Top 10 reasons to hate Halloween

Ok, I'll say it - I don't like Halloween. None of people in my family likes Halloween. Paul Bourgeois from Fort Worth Star Telegram wrote a beautiful Top Ten List to illustrate his dislike of the festival (see below). I believed I was also somewhat traumatized by the childhood experience of my first Halloween. In NYC, where I spent my first Halloween, rotten eggs and other biohazards were the standard "tricks" amongst kids and I once witnessed a poor child being thrown at on the street with those nasty eggs. I mean, what's the flipping point?

The whole idea of "trick-or-treat" is based on the notion of greed and blackmailing - that's pretty unhealthy for kids too, isn't it? And who likes being constantly bothered by scary-looking kids ring your doorbell soliciting free candies?

Top 10 reasons to hate Halloween
1) Trick or Treat? More like extortion!
2) Most shades of orange clash with my eyes
3) Isn't the world scary enough?
4) It's encouraging in our children liberal notions of "something for nothing."
5) Dressing up? Costumes? Makeup? Is it a holiday or a drag show?
6) Costumed dogs
7) Neighborhood dogs barking. (Is it because hoards of strange children are running amok or because these dogs don't have costumes?)
8) Large women dressed as immense pumpkins
9) Don't we already have enough hyperactive fat kids?
10) Jokes like: "What did the skeleton say to the bartender?
... I'll have a beer and a mop!"