Letter: Negative Campaigning Is Not a Treat
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To the Editor:
Last week, in Williamstown and surrounding areas, Halloween became political.
When one of the authors of this letter went to a friend's party after trick-or-treating, he found a pack of M&Ms in his candy bag with a little note that stated: "Hillary for Prison 2016." It was outrageous. Halloween is for kids, not for campaigning. We feel that expressing your views about the election through children is inappropriate; if you want to express your feelings you should find a more reasonable way. The person was irresponsible when they did that.
The next day, in our fifth-grade class, we learned we weren't the only ones to get this "treat." There was a range of feelings. A few were unbothered by the note; many others were offended and some even felt that the statement is predatory. If our younger siblings got this message, they would feel terrified and scared. They might even cry. One of our friends got this note and he felt indignant and bewildered.
Hillary wasn't the only target of negative campaigning.
We heard of another house in our county that had a spinning wheel that decided what kind of candy you got. If you landed on Trump, you got Dum-Dums. If you landed on Clinton, you got Smarties. In school, we work hard to end bullying. Yes, Dum-Dums are candy, but it is essentially calling Trump dumb and Clinton smart. This is a great example of what we are trying to stop.
Both of these "treats" are bad role models for kids. They show us that you don't need to take responsibility for your actions or your political views. The people behind these acts are not articulating their political views in a productive way. They are using kids as tools in their campaign.
This is NOT OK.
Signed,
Concerned 5th graders
Williamstown, Mass.
We have been informed that this letter was composed by a group of fifth-graders who worked hard and used a thesaurus to make their point heard. We applaud their efforts.
Tags: election 2016, letters to the editor,
