire to provoke and spend the time to grow out a mini-mustache for a Halloween costume. Pertyk says his classmates liked his getup (when he arrived to first period, "everybody was laughing"), but other students said they understood the faculty's reaction. The Department of Education said that the school followed proper procedures. We wonder if the school would have let people dressed as Saddam, Stalin, or Mao get away with those costumes.
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As stupid and inflammatory as it is, he should be allowed to wear it as long as it does not disrupt school business.
But he should know an asskicking is sure to follow after school.
An asskicking by who? The week-kneed Jewish kids?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Is it apropos that someone's freedom of expression, in this case dressing up as the leader of a totalitarian system, is squelched by our democratic system? (Not to get all junior-high liberal on this shit.)
Prince Harry did it first!
I know, what is with those week-kneed Jewish kids?! Like they don't need knees on the weekends too.
I gotta say, the charlie chaplin costume looked a lot better.
Good for the kid. The dean was an asshole.
The genius of Mel Brooks is he takes what he should fear and what he should hate and makes a big fat joke out of it. If the kid was, in fact, a neo-Nazi or a skinhead, this would be different.
Nazi want fear and loathing. So instead of turning this into a lesson on parody and how you can take on what scares you with it (not to mention free expression), the dean thinks everyone is as dense as he is and stomps on the kid. Nice job. Good lesson in repression.
I say the kid should dress up as the dean next year.
Hopefully Gothamist will monitor this discussion for the inevitable anti-Semitism to come.
How exactly is this in the "spirit of Monty Python and Mel Brooks"? Did he have a skit that this was an integral part of? And how about the parents having some concern that the kid is going to get his ass kicked by anyone else that might deem the costume that offensive? It isn't like the Jews were the only ones killed during the Holocaust and no other groups have appropriated the symbols of the Third Reich since then.
If he didn't have the balls to wear the Hitler costume on the subway, he could not have been that passionate about the point he was trying to make.
PS - I'm failing to see the Mel Brooks connection. Did he have skates on? Anything that would make it a paraody? No? This kid's a dick.
i dont know what all THE FUROR is about.
HEY-O!
Unless the kid was heading to school in Williamsburg or Midwood, I really doubt he would've gotten his ass kicked. The reformed/conservative Jews wouldn't give a shit. It's the orthodox Jews that'll beat the shit out of him.
I'm kinda divided on this myself. #8 and #9 have good points, but is it right for the dean to punish the kid without providing a little much-needed education? Then again, judging from the parents it seems like junior was raised in a barn or something. Still, you can't legislate hate/stupidity out of existence. I think the principal meant well but I don't know if it was the right thing to do.
"We wonder if the school would have let people dressed as Saddam, Stalin, or Mao get away with those costumes."
Why don't you dress up as Genral Lee complete with a rebel flag and see how well that flies in the public schools.
You musta been living under a rock for the past five years. Kids risk getting beat up just for having the name "Osama."
The kid's a dick, why didn't he wear it going to school during rush hour. How bout doin the salute while he's at it in the middle of the Diamond or Garment district.
he's going to be another republican ass in an ivy league school startin shit when there's no shit to start. nothing new.
Prince Harry went there and did that years ago, as did Cartman from South Park, for that matter. Nothing novel here.
I thought costumes are supposed to be scary? Isn't Hitler scary? What's the problem here? Get a grip people. If he dressed up as Stalin would people be up in arms? He killed more people.
plenty of totalitarian types wouldn't raise any hackles. pinochet (that'd be kinda generic) or che (saw one last night) wouldn't even raise an eyebrow.
So the article says "...the costume was a parody..."
What exactly was the parody? That the kid dressed as Charlie Chaplin and then revealed himself to be Hitler? There's no joke, thus whatever. At least Mel Brooks created a context.
As someone who grew up in the neighborhood, I'd like to point out that at the west end of Shore Boulevard near where JHS 43 is located is a Holocaust rememberance memorial. What the heck was this jerk thinking?
"Get a grip people. If he dressed up as Stalin would people be up in arms?"
Actually, yes. Manhattan Beach--like neighboring Brighton Beach--is filled with lots of Russian immigrants. Many of whom are Jewish and came to the U.S. escape persecution in the U.S.S.R. In fact, the neighborhood could almost be called a neo-Russian version of the classic Lower East Side.
If he dressed as Stalin I'm quite confident the Russian gang members who hang outside the Odessa Restaurant and/or the pool hall at the corner of Brighton Beach and Ocean Avenue would have gone berzerk on this idiot.
If the defenders of this jerk are confident about the parody aspect of this, why not head over to East Flatbush dressed in Klan and/or Confederate garb.
what if he dressed like a hezbollah suicide bomber with fake dynamite but in the spirit of parody? would that be alright? NO? then shut up.
I dunno what's more boring. This stunt or the feigned outrage coming out of it.
"If the kid was, in fact, a neo-Nazi or a skinhead, this would be different."
I wonder if that doesn't hit it on the head, but ironically so. In a public school system, can administrators really be expected to judge the intent of all speech? (Especially amongst teens, who are frequently disingenuous about their intentions.) For example, is it OK to say the N-word all you want, as long as you then claim you "don't mean it *that* way."
It's nearly impossible to know how many people have been killed by witches or vampires, and yet no one has a problem letting these monsters in our schools. Where's the equity?
Um... anyone else remember Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator?
Hello, Dean! You're a stupid head!
Are you people serious? You don't see a problem with this? His parents are as nutty as he is. And, by the way - public school students have pretty scaled-back First Amendment rights. Jackassery isn't always protected by the Constitution.
I want to meet the dean - I thought what he said to the kid was absolutely hysterical.
I think it says quite a bit about where this country's going (and the changing demographics of NYC) when the (brilliant!) costume in Jake Dobkin's "Best of Halloween 2006" post provokes more outrage than a genocidal maniac.
Well-put, Ethos.
Except for the brilliant part about the other costume ;).
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Are you people serious? You don't see a problem with this? His parents are as nutty as he is.
Yeah, free expression advocates. What LOONS!!
wasn't this all already covered in a movie? Fifty year typical high schooler joke still invoking the same desired reaction.
Are any of you (who are calling him a moron, etc.) planning on seeing Borat?
This might not seem relevant. (Sorry, Jen!) But I think that it is.
Side note: The Post, oh so classy.
This is just another story in a long line of stories about today's youth desperately looking for attention any way they can-- even if it's negative attention. Last week 3 girls got dressed up in nude-colored costumes at school and their picture made the newspapers and evening news. Now this kid gets his 15 seconds of inexplicable fame. In a few years he'll probably write a book about this and make millions.
Stop giving these idiots a platform to display their desperation. I bet there's a bunch of kids right now that are already concocting a way to one-up these idiots for Halloween next year...
I would hardly put this high school kid, who simply wanted to stir up emotions and fall back on "free speech," on the same level as Borat, whose character exposes the ignorance, prejudice, and idiocy of all sorts of people. (His "Throw the Jew Down the Well" song draws out the anti-Semitism of his American audience.)
A Hitler costume, devoid of contest, is simple provocation. Borat may seem crass, but much of what the character does is cultural and political satire.
Public schools are not always protected by first amendment or any constitutional rights. Public schools fall under institutions and in most cases, free expression is not part of the standard institution. Nor is the second amendment of "right to bear arms".
i think schools need to start posting signs inside or outside of their rules and regs.
It's a costume. People wear costumes on halloween. Next year the kids should wear Paul Puglia idiot costumes.
*Are any of you (who are calling him a moron, etc.) planning on seeing Borat?*
Borat cannot in anyway be compared to Hitler.
--
The post is good for two things classy or not: local news and sports.
I am not comparing Borat to hitler. Not at all. But he does cross an uncomfortable line a lot of the time much like this teenager has. That's indisputable.
However, how can you tell a kid he can't dress up as Hitler when Halloween by definition (much of the time) is the celebration of horror? What's the difference between dressing up as Dahmer, John Wayne Gacey, the make believe guy from Scream, a zombie, Manson, or the BTK killer and dressing up as Hitler? Why is Hitler off limits entirely?
I'm not saying it's a good costume or that he wasn't looking for attention, but to have him take his constume off just because he went as Hitler on a day where countless others are going as people (or monsters) who kill people seems really unfair to me.
It's about horror. He may have lacked decorum, sure, but assuming all kids are going to go as Harry Potter is just insane.
By "he" (crossing the uncomfortable line) I meant Borat, not Hitler.
Hey Sy:
"The week-kneed Jewish kids" can be found here:
http://www.jewishboxers.com/
"However, how can you tell a kid he can't dress up as Hitler when Halloween by definition (much of the time) is the celebration of horror? What's the difference between dressing up as Dahmer, John Wayne Gacey, the make believe guy from Scream, a zombie, Manson, or the BTK killer and dressing up as Hitler? Why is Hitler off limits entirely?"
1. I think we can all distinguish the "make-believe guy from Scream" and zombies from Adolf Hitler. They are fake, he was all-too-real. There is a difference between horror for entertainment and being starved, raped, gassed, beaten, and tortured along with your entire family.
2. I think there's a huge difference between killing, say, 20 people and 6 million people, the latter largely (not entirely, I know) because they were Jewish. With that said, I also think dressing as a serial killer is, at best, in poor taste.
ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DRESS-UP LIKE A FASCIST, TORTURING BASTARD THAT LIKES TO INVADE COUNTRIES AND MURDER INNOCENT PEOPLE SHOULD CONSIDER A GEORGE W BUSH COSTUME.
I get it, Eric. So you sort of agree with Ms. Silverman.
Sarah Silverman: [talking about her niece] She called me up and she's like, "Aunt Sarah, did you know that Hitler killed sixty million Jews." And I corrected her and I said, "You know, I think he's responsible for killing six million Jews." And she said, "Oh yeah! Six million! I knew that but seriously, I mean, what's the difference?" "Uh, the difference is sixty million is unforgivable, young lady!"
In case you're not aware, Hitler and his Nazi's were responsible for about 20-30 million killings during World War II, this does not obviously soley include the jews.
I saw a few Dahmer's and Gacy's last night in the parade. I also saw a few Hitler's.
However, public space such as 6th avenue is not the same as public school. Not even by a long shot. As I stated above, public schools do not fall into the same rights as public space when it comes to the constitutional rights.
Hitler does fall into the catagory of horror, but not halloween horror as most of halloween horror is obvious fiction. How do you define it? Would it be safe to say a white kid dressing up as a KKK member with a white sheet, a cross and black doll in a nuse is not acceptable? or a black kid showing up as a rapist with a white blowup doll as his parodied victim? All three are unacceptable in the geberal public because of our society, yes it's your constitutional right, but morally, in public, is it?
The Hitler costume this kid wore was him trying to make a moot point. It's been done a thousand time over—every year you hear about some punk kid pulling this stunt. If he was so passionate abou this constitutional rights he would have wore Hitler to school on the train and not used Charlie Chaplin as a cover.
Out of pure curiousity, was anyone who is anti-this costume get their panties equally in a bunch over "Spider Hole Saddam" costumes a couple years ago?
Like I said, I don't disagree with the poor taste part. I'm a big advocate for the social contract. This kid was looking for attention. I agree.
Honestly, though, this is one of those typical internet discussions I promised that I wouldn't get into again. So, I'm dropping out of this one. There is never a right or wrong answer. People will do and think whatever they want. Lord knows, my opinions change daily especially living in NYC.
Just know that I'm not pro-Hitler nor do I think Hitler is like Borat, I was just trying to show another side.
Carry on.
[24] Samantha T - I totally agree with everything you said. Especially the jackassery part. ;-) I think the dean should get a medal.
30 million? When you make up facts and numbers, your whole argument becomes specious.
Research by some of the worlds most able historians place the number of Holocaust victims murdered by German government policy to be not less than twelve million, with Jews estimated at 5,709,329.
He's an aspiring comedy writer? I wish him luck in the tough world of entertainment - a predominantly Jewish industry! What a loser.
READING COMPREHENSION!
I didn't say the holocaust alone. I said World War II, which is the direct responsibility of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Actually, I underestimated the total deaths in WWII (including holocaust)
here's a few figures:
Military Deaths-Total: 24,500,000
Civilian Deaths-Total: 32,330,000
Holocaust (Jews)-Total: 5,800,000
Total deaths during WWII: 62,500,000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
I would say, dressing as Adolf Hitler is bad taste and disrupts the educational process of any institution, public or private. It also does not fall under any constitutional right in a public school, i.e. institution.
While I think the costume is in bad taste, what he did wasn't inherently wrong and he was exercising his freedom of speech in a way that was safe for him. For those who don't know much about film history, Charlie Chaplin did a movie called "The Great Dictator" that was a satire of Hitler and the Nazis. For the student to link his Hitler costume with Chaplin was very smart because it brought back the satire to the whole situation. That's how it's in the vein of Mel Brooks and Monty Python. Honestly, I'd worry for that school because they are going to go through an expensive lawsuit that they will not win.
Alert the presses! Mihow is dropping out of the discussion. Thank you for letting us know.
Oh yeah, sure. They have 5,709,329 names of people killed. A number like that is a precise count, not an estimate.
Lots of Jews died. But they don't know how many to that level of accuracy. Millions died. That is really all that can be said.
#49: *While I think the costume is in bad taste, what he did wasn't inherently wrong and he was exercising his freedom of speech in a way that was safe for him.*
Please read the other comments and or do some research before posting "constitutional rights" rhetoric.
I do believe in constitutonal rights without a doubt, but when they're not valid it's a hard argument to follow. Eg. If you're arrested and have no ID, there's no constitutional right that says you are entitled to an attorney. No ID no counsel. A good example of this were the arrests made during the RNC of 2004.
Maybe this kid should just dress up as a superhero next time. I hear Captain Underpants is popular...
Freedom of expression is not absolute (see Schneck v US, 1919; Feiner v NY, Tinker v. Des Moines, 1969). And what exactly was the young man expressing? If he was aiming for satire, it was lost on his audience comprised of young people ranging in emotional and intellectual maturity that did not choose to participate in the satire (unlike ticket buyers that purchase the messages conveyed by Sasha Baron Cohen and Mel Brooks). Further, the young man put both himself at risk as well as others and the school was justified in its actions. I am certain that the school would have done the same if a student appeared as a Klansman or Stalin. Recall also, NYC fired off duty police officers for wearing blackface and re-enacting a hate crime. The question you may wish to ask is: Is a free society ever justified in restricting civil liberties?
some years ago.
So the kid dressed up as Hitler. Big deal, It was a costume for halloween . Get a f*cking grip people ! Was he disturbing class with the outfit ? No. It's not like he was wearing this everyday . Talk about overreacting .
i completly agree with #55 it is a halloween costume that is all. if he wore it on a regular day i can understand calling it disruptive or inapropriate or w.e but it is halloween. if a person running around in a scream constume doesnt bother anybody what makes this guy anyworse. also i feal that if someone was to get offended by the constume they should have taken that up with him but from what a read all the kids in the class found it ammusing hence the spirit of halloween. I'm sure there must have been at least 1 jewish kid in that class. furthoremore im jewish and it doesnt bother me because he made his intentions very clear that he was not doing it to be prejudice but for humor. i think it is absolutly fine what he did and what the dean did; kicking him out of school had no grounds and was completly wrong.
Honestly, this kid is a pussy. He knew it was wrong, which is why he covered it up with the Charlie Chaplin costume on the way to school. If he felt it was okay, he wouldn't have needed a disguise. I wonder how soon after he got called on it did he drop the dime to the Post.
I am shocked how the media is crucifying this poor kid! I'm sure he didn't really mean to dress like Hitler... he was probably just drunk at the time, and we all know how that makes you do things you normally wouldn't do... ;)
I can't believe how the media's crucifying this poor kid... I'm sure he didn't mean to dress like Hitler. Maybe he was just drunk at the time!
It wasn't anything offensive he was just being a kid and having fun. Not to make fun of the the events that happened to the Jews
Why does it matter if he is jewish or not? I don't see why being a member of a group entitles you to special or extended right to free speech. That in and of itself is discrimination. The idea that only certain people are allowed to say certain things is another way to divide ourselves.
I am ashamed of the ADL and their vengeful attack against a 16 year old kid, as if he is the cause of anti-semitism or even indicative of it. Is the ADL trying to get people to never acknowledge Hitler existed? Or trying to control all images of Hitler and similar figures?
As a teacher, i think his costume would have been a great opportunity for a jumping off point for any number of class lessons and discussions in history, literature, social studies, and current events: for a class on WWII, the Holocaust, and Hitler, and free speech. We could discuss why some people would find it offensive based on history, the holocaust and current events, the satire aspect by discussing the represantions of jews for satire/parody in WWII. We could discuss free speech rights and the battles over them.
Suffice to say that instantly condemning anyone who does something offensive, especially as a child, does nothing to help our society. Especially at a time when our civil liberties are being eroded by the current administration.
Though i feel mentioning this invalidates much of my arguments, i would like to point out that i am a practiing jew. Challah!
#61,
Really good points, but I still don't buy that this kid was totally innocent/ignorant of what he was doing, and I think on some level he should be taken to task for it.
Here's a Halloween costume with an amazing philsophical exercise: Go to your government school (socialist school) in a costume of the National Socialist German Workers' Party and for the entire evening never say the word "Nazi." Introduce yourself to everyone thusly "Hi, I'm with the National Socialist German Workers' Party." If anyone asks "What is your costume?" answer "The National Socialist German Workers' Party." On your costume's right chest/pocket have the phrase "National Socialist German Workers' Party" but no mention of the word "Nazi" anywhere. If someone points to the label and says "what does that mean?" answer "that is my costume." If someone says "Is your costume that of a Nazi?" answer "I'd prefer you say 'National Socialist German Workers' Party' or simply 'National Socialist.'" If anyone uses the word "Nazi," say "The National Socialist German Worker's Party never referred to themselves as 'Nazis,' they referred to themselves as 'National Socialists.'" If anyone uses the word "fascist," say "The National Socialist German Worker's Party never referred to themselves as 'fascists,' they referred to themselves as 'National Socialists.'" You will be amazed at how few people know of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. You will also be amazed that the people who do know are very unhappy to see or hear the full phrase mentioned. You might also be amazed at how hard it is to not say "Nazi." Learn more about theselective amnesia and media misinformation about the horrid National Socialist German Workers' Party. Of course, they will also know nothing about the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): 62 million dead under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 49 million dead under the Peoples' Republic of China; 21 million dead under the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSGWP). That is why you can go as Stalin or Mao and no one will care. In fact no one will even know who you are. But you will be persecuted in the socialist school if you wear the National Socialist costume after you walk past the school's high chain-link fences, past the assembly-line searches of students, past the metal detectors, the hand-wanding, and the x-rays of purses and backpacks, past the video surveillance cameras in the hallways, past the police dogs sniffing lockers and youngsters, and finally past all the locked doors and into the classroom, where you can wear it during the robotic chanting of the Pledge of Allegiance to the USA's growing police state, and later when you are asked for a urine sample for mandatory drug testing. If you perform the straight-arm salute during the robotic chanting of the Pledge, no one will realize that it used to be the actual early salute of the Pledge 3 decades before the NSGWP existed, and that the Pledge was the origin of the straight-arm salute of the NSGWP and was written by a self-proclaimed national socialist in the USA 3 decades before the NSGWP existed.
What incerdible emotion a costume brings about. Someone asked if those comedians, monty python, etc. ever did skits about Hitler? YES, Hilter in england, great skit. The fact is THAT is comedy. Take a string of things proportional, and throw one thing way out of wack. Do comedians offend? Yes, of course, thats thier purpose. Imagine dressing like bush and visting just about 75% of the globe, someone might see it as funny, but the guy would probably get a severe beating, at least. The point is it's a matter of perspective. Everything people do these days offends someone. At least while some people are getting offended, others can laugh.
Give the kid a break. It is not like he was throwing any little jewish kids into the cafeteria oven.
Give the kid a break. It's not like he was throwing any little jewish kids into the cafeteria oven.
seriously no one should take this article seriously i went to skool with walter and this never happened, Puglia never sed any of that and it was in the hallway that he was stopped. The initial problem was that he would offend ppl the staff didnt have much problems with the costume, and the newspaper didnt noe till the 3days later. The media had to make the story more interesting in order to sell papers. As far as punishment went, he didnt recieve any, only problem was that halloween was now canceld as a dress up day