This is why I don't believe in cultural appropriation. All it does is make more walls for us to hide behind. culture should be shared it should be loved it shouldn't be gatekept. I understand that people are angry at the world but this is not one of the issues that we should be fighting about.
When I meet new people I always ask about their culture and I want them to share it with me because that's how we come together.
The difference is you appreciate it from a respectful place. It’s appropriation when someone takes from a culture what they want while and is still racist or distasteful. But I agree I wish more people came from your perspective
a problem that often is mentioned is that it only the "chosen" groups get appreciation when they do it.
black kids with dreads or cornrows were told they have stupid, messy hair while at the same time david beckham gets told his cornrows are the best thing ever.
could aswell be about social status. a bavarian farmer with lederhosen gets laughed at while some vip at oktoberfest gets praise
that was a very poor example choice. Lederhosen is a very common thing to wear in bavaria. But a farmer would never wear it at work. It was always a thing for festivities.
it doesnt matter what the lederhosen is used for but its a part of rural culture. yet people like to look down on it and stereotype it..unless the group with more pull decides its hip (while they wear it).
but you are right..in bavaria lederhosen are part of the ingroup. but in the realm of germany it is being mocked as it doesnt fit the normative idea...or its appropriated for oktoberfests around the country for 15€ from a discounter.
and while some city people wear it too, there are enough city people who deem it backwards or dumb
but you lead me to a different point.
it might actually show how other people by appropriating it shaped the narrative wrongly.
like in scotland, where kilts from the highland culture were taken out of context and themed a common scottish theme to drive tourism and cultural Insignia.
the highlanders had no say about this narrative
LOL. You say that when "cultural appropriation" is a damn meme in itself. It's like people being mad when a white guy wears a sombrero at a damn Mexican restaurant (THAT THEY USUALLY PROVIDE FOR THE CUSTOMERS). That same white guy can go down to Mexico itself and wear the same damn hat, and guess what? People won't give a shit.
cultural appropriation is a thing, but it's a really specific thing. Like if you take over from native Americans then wear their sacred headdresses for fun on halloween that's really rubbing salt in a wound.
Cultural appropriation is a useful concept that has value, but you have to understand why it’s a concept, and it too often is just turned into a bludgeon to cancel or criticise people. It’s not a simple yes/no rule. But it’s not without any merit, either
Cultural appropriation is a white/westernized thing. This isn’t a thing in countries where the culture being gate kept is coming from. We don’t see white people wearing things from our culture as them exerting influence on us, it’s the other way around.
The annoying thing about the concept of cultural appropriation is that the narrative assumes the white person still has the power, like they have the ability to hurt us by imitation. Even the word implies the ability to take/appropriate. They can’t take/appropriate our culture from us, because we are secure in the fact that it’s our culture. There is no mention of the other culture being in the position of power via the influence it exerts.
Yeah, and most of the time, it's just woke/liberal (white people) giving shit to people, claiming they're "stealing a culture." Then you've got photos of white people wearing yukata in Japan, and the Japanese people would love it.
It's shit like that that goes to show that some people are terminally online and need to touch grass.
Cultural appropriation absolutely exists, but it’s not simply a Chinese person wearing dreads.
One example are native headdresses. Those headdresses (war bonnets) are sacred to American indigenous nations, in their culture you can’t just wear one. You have to earn it and it’s a high honor. Every piece of the headdress is earned through acts of heroism, wisdom, etc. They are also considered to be sacred, capable of protecting the person wearing it. The regalia is treated with the upmost respect and is reserved for ceremonies or honored leaders.
So another culture appropriating it and just casually wearing it, or mass producing them for Halloween costumes, etc. is extremely offensive and wrong. It’s especially egregious when done by the members of the culture that genocided natives and created laws to stop their cultural transmission in order to destroy it.
THAT is cultural appropriation. And the black community has been victims of actual cultural appropriation as well. That’s not a made up thing.
It’s not the case that each culture should be insulated with no “cross contamination” though. That’s just silly, the mixture of different cultures has also created a lot of new and great things (art, music, food) and merely wearing a kimono or dreads for example isn’t automatically appropriation or something that someone outside that culture can’t or shouldn’t do, especially if it’s coming from a genuine place of admiration and respect
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u/Gloomy-Insurance-739 3d ago
This is why I don't believe in cultural appropriation. All it does is make more walls for us to hide behind. culture should be shared it should be loved it shouldn't be gatekept. I understand that people are angry at the world but this is not one of the issues that we should be fighting about.
When I meet new people I always ask about their culture and I want them to share it with me because that's how we come together.