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Vile vial!
The vials of candy blood in my girls’ Halloween treat bags finally put me over the edge. They were labeled, “Crime Scene Evidence: Blood Sample.”
I like Halloween, really. It’s always been one of my favorite days of the year. Not for the gore or the freak show it’s become, but for the opportunity to dress up and be whatever or whomever I want. (For the record, if I had a dollar for every time I dressed up like a woman, I could almost buy a full tank of gas for our van. And, somehow, it did nothing to confuse my sexual orientation. Nor did my daughter’s Buzz Lightyear costume affect her identity. So, leave little “Daphne” alone!)
I understand the fascination with vampire blood or even a little zombie blood. It’s still gross, but not disturbing – it’s make believe and something from ghost story lore. But clearly this tube of “sour cherry liquid candy” is supposed to be evidence from the scene of a homicide. I can handle stupid gross stuff, but anything that mocks homicide is very disturbing to me.
The vile vials came in treat bags from a party we attended. To receive them at an adult party would be in poor taste, but at a children’s party is over-the-top twisted. And I don’t fault the people who gave it away, as it most likely came in some sort of grab bag of party candy and was an innocent oversight. The bigger question is why a candy manufacturer thought this was a good idea. People get all bent out of shape about candy cigarettes (which aren't a great idea), but I think this is far more troubling.
Clearly I’m ultra-sensitive to anything that tries to pass off homicide as entertainment. Seventeen years ago, my wife’s sister was murdered, and from the time we started dating, my eyes have been opened to how prevalent homicidal themes are in our culture and how numb people can become to its reality. We can’t tolerate watching movies that depict any sort of violence. And since we don’t watch much TV, we’re not bombarded with incessant violent images, like some families.
However, I watched a bit of the World Series this year and was amazed by the stream of commercials for cop dramas and CSI-type shows that showed bloated dead bodies, and murder victims splayed out on the floor. And some people get freaked-out if their kid sees an exposed breast? Please! But the bound and gagged young woman with the slashed throat is OK?
According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may:
• become "immune" or numb to the horror of violence
• gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems
• imitate the violence they observe on television; and
• identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers.I “get” that violence and murder have been the subject of novels, plays, poems, and sacred texts for thousands of years. I’ve seen or read most of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Violence is one of the realities and conundrums of our human nature, and we’re fascinated by things we could never imagine doing ourselves. The solving of the mystery I accept as entertainment, but watching the violent act or stumbling upon the bloody aftermath as some sort of creepy voyeur is never entertaining.
I’m a sucker for a comedy and a happy ending.
That is a pretty tacky "treat" to give to kids, but I don't even really like the gory costumes that are available to kids to wear for Halloween anyways. That is just me though. On the other hand, I am very guilty of reading crime drama books and watching "Criminal Minds". It isn't for the gore though, I like the science of trying to solve the crime. I am mindful of what my kids watch on television, as well as video games and such. We don't have any violent video games here, no matter how much begging."Crime scene evidence"? Really? That's just beyond insensitive. I too have a problem with killing for entertainment, although I love detective stories and some cop TV shows. But I refuse to watch slasher films, because I just don't understand how creative forms of taking human life constitute entertainment.My sister was murdered in 1998, so I know how things like this can feel. I'd be upset, but sometimes it's hard for those who haven't gone through a tragedy like that to realize how much pain and suffering it causes people. That tube up there almost looks homemade... weird.Ick. That's gross. I would throw it directly in the trash. And I'm sorry to hear about your wife's sister. So sad.These aren't home made. I looked on line, and there's a whole line of products like the "crime scene candy kit" that includes candy blood, candy urine, and candy saliva. Mmmm... nothing says "yummy" like candy urine. Oh, and there are also candy blood bags.What kind of sick mind thinks up things like this? Candy urine? I get that sometimes kids--especially tweens--like the things that are just gory and gross, but this is beyond the pale. If you don't mind sharing this information, what manufacturer is behind this? I'm thinking they need to receive a truckload of letters from bewildered (for lack of a better word) parents.
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