I hate cultural appropriation

I'm not really bothered about it. Loads of things start of in one country, or with one group of people, then spread outwards as they become popular. It's only now that people are getting upset about it. If you're doing it to deliberately offend another culture that's one thing, but when you're just using/wearing something associated with another culture, I don't see the problem.

 

The idea of cultural appropriation is complete rubbish. It multi-cuturalism. It's the sharing of ideas from different cultures. It's have we grow as a species. I don't even like this how "culture thing anyway". Roots are for vegatables. People should chose who they are and what they do in live. Not have it dicted to then by who their ancestors are.

People in other countries put up christmas trees, I'm offended not. If you your offended by people adopting cultures of people who aren't their ancestors. Then you are looking to be offended.

People are defined by their decisions not on who their ancestors are.

 

I for one reject the whole concept of cultural appropriation. It is ethically and practically very problematic. Taking the elements and ideas from another culture is the oldest thing in the world and the driving force of innovation and development. Not only that but curtailing and regulating who can wear what or dance in a particular way or sing certain songs is effectively restricting freedom of expression and freedom of speech the very corner stones of our own culture. Western culture is unique in a sense that no other major culture has embraced them as core human rights and values.

The cultural appropriation is also practically problematic:
1) What is exactly a relevant cultural group?
2) Who can claim actual ownership? Our numbers are from India and letters from Romans who got them from the Etruscans who got them from the Cumaean Greeks who got them from the Phoenicians and you got the idea.
3) What is the harm from cultural appropriation? Your irritation? Miley Cyrus is offense to civilization with or without twerking.

This whole cultural appropriation debate is just a pretense. What it is really about is one group of people wanting to control the rest. It's the ugly little sister of political correctness. It's utterly segregationist to insist that being born to one culture should dictate how you behave and what you do in your life.

---------- Post added 20th Mar 2016 at 11:06 AM ----------

Actually it's the British who brought tea to India and taught Indians to drink tea. Originally tea is from China.

---------- Post added 20th Mar 2016 at 11:07 AM ----------

Why? Couldn't they just like Latin music without trying to be Latinos?

 

This.

Why, in the 21st century, should we segregate ourselves over something which in reality should be a beautiful concept of sharing cultures and living together in a diverse world. There is nothing bad at all about culture appropriation, and by trying to enforce it, your just undoing all the work people like Martin Luther King and other advocates for abolishing segregation and wanting to live together.

I swear to god, this world gets worse by the day.

 

I'm very much with Libertino on this.

What is one of the first things we are taught as kids: we need to share our toys.

We cannot ringfence aspects of our culture, if anything that actually props up ideas of racism. How often do victims of racism say they feel "white culture" excludes or is not accessible to them for example, well two wrongs do not maketh a right.

At the end of the day things can be "borrowed" in a respectful manner (like non-Japanese people borrowing kimono prints out of appreciation of the art), or borrowed in an ignorant or racist manner (to mock or poke fun at).

She wasn't misrepresenting the burqa our of a misunderstanding though, she was making a political gesture. Whilst yes, some women do wear the burqa voluntarily and see it as empowering, the item of clothing itself stems from an incredibly sexist institution, and it in many countries it is used as a tool to oppress women rendering them incapable of fully participating in society (keeping "out of sight and mind"). I think given all that, the clothing deserves a critical viewpoint rather than granting it some "protected status".

This. I'm am not a practising Christian, yet I certainly follow Christmas and Easter as secular events (and benefit from state approved public holidays around these events). Technically this would be "appropriating" Christian culture, but do I feel what I'm doing is wrong or harmful? Not in the slightest.

 

Well, appropriation is a bit of a point of contention because while people thinking they know Japanese because they watched all of Naruto and own a body pillow (Not that there's anything wrong with owning a body pillow... most of the time) is quite offensive to the Japanese, challenging your own worldview is one of the best things you can do to grow(At least in my own opinion).

I personally like to say that my culture is of the world even though I do have my "Proper Culture" it's one of war and oppression and conflict and I, while I acknowledge I come from it, refuse to let it define me. That to me is equivalent to saying you can't do something because you're a girl/boy/other and what I do with my cub scouts is encourage them on what they can do and I CAN grow of my own volition and I CAN challenge my personal views and ethics.

 

I'm with the no side on this one as well. There are just so many problems with it it's simply not convincing.

• How do you define a cultural group?
• How do you define what constitutes offensive appropriation (as opposed to harmless experimentation or satire)?
• Why should we think that sealing cultures off from one another will reduce racism?
• Why should we think the above point will improve innovation?
• Is cultural appropriation implying it's bad to be curious about other cultures? It comes across that way.
• Does anyone have the right to speak for an entire culture? A "culture" is a broad, vaguely defined and loose collection of individuals who most certainly do not have a homogenous opinion on this.
• How can you be a multiculturalist and be opposed to cultural appropriation? I don't see a way.
• Empirically speaking... basically every major culture in world history has borrowed from other cultures. If they didn't they'd be considerably less advanced/interesting/diverse than they are now.
• How do you reconcile opposing cultural appropriation with freedoms of speech and expression?

 

^ This exactly.

 

I'm sure this has already been said, but my mind can't rest until I've said it.

How are we supposed to reduce discrimination if we're segregating our-selfs?

Through immigration, the world is increasing in interconnections. What would be the point in coming to a new country, and then not learning from each other? All countries have something good to offer, and would be a waste of what is good in the world if people couldn't use that to bring each other together.

 

My two cents are - while I do understand the concern, since it may offend people of a culture, sometimes perhaps even tarnish the entire name of the culture - with catastrophic climate change, poverty, hunger, inequality, and global political instability knocking on the door, I don't make it a priority. My general rule of thumb is respect. If the person 'appropriating' isn't just a little douche with no respect for the history of the culture (because that might tick me off), then I generally don't mind.

 

There's a difference between two groups trading commodities (like green tea, originally used in ceremonies, but then becoming popular for every day use in Japan) and one simply picking and choosing parts of another culture that might be considered sacred, and without bothering to understand, appreciate, or give credit where its due.

You wouldn't expect non-Jewish people to start dancing in pop, rock, or rap music videos with a Hanukkah menorah without upsetting others. You also wouldn't expect people living in a country hostile to the US to start decorating their trash cans with the colors of the American flag because it looks "pretty".

No, no one is telling you you can't do something (cultural appropriation isn't against the law, or anything), only to show a little respect. It's not your place to tell someone what to be or not to be offended by. And it's definitely not one's place to tell minority groups how to relate to their own cultures.

I don't see culture like some candy store where anyone can come in and take the first thing they want without paying. The problem is it's one group deciding what's "in", when those same things might have been stigmatized or outlawed in the past. Do you see where I'm going with this?

For you, these things might exist onl in school textbooks, but for billions of people, they're every day, lived reality.

 

It's one thing to take something you know is sacred to another culture (i.e. a menorah or an image of the Virgin Mary) and use it in a profane way--I don't know of anyone who would disagree that that's disrespectful. However, some of the other examples are a bit more tenuous. For example, "black music". How do we define what "black music" is and whether or not a white singer is appropriating it? Black people were the first to perform jazz music, but jazz has been around so long and has had generations of white artists in the genre that I don't think it can be classified as "black music" anymore. And hip hop and R&B have had white artists for a while as well--neither can be solely thought of as "black music" even if they originated in black communities. It's this taking ownership of something that has long been shared that seems problematic to me. Not to mention the fact that white people are often said to not have a "culture", therefore nothing they have done or created can be "appropriated"--also problematic to me.

I understand the concept of something being stigmatized or outlawed in the past and then becoming "okay" once white people use it, but that seems to be the minority of examples here.

 

I've heard black commentators saying white people should be banned from rapping, or even listening to rap music because it is cultural appropriation. That rap is only for black people and black struggles.

A few major criticisms of that:
-The vast majority of mainstream black rap music today is not about racism, expressing identity or highlighting black struggles. It is about money/greed and misogyny, glorifying drugs and violence. So the idea that rap is still a "sacred" art form only utilised by black communities for good intentions is outdated
-White people (and any community) can potentially benefit from using rap music, and can have something worth saying or struggles they need to work though. Poverty, drug addiction, disability etc (which are focuses of some of the more genuine and sincere rappers) are issues that can affect anyone regardless of race
-Although rap was largely created by black people , it is really just a musical extension of poetry which pre-rap has not been a black invention, and today is really a race-free artform
-Many musical styles are predominately white, or have been created by white people (take punk and metal for example) but it would be very wrong to ban black people from participating due to "cultural appropriation". "Sorry, you can't play classical piano, classical music was created by and for white people" etc. Naturally just wouldn't be accepted.

 

It depends on whether the person is interested in the culture, or they don't, and they're doing it for fashion/attention.

For example, if a non-African person who has come home from Africa after x amount of time and begins wearing their hair in a wrap, then that's not cultural appropriation. They have a personal connection with the culture and are embracing it.
A non-Hindu person wearing a bindi because it 'looks nice', is cultural appropriation. They don't have a personal connection with the culture.
I'm not sure whether ear-stretching is cultural appropriation, though.

 

I don't really have an opinion on it... I mean if I can add my two cents on being a person lf color. Yes in more than some cases whites have took some of things that blacks have done and already said and used them in the media to get attention. But the thing is It's. 50/50 . If I see a fine ass white boy who can rap like snoop dog then I'm cheering his ass on. If Miley wants to twerk.. (imo she doesn't have an ass) let her, It's not like she's killing anything.. except Maybe my eyes lmao. Honestly though, I have friends who aren't American tell me It's coo when they see Americans wanting to know about the culture. In a way learning a new language is cultural appropriation . I have some Latino friends who think it's awesome that my grandma is a lesbian and learned to speak fluent Spanish from her Cuban partner. I think cultural appropriation is okay as long as you don't butcher anything from that culture. (!)(!)(!)

---------- Post added 20th Mar 2016 at 09:39 AM ----------

Excuse me!!! The hell... not all rap is about that Croc you just typed! Screamo , punk and Indie can do that as well. :-\

---------- Post added 20th Mar 2016 at 09:41 AM ----------

So many Typos in my comment.. ugghhh I hate making them T^T

 

But it's okay for people to wear the Christian cross as merely an accessory? Maybe Christians haven't been stigmatized or outlawed, but it's just as insensitive as someone wearing something of a minority religious faith without being part of it.

 

So, what I'm getting is that it's bad/insensitive to knowingly disrespect another culture. That's fine, I think that's a reasonable position to have. But you need to give a good account of where the line should be drawn. Me buying a qu'ran with the sole intent of conspicuously burning it in public is not the same, for instance, as me choosing to listen to jazz (in private) because I like the genre.

I don't think anyone would disagree that deliberately undermining or degrading a culture, by mocking it or insulting it, is a bad thing. But why does it follow that things like listening to rap, or dancing in a certain way, or say, doing yoga, are cultural appropriation? How do these things undermine a culture, if all that's happening is that people are just finding features of other cultures they like and want to incorporate into their own lives? I don't see most participants in these sorts of things rabidly spewing venom about the cultures they're supposed to be appropriating. Perhaps people borrowing from other cultures is vulgar. Perhaps it's insensitive. Perhaps it's just plain stupid. It doesn't follow from that that it's an evil that must be punished.

There's something to be said about being respectful of other cultures and knowing when to defer to others' opinions (e.g. people of that culture). But you need to explain why something constitutes cultural appropriation and what makes that bad. What's the scope of cultural appropriation here? Are we telling everyone what they can and can't wear/do/say/celebrate, or is all we're saying "don't be a dick"? If it's the latter, I'd say this is a pretty common-sense issue.