Human Rights, Horror Nights and the Theme Park Community

[jseal777]

Corporations gonna corporation.

 

[Kichkinet85]

I been reading this thread for a while now but didn’t make any post as I didn’t really know what to say and how to say it. But I’ll give it a try now. It’s really a shame we have to still talk about this in todays age. Everyone has the right to be safe and have fun but sadly that’s not the case and that’s just sad. As time goes on we should learn from r mistakes and make the changes needed but some don’t. Everyone is human and regardless of everything we all come from the same place. @Allison is right here. We need to have these discussions so we can hopefully make some of a difference.

 

[hallowrant]

I been reading this thread for a while now but didn’t make any post as I didn’t really know what to say and how to say it. But I’ll give it a try now. It’s really a shame we have to still talk about this in todays age. Everyone has the right to be safe and have fun but sadly that’s not the case and that’s just sad. As time goes on we should learn from r mistakes and make the changes needed but some don’t. Everyone is human and regardless of everything we all come from the same place. @Allison is right here. We need to have these discussions so we can hopefully make some of a difference.

Can we just not have one place that isnt politicized. Man would that be nice. Scare actors should never be touched. This has nothing to do with misogyny. Ive been going to HHN since 2019. Havent seen any human rights violations, misogyny or any "ists" of any degree. Its been pretty non-political which is a breath of fresh air. Some folks are uncomfortable with everything unless it carries the banner for whatever pet political project they subscribe to. Can we leave HHN out of this please. Unless you can name specific human rights violations at HHN, its seems a bit ridiculous to bring it up. If guests are touching scare actors, they should be thrown out and banned. Are scare actors being forced to work grueling conditions without compensation? Again what is the specific problem that needs fixing?

 

[Jerroddragon]

Can we just not have one place that isnt politicized. Man would that be nice. Scare actors should never be touched. This has nothing to do with misogyny. Ive been going to HHN since 2019. Havent seen any human rights violations, misogyny or any "ists" of any degree. Its been pretty non-political which is a breath of fresh air. Some folks are uncomfortable with everything unless it carries the banner for whatever pet political project they subscribe to. Can we leave HHN out of this please. Unless you can name specific human rights violations at HHN, its seems a bit ridiculous to bring it up. If guests are touching scare actors, they should be thrown out and banned. Are scare actors being forced to work grueling conditions without compensation? Again what is the specific problem that needs fixing?

Are you trying to say because you have not seen anything wrong then nothing wrong is happening?

 

[Allison]

Can we just not have one place that isnt politicized. Man would that be nice. Scare actors should never be touched. This has nothing to do with misogyny. Ive been going to HHN since 2019. Havent seen any human rights violations, misogyny or any "ists" of any degree. Its been pretty non-political which is a breath of fresh air. Some folks are uncomfortable with everything unless it carries the banner for whatever pet political project they subscribe to. Can we leave HHN out of this please. Unless you can name specific human rights violations at HHN, its seems a bit ridiculous to bring it up. If guests are touching scare actors, they should be thrown out and banned. Are scare actors being forced to work grueling conditions without compensation? Again what is the specific problem that needs fixing?

Just because you personally haven’t seen something happen, doesn’t mean it still didn’t occur. We’ve had many instances of SA’s discussing how they’ve been violated by guests, and if you don’t recall anything involving AoV then you should consider yourself lucky.

There’s nothing wrong with making sure a thread like this exists so people that have had very dehumanizing things happen to them against their will (meaning their human rights being violated) know that they’re supported and not alone. If you don’t want to see it, then there’s no need to comment on this specific post and I’d recommend participating elsewhere on IU instead.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Figured this would be right time to quote this again:

If you think a haunted attraction is more important than human life—that’s a problem.

If you think animatronics in a theme park hold more value than someone’s human experience—that’s a problem.

“Is this a political topic?”

No, it is not. The simplest, most basic human rights issues are not a bipartisan political topic. Being considerate, accepting, and respectful of others is not a bipartisan political topic.

(I do disagree with the second quote though. Human rights ARE political, and there is no shame in saying they are.)

Also I normally don’t make these kind of criticisms (cause gods know I’m guilty of this in other threads), but for a subject matter like this, for the love of god, please read the rest of the thread before you make a judgement. This thread is also about problems in the community, not just scareactor problems.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Can we just not have one place that isnt politicized. Man would that be nice. Scare actors should never be touched. This has nothing to do with misogyny. Ive been going to HHN since 2019. Havent seen any human rights violations, misogyny or any "ists" of any degree. Its been pretty non-political which is a breath of fresh air. Some folks are uncomfortable with everything unless it carries the banner for whatever pet political project they subscribe to. Can we leave HHN out of this please. Unless you can name specific human rights violations at HHN, its seems a bit ridiculous to bring it up. If guests are touching scare actors, they should be thrown out and banned. Are scare actors being forced to work grueling conditions without compensation? Again what is the specific problem that needs fixing?

If you haven't personally seen any problems, thats good for you, not bearing witness or being the victim of specific instances or mindsets makes you lucky. This thread exists people other people do witness and experience bigotry or bias or assault in the theme park/haunt communities. These things exist, theyre being discussed specifically because of our disappointment that these real world topics bleed into places we're passionate about and want to be comfortable in, we dont want to have to be talking about this, but its more important to address it than to pretend it isnt there and let it get worse. Especially in the context of Horror as a genre and community, it's a place that appeals to a lot of maginalized people, and as such theres much more room for those people and communities to be targeted by bad people that want to demoralize, harm, or gatekeep them. It's just a fact.

Nobody is forcing you to enter this discussion, just because you personally dont relate to it doesn't mean this isnt a productive conversation to have or that this thread shouldn't exist, if you have nothing to say or arent ready for it, you are fully capable of just looking the other way and going about your day in the other hundreds of threads on the site.

 

[hallowrant]

Just because you personally haven’t seen something happen, doesn’t mean it still didn’t occur. We’ve had many instances of SA’s discussing how they’ve been violated by guests, and if you don’t recall anything involving AoV then you should consider yourself lucky.

There’s nothing wrong with making sure a thread like this exists so people that have had very dehumanizing things happen to them against their will (meaning their human rights being violated) know that they’re supported and not alone. If you don’t want to see it, then there’s no need to comment on this specific post and I’d recommend participating elsewhere on IU instead.

Practically, the only thing Universal can do is throw these people out and ban them. I would be beyond shocked if Universal found out a guest had intentionally violated a scare actor and they didnt throw the guest out. Can you name a specific time this has happened? Ive never once seen anyone touch a scare actor in a house. I dont think ive ever even been close to coming into contact with a scare actor in a zone or house. There really isnt much opportunity to do so in most cases.

I never said there was a problem with you starting a thread. Its a discussion board where I assumed everyone was free to give their opinion. If you think you need to silence everyone with an opinion different than yours, it says more about you than me. I just disagree with you, Im not calling for you or your thread to be removed.

There are certainly places where human rights violations are an issue. I just wholeheartedly disagree with you that Universal is one of those places and also with the assertion that Universal would put up with their employees being harassed.

I could be wrong, if you have witnesses and evidence of specific violations happening more often at HHN than they do in any similar venue or even the street, id love to hear it. You saying "just because you didnt see it doesnt mean it doesnt happen" isnt an argument.

 

[hallowrant]

Nobody is forcing you to enter this discussion, just because you personally dont relate to it doesn't mean this isnt a productive conversation to have or that this thread shouldn't exist, if you have nothing to say or arent ready for it, you are fully capable of just looking the other way and going about your day in the other hundreds of threads on the site.

I agree that nobody is forcing me. Nobody forces me to read and post in the speculation board. I like discussion and I like talking with people that have different opinions. Im not saying any of this to personally attack or demean anyone. I truly am tired of politics infiltrating ever facet of everyone's life. Its toxic. Anyone is welcome to disagree with me.

 

[Allison]

Practically, the only thing Universal can do is throw these people out and ban them. I would be beyond shocked if Universal found out a guest had intentionally violated a scare actor and they didnt throw the guest out. Can you name a specific time this has happened? Ive never once seen anyone touch a scare actor in a house. I dont think ive ever even been close to coming into contact with a scare actor in a zone or house. There really isnt much opportunity to do so in most cases.

I never said there was a problem with you starting a thread. Its a discussion board where I assumed everyone was free to give their opinion. If you think you need to silence everyone with an opinion different than yours, it says more about you than me. I just disagree with you, Im not calling for you or your thread to be removed.

There are certainly places where human rights violations are an issue. I just wholeheartedly disagree with you that Universal is one of those places and also with the assertion that Universal would put up with their employees being harassed.

I could be wrong, if you have witnesses and evidence of specific violations happening more often at HHN than they do in any similar venue or even the street, id love to hear it. You saying "just because you didnt see it doesnt mean it doesnt happen" isnt an argument.

Again, just because *you* didn’t see anything happen doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. If you don’t like that fact, that’s on you. If you choose to not believe victims, and I highly, highly recommend reading through this thread, reading the AoV allegations, doing your homework, then that is also on you. This is a discussion forum, but it doesn’t mean it has to be a place to silence victims and there is no argument (especially this very clear bad faith one) because whether it’s right or wrong to violate a person isn’t an argument at all.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

I never said there was a problem with you starting a thread. Its a discussion board where I assumed everyone was free to give their opinion. If you think you need to silence everyone with an opinion different than yours, it says more about you than me. I just disagree with you, Im not calling for you or your thread to be removed.

Nobody is trying to silence you for haivng an opinion different than ours, we're pointing out that the commentary of saying "cant we have one place that isnt politicized" is unconstructive and unnecessary. Nobody discussing these topics wants them to be happening, they're simply discussing them because they happen and should be addressed. Nobody is making horror nights political, its just an inevitability that real world issues bleed into places of escapism in unpleasant ways.

There are certainly places where human rights violations are an issue. I just wholeheartedly disagree with you that Universal is one of those places and also with the assertion that Universal would put up with their employees being harassed.

I could be wrong, if you have witnesses and evidence of specific violations happening more often at HHN than they do in any similar venue or even the street, id love to hear it. You saying "just because you didnt see it doesnt mean it doesnt happen" isnt an argument.

Having worked multiple theme park and haunt jobs before, I can assure you. Bigoted guests exist, bigoted coworkers exist, and they absolutely do express these sentiments, and they do not always face consequences for it. I've seen multiple instances of this happening on both fronts for practically any form of hateful behavior under the sun, you underestimate the willingness of a large corporation to incentivise HR teams to brush situations like these under the rug to avoid internal scandal. Universal or any other theme park have their priorities focused on making money, they're a business. They'd much rather get employees to just keep quiet about bigotry they've faced and pretend it never happened rather than fire somebody and have to go through the process of putting resources towards filling that position. In many cases its only done as a last resort after multiple complaints. This isn't even starting to mention the well known issue of especially female haunt performers facing sexual harassment and assault from guests, which has been a significant issue for years especially with the prevalence of alcohol and often lack of tight enough security in open areas.

I truly am tired of politics infiltrating ever facet of everyone's life. Its toxic. Anyone is welcome to disagree with me.

Trust me, we are absoulutely just as tired lol. We wish this wasn't something that had to be brought up, everyone here would love to be able to enjoy these places and events uncritically without having to worry about hatred from the real world seeping in, but its a fact that cannot be ignored. This discussion exists in the first place because of bigotry infiltrating hobbies we're passionate for, the whole point of addressing it is to try and do something about it.

 

[RoseBlight]

Can we just not have one place that isnt politicized. Man would that be nice. Scare actors should never be touched. This has nothing to do with misogyny. Ive been going to HHN since 2019. Havent seen any human rights violations, misogyny or any "ists" of any degree. Its been pretty non-political which is a breath of fresh air. Some folks are uncomfortable with everything unless it carries the banner for whatever pet political project they subscribe to. Can we leave HHN out of this please. Unless you can name specific human rights violations at HHN, its seems a bit ridiculous to bring it up. If guests are touching scare actors, they should be thrown out and banned. Are scare actors being forced to work grueling conditions without compensation? Again what is the specific problem that needs fixing?

Ah very interesting take from...*checks notes*

guy who has not read a single previous page of this thread

 

[hallowrant]

Again, just because *you* didn’t see anything happen doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. If you don’t like that fact, that’s on you. If you choose to not believe victims, and I highly, highly recommend reading through this thread, reading the AoV allegations, doing your homework, then that is also on you. This is a discussion forum, but it doesn’t mean it has to be a place to silence victims and there is no argument (especially this very clear bad faith one) because whether it’s right or wrong to violate a person isn’t an argument at all.

You can disagree with me, but dont put words in my mouth. You are a liar if you are insinuating that in any way I said its ok for guests to violate other guests or employees.

 

[Nick]

Practically, the only thing Universal can do is throw these people out and ban them. I would be beyond shocked if Universal found out a guest had intentionally violated a scare actor and they didnt throw the guest out. Can you name a specific time this has happened? Ive never once seen anyone touch a scare actor in a house. I dont think ive ever even been close to coming into contact with a scare actor in a zone or house. There really isnt much opportunity to do so in most cases.

I never said there was a problem with you starting a thread. Its a discussion board where I assumed everyone was free to give their opinion. If you think you need to silence everyone with an opinion different than yours, it says more about you than me. I just disagree with you, Im not calling for you or your thread to be removed.

There are certainly places where human rights violations are an issue. I just wholeheartedly disagree with you that Universal is one of those places and also with the assertion that Universal would put up with their employees being harassed.

I could be wrong, if you have witnesses and evidence of specific violations happening more often at HHN than they do in any similar venue or even the street, id love to hear it. You saying "just because you didnt see it doesnt mean it doesnt happen" isnt an argument.

As someone who has worked as a scareactor, they get touched ALL THE TIME. Especially women whose costume is revealing.

The amount of woman friends I have who have panic attacks while off set (the stuff you don’t see) and some have ended up quitting for this very reason is high. The HHN community is creepy enough that when scareactors used to have to park in the guest garage, the people I knew wouldn’t feel comfortable going to their car on their own for fear of being followed by creepy guys. They were afraid bc things HAD happened in terms of people being followed.

Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening and quite frankly it’s insensitive for you to jump into this for no reason other than to argue with nothing to back yourself up with other than “I haven’t seen it”.

 

[Allison]

You can disagree with me, but dont put words in my mouth. You are a liar if you are insinuating that in any way I said its ok for guests to violate other guests or employees.

If you’re going to purposefully misunderstand my responses just to resort to name calling then I think it’d really be best if you ignored this thread. It’s never been a place for arguments, it’s only been a place to show support and understanding of a serious issue, and since that’s something you obviously have no interest in doing I really would recommend you peruse other threads.

 

[MrRoamer]

If you want recent, just look at Twitter with how infatuated and obsessed people can be with some of the characters like Batricia. There have been times where I have felt the need if someone from Security isn't nearby to speak up to other guests or watch them because it looked like something was about to go down.

If you really want to be part of the discussion and know about some of the horrible things that have happened, then read the full thread or search what has happened in the past (AoV was a pretty horrible story), but I ask that you please don't put your head in the sand and say everything looks fine from here.

 

[MrBlonde]

I've kept up with this thread over the years, I think it can summed up as such:

1. People should be safe at their jobs, and it's their employer's responsibility.

2.

 

[hallowrant]

If you want recent, just look at Twitter with how infatuated and obsessed people can be with some of the characters like Batricia. There have been times where I have felt the need if someone from Security isn't nearby to speak up to other guests or watch them because it looked like something was about to go down.

If you really want to be part of the discussion and know about some of the horrible things that have happened, then read the full thread or search what has happened in the past (AoV was a pretty horrible story), but I ask that you please don't put your head in the sand and say everything looks fine from here.

I just read the thread. The only specific I saw mentioned was from HHN 25 and it was still more heresay.

What I did see was non stop intolerance, piling on and shaming for anyone that had an alternate opinion. Ive talked to many female scare actors. Ive never once had one bring up being assaulted. By the sounds of it, many in this thread just think looking at a girl or guy SA in a revealing costume is assault. Looking at an SA isnt assault. Someone brought up "Batricia" Both actresses that I saw play her when I was there were very good looking. I loved that scare zone and spent lots of rest time there. If "assault" was such a rampant issue, id have at least noticed something. All I saw were people taking selfies with her. People often gave her a lot of distance because she was on stilts and security was always nearby and doing their jobs.

Its people like yall that think everyone should share blame from the EXTREMELY RARE actions of a few drunk idiots. I once fell over avoiding walking into a SA that didnt see me in a house. Is SAs assaulting guests now an issue???

 

[Clive]

I just read the thread. The only specific I saw mentioned was from HHN 25 and it was still more heresay.

What I did see was non stop intolerance, piling on and shaming for anyone that had an alternate opinion. Ive talked to many female scare actors. Ive never once had one bring up being assaulted. By the sounds of it, many in this thread just think looking at a girl or guy SA in a revealing costume is assault. Looking at an SA isnt assault. Someone brought up "Batricia" Both actresses that I saw play her when I was there were very good looking. I loved that scare zone and spent lots of rest time there. If "assault" was such a rampant issue, id have at least noticed something. All I saw were people taking selfies with her. People often gave her a lot of distance because she was on stilts and security was always nearby and doing their jobs.

Its people like yall that think everyone should share blame from the EXTREMELY RARE actions of a few drunk idiots. I once fell over avoiding walking into a SA that didnt see me in a house. Is SAs assaulting guests now an issue???

 

[Brian G.]

I just read the thread. The only specific I saw mentioned was from HHN 25 and it was still more heresay.

What I did see was non stop intolerance, piling on and shaming for anyone that had an alternate opinion. Ive talked to many female scare actors. Ive never once had one bring up being assaulted. By the sounds of it, many in this thread just think looking at a girl or guy SA in a revealing costume is assault. Looking at an SA isnt assault. Someone brought up "Batricia" Both actresses that I saw play her when I was there were very good looking. I loved that scare zone and spent lots of rest time there. If "assault" was such a rampant issue, id have at least noticed something. All I saw were people taking selfies with her. People often gave her a lot of distance because she was on stilts and security was always nearby and doing their jobs.

Its people like yall that think everyone should share blame from the EXTREMELY RARE actions of a few drunk idiots. I once fell over avoiding walking into a SA that didnt see me in a house. Is SAs assaulting guests now an issue???

OK. We're not going to do this. You continue to ignore veterans, Scareactors, and more to push a false narrative and shift blame when there has been evidence to the contrary. Drop it and leave the discussion alone because you're looking like a real ass right now.