Compartmentalizing My Rants
So if you’ve followed my account, even for the last month or 2, you know full well that I go down the ever-so-often rant trails. I typically try to keep my posts apolitical and agnostic. I believe that I’m a full individualist and a major mainstay of that principled foundation is that I should never expect my own opinions or beliefs to have any credence on another person. Nothing you say should have to have any effect on me and the same vice versa. As such, I try to rationalize holistic arguments and developments without much personal judgement (unless of course they’re concerning my beloved video games and hobbies).
But there are something factors in the world today that scare the heebie jeebies out of me and one that I seem revisit time and time again is the Facts vs. Feelings ideological debate that is raging in North American culture at this moment. This battle, in my opinion, is eroding a principled stance on Freedom in the western hemisphere and is cultivating these extremist positions on both conservative and progressive ends. From the massive amount of argumentative and polemic debris that has filled the air, major arguments fall in place and take up a great deal of our social energies.
Me "appropriating" Chinese/male/world-famous/martial artist/celebrity/meme culture.
I truly believe that these struggles are warping the fabric of individual freedom in the world and every so often (which I’ll try to limit to weekends) I’ll highlight a major cultural issue and give my take on it. I work in the creative and cultural world and my highest investigation is to the answer the question “how does culture affect our lives?” That is why today’s argument falls square on the issue of culture - who owns it, how should it be or not be used, and how does it impact our social lives?
What is “Cultural Appropriation?”
The first paragraph on Wikipedia pretty much sums up the ‘sociological concept’ of dominant cultures misuse and misappropriate elements of a more marginal culture.
Source: Wikipedia
You’ve probably read about instance of this, when the debate of cultural appropriation flares up when there is an instance of ‘black face’ or when Halloween comes around the corner each October. This attitude has become a strong ideological component of PC culture and intersectional identity politics with the concept that any group of people should have some attribution of culture and thus ownership over its use and representation. Many claim that appropriating culture is ‘painful’, ‘harmful’, and ‘fosters a space for violence and oppression.’
This is most explicit each Halloween where each year, the list of seemingly taboo costumes becomes longer and longer. It used to be mostly concerned for Pocahontas dresses and bright red Chinagirl wardrobes. Now these include dreadlocks, turbans, headdresses, East Asian robes, and so on as the list becomes amended by more and more minority voices. The whole argument came to a boiling temperature in 2016 with the infamous Yale letter by Professor Nicholas Christakis -
Again, this is the claim that such behavior should be limited, controlled, punished, and prevented for the sake of subsets of our population.
And this is utter bull.
You Cannot Own Culture
No one can ever lay claim that their ‘culture’ maintains any ownership of particular artifacts, customs, aesthetics, and historical narratives. Culture is just as fluid as physical cities and fashion trends. We may have stereotypical assignments of certain imagery to certain cultures - i.e. headdresses to Native Americans, silk robes to Oriental countries (and yes, I said ‘Oriental’), tiki torches to the Polynesians islands - but those are momentary captures of a historical past, not reflective on the individuals of said communities.
Perry "appropriating" geisha prostitution culture.
An individual Korean does not have claim or expertise of ‘hanbok’ styles or ‘hanok’ architecture any more than a Native American has claim to ‘teepees’ and face-paint today. Hawaiians don’t ‘own’ surfboards and Japan does not ‘own’ sushi.
Should I be enraged when Hugh Jackman’s adorable daughter wears Korean traditional robes in Hollywood? Or when college students where an Arabian Nights turban? Or when my neighbor’s kids dress up as Jasmine and Snow White on the last day of October?
We should celebrate this practice.
RANT TRIGGER WARNING: If you’re offended by this, it’s quite likely that your arrogance leads you to believe that you have a moral high ground when it comes to your or someone else’s ‘cultural ownership’. I’m a Korean American and I have absolutely no say whether some white dude opens a Korean bbq restaurant (please set up shop in my neighborhood!) or some South American girl brews soju in Bolivia or if some black transgendered man tailors Korean robes for celebs in Venice Beach. Hell, I might even invest in one of these businesses.
All Culture is a Living Product of Appropriation
Do you think all Italian restaurants are owned by Italians? Do you think only Irish men have ever worn plaid skirts? Do you think the calligraphic forms of traditional Mandarin, Korean hanja, and Japanese Kanji all spontaneously appeared without association? Do you think only Vietnamese people and all Vietnamese people are experts in the consumption of Pho?
I can’t believe I’m spelling this out but culture is never a static form. It is constantly being influenced, taken from, added to, and reinvented at every moment. Case in point, ‘Korean Cuisine’ now enjoys massively successful additions such as Kimchi Tacos and LA Galbi. That marinated short rib you’re enjoying at your local Korean BBQ? It was invented in central California.
Again, no one can own culture because it is always changing. The moment you try to label and bottle it up in a neat container, it’ll evaporate and form all over again in a different way. We enjoy new fads, trends, and innovations because people aren’t afraid to play and mix with the diverse richness of the world.
And on the point of non-Asian chefs making Asian food -> If you can dish out a more delicious version of anything, I’ll be the first to reserve a seat. For all you cranky Asians out there that are all worked up because some white dude from middle America can whip up a mean Pho… GIT GUD.
The Idea that Cultural (mis)Appropriation is Real is Fundamentally Racist
You’re attributing a historical or even stereotypical image, practice, and value to someone based on their ethnicity, skin, language, and parents. You are assuming that all people of Native American heritage feel ownership and association to an illustrated past. You are assuming that someone is more knowledgeable about a practice, food, or type just because of the way you identify them.
Clowned-out models "appropriating" a hairstyle. Source
I cannot imagine a more constraining ideology than this.
So wear whatever you want on Halloween. Cook whatever recipe you want for dinner. Hang whatever imagery from whatever part of the world on your walls. Play whatever music of whatever country you want. Learn whichever language interests you and live wherever you wish. The world is more diverse and rich because you aren’t afraid to do so. As long as you aren’t being purposefully mean-spirited or physically harmful to someone, exercise your principled and lawful freedoms of speech and expression.
Deep Breaths
That’s it for today but I’m not quite done yet. If you’re willing to stomach a bit more of this for the sake of debate and discussion, I encourage you to come back soon for my next post on the subject: The Reasons Why Cultural Appropriation is Good for Us.
Let me know what you think of all this. I’m truly not writing these posts in an effort to trigger anyone or to ruin anyone’s day. With these types of subjects, I think many are afraid of debating substantial points because of the emotional and politicized elements.
I don't see this as a rant, in fact I hink these kind of posts are the best type: taking a subject and analyzing the social implications that generated the issue and tear it apart in an objective way, ending with an opinion well based and favct checked.
I think the same way as you and maybe this will sound too harsh and may win me some haters but i dont mind: SJWism in a fanatical way can lead to this situations where, to get momentum, pressure certain social group or simply to make noise, we as "free people" are becoming more and more limited on the way we act, speak or even think.
I read a few days ago that a twitch user got banned because she was cooking some meal and she didnt look like a person from the "race" the food belonged. It turned out her father or mother (i dont recall perfectly) was from that race but twitch mods didnt care. There is like 3 racist stances in this situation and i can begin to decide which one annoys me the most and which one is more stupid and logical than other.
I am all pro cultural compartimentalization. The easiness for us to travel, immigration, globalization and other things are tearing apart some cultures and i dont like that because some beautiful cultral activities, traditions, even languages are getting lost because of the mass culture adoption some countries are doing. We even have the term "americanization", and its not wrong, as you said, global, regional and national culture is constantly changing and people "adopt and adapt" any brhaviour, food, mindset or whatever from any other person or country they want.
On the other hand, I actually hate to see mexicans calling themselves kawaii and acting as if they are an anime character (to cite one example, nothing against japan or anime, i lile it). But the fact that i dont like people not embracing their own culture and conserving their own traditions and lifestyle, doesnt mean im going to start a social movement where i intend to limit them or forbid them to dress, eat, act or whatever they feel like doing. Cultural appropiation doesnt exist, it is just a social movement invented to give momentum and noise to a political agenda.
To finish this bible like comment, i am seeing blonde european girls walking around in a central american streets, wearing an indigenous poncho, a rastafari hairstyle, nose piercings from africa and singing in spanish (i wonder if these people who defend cultural appropiation think learning a language is appropiation a culture) and its beautiful to see that mix of cultures and tastes.
This was written on a shuttle van in the middle of central america so excuse my typos and maybe some grammar mistakes, i hope my point got accross.
This was probably the best post ive read from you, i hope the "rants" continue. I would like in the future to read your opinion about racism, 4th wave feminism and a lot more topics, but them being so strongly charged with political and social implications are a subject we probably want to avoid in a blockchain based platform. Sometimes i wish i could write my political stance and opinions about social matters, but we ve seen people getting crushed into oblivion just for giving their opinion about delicate matters, so i just keep my thoughts to myself most of the times, but this post is pire magic man, congrats.
Thanks for the incredible support and thoroughness on the topic @anomadsoul. I had no idea you were this deep into the subject and I'm proud to have found a thought-companion on this. I'm probably just as concerned as you on this subject and am troubled by the black/white attitude taken towards 'perceived racism' which in the end becomes one of the most judgmental practices existing today.
A lot of what you're framing could easily be elaborated into posts themselves. The topic of actual 'misrepresentation' fascinates me and I saw plenty of what you're describing when I spent some months in South America. Those ponchos tho... The plain and simple of it all is that culture is messy. There's a constant circulation of interpretations, misrepresentations, caricatures, and many other forms of 'appropriation'. The hope is that from all this messiness, some stunningly unique moments of global culture shake out for us.
I'll be sure to continue the rants. There's plenty to air out!
Cultural Appropriation is really a "glass half full" argument.
It is up to you if you see it as a negative.
You could easily see it as a positive. After all:
"imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"
Well put @ozphil!
I just love that you've chosen this subject...... and bravo for saying what so many are so afraid to! I coudln't agree more
we are all appropriating cultures all day long! yes we need to think and consider our motives and what we're doing, but we will make mistakes and as long as we learn from them, it's far more important to embrace life than to stick to a narrow ultra politically correct definition of how to live.
Amen @natureofbeing!
I love this post.
I agree that culture isn't something that can be owned. I used to get pissy about Koreans profiting off of black culture until I realized that they were smart as fuck for doing it!
One thing that got me out of the whole "cultural appropriation" bullshit was seeing a response Jermey Lin had for a NBA player he looked up. Jermey now has dreads and the NBA player told him to stop that. Lin responded by saying "I'll stop if you remove the Chinese characters tattooed on you".
People who don't live interesting lives have nothing better to do than to hound others for living their lives.
Oh believe me, I still grind my teeth anytime rich Gangnam kids come out on rap reality shows. But that's the messiness that leads to some truly unique cultural moments.
The Lin thing is hilarious and I'm glad he handled it without becoming inflammatory. That's one of the main weaknesses with the appropriation argument - it is potentially infinite in how you identify 'oppressive' uses of culture from one person to another.
I fully agree with you last sentence. A motto that live by.
Thanks for the great comment @shaunonsite!
I lived in Sinchon and some former contestants from Unpretty Rapstar were shooting some kind of funky looking dance video in front of my goshiwon. They were uncoordinated as fuck and I wanted them to get the fuck away so I could get some sleep (hence why i'll NEVER live in Seoul again).
I'm in Pyeongtaek now and it's SO much more peaceful here than in Seoul.
I don't have a problem with Koreans or other cultures appropriating black American culture. They'll have to bear the responsibility of the so-called backlash from others. The way I see it, if an American wants to be a K-pop star, so be it.
Yeah ! How can ANYONE own culture !! They just can not tell u whats right and whats wrong !! Human is a social ANIMAL !! And we have made so many products, so many perspectives, so many cultures, religions, luxuries etc and we all are fighting each other to get all these Man made things !!
What are we even doing ???? 🤷🏻♀️🤔😕
Nice post hansik !! 👍🏻 Glad to see u understand this !!
Thanks for the rich comment @himshweta!
Different countries have their own traditions and cultures, only a you who is able to follow tradition in culture
various cultures but still united as well, very good
And after all people say we are prepared to receive Aliens from outer Space publicly.
We are still are herd!
Hahaha very very true. Real appropriation is when the martians take over our brains.
a very good post.
always success
I have a time to review out culture and human evaluation about another culture. Thanks.
Thank you for reading @steemitjp!
I am interested in your posts
Well, I have to say one thing. This post is in my top 10 for things I have read on Steemit. A fresh air of writing and well formulated discussion post. Thanks for this. My opinion on the subject matter presented would probably take up your whole comment section so I will save that for another time. :)
Thanks for the comment @rawdawg! I do encourage you to write on the subject and share =)
your rant would be wholly justified if we lived in a world without racism, systemic or otherwise. I think the problem is not "hey that belongs to me stop it" it's "hey that belongs to my culture and when i do it i get punished, but when you do it, it's seen as cool. that's messed up." A good example of this is black culture being appropriated by white culture. See the Kardashians. Big lips weren't seen as very attractive until Kiley or Kendall Jenner started doing it, and were actually a feature that was historically jeered at towards the black community.
I do think there has been an overgeneralization of what cultural appropriation actually is, though, and in that I agree. Learning a different language or cooking an ethnic dish is by far not harmful appropriation.
I understand where you're coming from @corinneiskorean, but I have to disagree with the premises of your argument. First, the idea that someone shouldn't do, say, or express themselves in some way because of another person's feelings/interpretation is assuming that we should operate society on a 'weakest link' type mentality. Who decides what is "messed up?" In the way that offensive humor is some of the best comedy, having the freedom to express even potentially painful interpretations of culture makes us a more resilient society that doesn't shy away from debate.
Second, your example illustrates how an attempt to be 'culturally sensitive' is in itself a racial/prejudiced practice. You're assuming that because 'big lips' are somehow linked with the identity of black people that someone non-black should not dare have that physical trait, either naturally or artificially. Is being bald offensive to Tibetan monks or thick eyebrows offensive to Turkish men? Attempting to bridge physiology with cultural identity is a very very dangerous practice that has no principled goal.
In my opinion, what we should be doing in that instance is focus less on what 2 intellectually impaired spoiled brats inject under their skin and put more emphasis on celebrating actual culture, not the superficial markings of what makes someone supposedly different from you or me.
Thanks for your opinion. I see where you're coming from, and I do agree on how being too culturally sensitive can actually lead to more prejudice. But in terms of "how do we decide what's messed up" I think you're overlooking historical context within the US, and the idea that certain cultural aspects are not acceptable unless a white woman or man is doing it.
If we go with the Kylie Jenner lip trend (which, tbf, I would rather just ignore, but it is pertinent to this discussion), before she made it "trendy" there are often times when a black model or actress would post a selfie with a certain shade of lipstick, and the comments would be filled with racist remarks. If you look at blackface or old cartoons, the lips were always accentuated and seen as a negative feature. It wasn't until recently when a white girl decided it was trendy that people decided it was okay, and they then attributed that trend to the white girl, rather than the actual culture it came from.
Now, if black women had managed to be the forefront of that beauty trend, it'd be a different story. That's someone sharing their culture and society accepting it. Unfortunately, though, that isn't the case.
I'm not saying "don't have big lips". But there is something to be said about a person who pre-trend spoke negatively about big lips, and then post-trend won't shut up about their lip kit. I think that's where people are getting irked.
To sum up: there are certain traits and cultural things that many minority groups here in the US were historically and constantly prejudiced against for having, whether that's through microaggressions, or being prevented from buying a house, or not getting the job you're clearly qualified for, etc. When those traits are appropriated by white people and toted as "trendy" despite it being the reality for many minority groups that they can't change, when their culture is worn as a costume (i'm not just speaking literally), or worse, when a white person is given a free pass and seen as a cool person, but a poc is seen in a derogatory light for doing/wearing the same thing, that's where people get angry.
Thanks for the response, I think this discussion is pretty fruitful compared the extreme mudslinging that usually occurs on the internet.
First off, I think the immediacy to make this a racial issue is one weakness to this debate. Let's take the exact example we're talking about with Kylie. Kylie is, at least in my mind, in no way representative of "white women/people." She's a statistical fluke of humankind in which an endless string of strange influences produced the unique her. If 1 million 'white' suburban house-moms took selfies with botoxed lips before Kylie, I'm sure there would have been some reverse racism thrown about.
I understand the feel-bads, I really do. For someone to be teased or ridiculed for what another is admired for - this a painful reality of all cultures in a world that has universal social hierarchies. But there is much much much more at play than just skin color. Let's go back to Kylie - her being white is likely the least impactful (at least quantitatively and directly) to her being lusted after and 'followed'. Much more than skin tone are the aspects of being fabulously wealthy, universally attractive, endowed with a family legacy, and a general, enviable social appeal.
So no, I don't think big lips make this a racial issue at all. Instead, I believe a racial issue is being made out of this narrative of appropriation.
Lastly, I just want to make clear that Kylie's big lips on Instagram are not a 'microaggression' (another, more harmful way to call negative personal interpretation). Her lips have nothing to do with historical oppression whether it be district redlining for home ownership or educational blockades. This all goes back to the Facts vs. Feelings debate I bring up quite often. Just because we 'feel oppressed' does not indicate in any way that actual oppression exists.
Curious on you thoughts @corinneiskorean.
I agree. It's good to have a civil discussion on this.
I think the two of us are really coming from different places though, and I'm not certain what else to say to add to this discussion without starting to repeat myself. Additionally, as someone who is not part of the Black community, I can't really speak with the same expertise on how/why it is a race issue.
However, I think you mentioned something I'd like to highlight: "For someone to be teased or ridiculed for what another is admired for - this a painful reality of all cultures in a world that has universal social hierarchies. But there is much much much more at play than just skin color."
I will agree that for Kylie it is probably more her luxe lifestyle rather than the fact that she is white being at the forefront of her fans' minds for why they want to imitate her. However, I would be curious, if she was black. If the Kardashians were black. Would they have the same level of influence? Or would there be some racist pushback? That's a what if question, but still one to consider.
However, to go back to what I quoted. While in Kylie's situation, yes there is much more at play than skin color, in the broad critique of cultural appropriation, specifically within the United States, this is not so. It all boils back to the slavery days, which was specifically racist and fueled by skin color differences. It's the idea that black hair is seen as "messy and unkempt" or "ghetto" for centuries, but now suddenly its trendy for everyone, especially white people, to have box braids and afros and dreads, even though black people have been rocking that do -- and subsequently degraded -- for doing so. And how does this hair become trendy? Because a white person of influence takes that hair style, appropriates it from the black community, and rebrands it as socially acceptable, but only because a white person is doing it. It's almost theft. It's not necessarily A and B are doing the same thing but B is getting better treatment. It's A was doing x which B made fun of them for. Then a year later B decided they wanted x, took x without crediting A, and now everyone loves B and associates B with x and are ignoring the history of B making fun of A for x.
To quote a more personal experience, it's having school kids make fun of your rice and kim lunch and say that seaweed and tofu is gross and disgusting to the point where you ask your mom to pack you a sandwich so you stop getting teased, to now every la liberal raving about Annie Chung Seaweed snacks and tofu everywhere. The latter, for me personally, is more mixed bc on one hand: cool it's socially acceptable for me to just eat kim plain in public, but on the other: okay janet, but like, you acted like i was a freak in 3rd grade for eating this and now you're raving about it everyday on twitter....
With regard to my own experience, I'm more on your side. I do think it's cultural appropriation, or at the very least commodification, but it's more of a grey area bc I only dealt with microaggression (call it harmful, but it's definition works and I'm using it). I might be salty about it on a personal level, but I'm not going to call people eating it racist. (plus if Annie Chungs is indeed Asian-owned, then that's just Asians rebranding their food to be more appealing to the masses, which again is a different situation. Plus I can't be too salty bc Annie Chungs microwave rice was how I survived college in central New York State lol)
Basically with cultural appropriation, especially for a white person (or even an Asian person or white-passing poc if you want to get into model minority/white passing privilege): you can appropriate as much as you want, with the best and worst intentions. But at the end of the day, you can take off that cultural costume and go back to being white. You are still at the top of the system. But for the minority group whose culture you appropriated, they are still a poc. They are still being oppressed in the US for being a POC and openly practicing their culture/language (see: all these videos of angry old white ppl yelling at Koreans for speaking hangul in a Starbucks. Would they have yelled that if it was two white people practicing hangul? or even two white people speaking in french? who knows). Especially in this day and age of anti-immigrant sentiment in the US from the right. And that's the kicker.
Lastly, if you wouldn't mind, could you clarify your statement: "Just because we 'feel oppressed' does not indicate in any way that actual oppression exists." Are you saying this relating to cultural appropriation being oppression? or that poc are being oppressed at all?
To put it more concisely, as I realized I rambled a lot: while I agree that I don't think cultural appropriation is inherently racist, unfortunately there is a growing number of examples that ignore the historical context behind the thing they are appropriating, which leads to the most outcry and is either downright offensive or at its best, in poor taste. We talked about Black culture, but another good example is Native American culture, specifically the head-dresses. In their culture it is something you have to earn and is used for ceremonies. Tack the original use of the headdress to the centuries of genocide committed against Native Americans by white colonizers, and I think you get a well-justified outrage when white girls and guys at coachella or Halloween parties decide to dress up as Native Americans just because it looks "cool"
Cooking food or speaking the language or, in some cases, wearing the traditional garment on the other hand is more of a cultural appreciation (though Im sure some will argue it is still appropriation) and is certainly not malicious and not to be lumped in with the ones that are truly insensitive, ignorant, and harmful.
This conversation thread is getting to the point where Steemit will make my paragraphs an inch wide so I'll try to some up my argument and likely explore some of these tangential conversations in further posts. =)
I think each of your paragraphs in your first-latest reply hit on a distinct aspect of race relations in the US that are not always linked but often purposefully conflated to construct an umbrella narrative that POC (which is honestly a ridiculous term to me) are systematically oppressed. In this post, I try to explore whether "cultural appropriation" is an actual systematic power dynamic in the US. I believe that is not the case and little evidence beyond the anecdotal substantiates the concept.
Again, I'm right there with you on the feel-bads. I've had almost identical experiences of people freaking out at my mother's hand-rolls that she packed for my school lunches. Now it seems every hipster mom is sticking stacks of seaweed in their kids' lunchboxes. It's the same for black hair. It's the same for everything that is ever new and fresh and curiously taken from another.
But those stem from the eternal and seemingly impossible ambition to create a multicultural society. In diversity, there will always be a supposed majority and an infinite amount of minorities. Majorities dictate the trends and majorities likely take inspiration from the minority. And nothing exists in hard rules. Are we claiming that every POC (of which Asians are conveniently left out of) is at the mercy of non-POCs? Culture should not be sliced up and distributed in a way in which I'm supposed to eat a certain thing and you're supposed to wear a certain thing and he/she over there is supposed to act/dance/talk/do a certain thing and anyone who breaches those artificial boundaries are to be punished. That is anti-culture. That is racial profiling.
This might be a controversial bit that warrants a longer post rather than a comment - a Native American headdress has nothing to do with genocide. I'm not ignorant of the painful past of America's indigenous populations. But the correlation of a cultural artifact with a racial sentiment that virtually disappeared generations ago (even more so than Nazism or ideologies of ethnic purity) is nothing more than a social narrative. Should Japanese people never visit Korea to take selfies in hanbok dresses? Should Germans never attend synagogue? Should Spanish citizens never import Pisco from South America? I know I list a lot of these hypotheticals, but my aim is to illustrate that these constructed 'cultural' tropes are seemingly endless and lead to nothing but a blockade on free expression. If something is offensive or even 'microaggressive', let's have a conversation, not claim that there is a supposed system which promotes appropriation/oppression.
I heavilly agree that there's no such thing as cultural appropriation.
Heck it's starting to get to a point where one cant even disguise himself on Halloween without being called out for being a mysoginist, racist, xenophobe.
Very well done!
I fully expect a day when these groups do a full 180 and protest the fact that their culture isn't be represented on the 31st and that we're only celebrating mundane, mainstream narratives.
Thanks for the comment @spiritualmax!
I totally agree! I found myself in your words and I loved the article :) made me smile to see someone thinking the same way I do..
Glad you enjoyed it @gabrielatravels!
Some people intentionally use misappropriation of culture for disinfo and economic reasons. People usually pay homage to other cultures. Black people love karate and in the 70's dressed just like the culture and even learned the language. (Excluding children). Some people copy others cultures and say it was even their own. But what do I know? :). Joy
When my grandfather moved my Mother's family in 70s to then-dangerous Brooklyn, he set up a large school for judo and karate in which he and my 2 uncles taught for many years. His students were almost completely latino and black Americans who proudly took on the uniform and interpreted the culture my grandfather brought from the other side of the world. To this day, the Korean government recognizes and awards him for his 'cultural ambassadorship'.
I fully agree that some people extort culture for personal gain. But that is individual greed, not systematic or cultural appropriation.
Thanks for the comment @sweetjoy!
You make excellent points on a subject that has long troubled me. I had always learned that immitation was the sincerest form of flattery. So mocking is bad, but enjoying cuisine, fashion, and art is good. I think you brought some well needed light to this foggy issue.
Thanks for the comment @drwillwho! That was certainly my aim (though I'm not sure if I did it so well)...
Culture is something to be teached and shared, there is no need to shame anyone from adopting other people’s culture, it should be seen as something positive an not negative.
Adopting other people’s culture is a way of praising said culture. It’s good. So I don’t understand people talking about cultural appropriation as if it was something bad.
I'm trying to make sense of this confusion as well @dediatedguy...!
굉장히 좋은글 읽고 갑니다... 문화란 것은 지금 살아 있는 생물과 같은 것이죠..... 자신의 고유한 것은 있겠지만 자기것이라고ㅜ감추어 두고 있으면 발전없이 시대에 뒤쳐지기만 할 것입니다 서로 다른 문화에 대한 존경과 이해를 위해서라도 꼭 필요하다고 봅니다 문화의 접근과 그 소비는 자유로와야 한다는 것을요 ^^
Nice blog. Good read. Very interesting. Will read more of your work and keep follow. Keep up the good work.
First of all, Amen to that.
Cultural appropriation is something destructive packaged as virtue. Especially in the United States whose raison d'être (an expression I consciously appropriated ) is the melting pot and the notion of live-and-let-live freedom.
If Broadway producers want to portray the founding fathers as rappers and advertise for non-white actors -- go for it. But if a white actress happens to be cast in a high school musical for the role of Esmeralda...
Dr. Martin Luther King's offered the solution for a nation as diverse as the United States:
The high school story stuns me. We're neutering a generation of creative/free thinkers and explorers before they have chance to get their hands dirty and properly explore, all because of the whims of loud misguided advocates who choose to engage in the most insignificant of battles.
If I were the family of that "white" kid, I would sue the school district to oblivion for discrimination.
Talk about pretzel-logic! The contortions that the Columbia Chronicle uses to justify this insanity -- it reads like a parody ;-)
http://www.columbiachronicle.com/arts_and_culture/article_d36510d4-0e03-11e8-bb96-bbd49a572e75.html
Wow!!! I’m a brazilian living in Florida - US and you just became my idol. I agree 100% with everything you said. The world would be much better if we had more people like you. Lookomg forward to your next post :)