What's your opinion? We'd like to know. (tm)

[surrealestate]

If you need to expand on your answers, you can leave a comment. As always, anonymous comments are enabled.

[Poll #1371263]

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Dead veterans are more likely to trigger outrage than zombies on Easter. People care less about Jesus than Grandpa.

both are offensive

[cthulhia]

but, I guess easter more so since I will be out of town that weekend spending time with family.

Maybe if they held it on the nearest full moon, around sunset, that would be way cooler. >.>

[thespian.livejournal.com]

this.

[ifotismeni]

i think both are offensive to be honest. not "get up all in arms and huffy puffy" offensive, but just "severely poor taste" offensive.

[gilana]

The point of Easter is that Jesus died and was resurrected. Is there something I don't know about our veterans...?

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I feel like "rising from the dead" and "Easter" are things that are actually often mentioned in the same sentence.

Seriously, I actually care a lot more about whether people are hurt (which I can imagine a parent or kid of a vet being by people pretending to be undead soldiers) than whether they're offended (which is what I imagine people would be by undead Jesus jokes).

[ron_newman]

But not an issue unless the march passes by a cemetery where veterans are buried. These are much easier to avoid than churches.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

They died and weren't?

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Jesus invented zombies, so that makes it very appropriate.

It would make more sense to have this on a non-holiday/day of note though. The organizers were not thinking very well.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And for people who have loved ones serving in war zones, it may be hard to appreciate a zombie march on Memorial Day.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

You've clearly never seen Zombie Soldiers

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

oops, replied to wrong person :D

[gilana]

Well, sure, but the kind of key thing about zombies is that they they are resurrected, not just that they're dead. So I don't see a real parallel for Memorial Day.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

The people who get worked up over something like this would get worked up no matter WHERE you held it.

[ron_newman]

The Easter issue arose because the march passes by numerous churches, some possibly at a time when people would be leaving services.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You see, that, to me, just makes it funnier.

If they're really worried about this, the organizers should just reschedule to a random Saturday.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

this. Personally, I don't know if I'd call it offensive, but I do think it's kinda like screaming "hey Christians! Here's what we think of your Jesus!"

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Or unless someone special decides to dress up as a zombie soldier. :P

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I will say one thing. A zombie McCain is always in good taste.

[ifotismeni]

which is why personally if i were a member of those churches, i'd interpret such a march as a giant "fuck you."

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

No, dude, Jesus hates zombies.

[skreeky]

I totally didn't make any connection between zombies and the Christ resurrection AT ALL and I was raised extremely religious Xtian. It took me several minutes to figure out why this the least bit offensive to anyone, unless it's the whole "pretending to be zombies and witches and things is satanic and therefore evil" tripe that we got on Halloween, and that would apply equally any day of the year, so, Huh? Or maybe they're offended because we're supposed to be in church that day, not running around having fun?

Even after I made the connection between Undead and Resurrection, I'm still not really seeing why this is offensive. No one is saying that Christ (believed to be real and truly raised from the dead to be a fully living person again) is a Zombie (a completely fictional being that is a dead body being animated by supernatural forces having nothing to do with the person whose body that was when it was alive).

I really do think that some people Get Offended simply because they enjoy Being Offended. It's a terrific way to feel superior to other people, after all.

--

Compare to Memorial Day, which is about mourning death, not celebrating eternal life - here I can see the offensiveness because making light of death on a day when there is so much pain regarding it belittles the sorrow. It's not quite as bad as Zombie-ing through an actual funeral procession, but the spirit is the same.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Both are offensive, IMHO.

And even more offensive is the attempted back-pedaling by the organizers to try and suggest that Easter sunday really is all about Ostara as a resurrection themed event.

Funny, Ostara isn't celebrated on the first sunday after the 14th day of the new moon after 21 March, it's celebrated as close to the equinox as possible.

His justification is so much CYA.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have thought a zombie march funny. Fun, perhaps but not funny.

It never occurred to me either that a Memorial Day zombie march might be offensive. After all, zombies aren't dead, just undead, and Memorial Day remembers people who have given their lives in service to their country. It isn't a remember the dead day, per se. Whereas Easter commemorates someone who died and rose from the dead, and I would find the suggestion that he is zombie-like offensive.

Of course, you know my bias.

[ron_newman]

for Memorial Day, there's a distinction between the original official Memorial Day (May 30) and the day it's actually observed (last Monday in May, this year May 25).

Somerville has its Memorial Day parade on the Sunday of that weekend (this year, May 24). It goes through Davis Square, so any conflicting event that day would be a bad idea.

Cambridge's Memorial Day parade is a much smaller deal than Somerville's. I think it occurs on the observed Monday, and passes through Harvard Square.