It's not negative anymore than the article itself was negative, and that's because it's actually a problem.

I grew up in the US, did all those things you mention, and yet I know that it's a big problem in the US. Thus the NYT article. Thus the debate. My sister says Halloween gets less and less popular every year. Fewer and fewer kids come around -- because of the problems of tainted candy. There is no tainted candy. There is no boogey man. America's suburb, move-often nation has made it a big collection of individuals who don't know and don't trust their neighbors. What's wrong with America that it's always looking over its shoulder? What's wrong with a culture that drives their kids to school two blocks away? It's a valid question and deserves less people getting "sick" about the asking of it and more dedicated to the discussing and solving of it.