this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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I've heard people claim cultural appropriation over this or that, but I'm not convinced it's a real thing, and not just people being offended on behalf of someone else.
That's not to say that cultures don't get appropriated, but is that a bad thing? White people rocking dreadlocks, cool. Black people sporting a kimono, nice. Asian people with Klan robes, what.
We live in a culturally interconnected global community now, no group has ownership over aesthetics.
Cultural Appropriation is real, but it usually refers to entire nations or massive artists or corporations adopting a caricature of smaller cultures, to the extent that people start associating it with that nation or artist rather than the culture. An example here is Picasso using African imagery, or pop stars copying underground music genres and effectively killing them off.
The problem is that people use it to talk about regular people starting a Sushi restaurant or whatever. They do not have the power to do this sort of thing.
Fair enough. It reminds me of the whole conversation about critical race theory. It isn't what most people think it is, and is reserved for discussions regarding much more nuanced understandings.
I still think it's hard to distinguish whether something is, or isn't cultural appropriation. Where is the line between inspiration and a knock-off?
So firstly, just like critical race theory, cultural appropriation is meant to be analysis. Fixing it doesn't just mean "OK guys don't do a cultural appropriation", it's meant to explain why cultures can lose their identity, and how they struggle.
A big part of the analysis is the power differential. One of the problems is that the culture is more associated with the trope than the real culture. It's a very large and powerful community (or individual) taking art from a small community. It's Taylor Swift using a drawing to promote her songs, not paying for it, and asking the artist to be glad she gave her the attention. It's Britney Spears (IIRC) making a pop song using ideas from an online subgenre and not crediting it, causing the subgenre to implode.
♬ One of these things is not like the other ~ One of these things is actually bad ♬
I find it hard to not be a sarcastic asshole sometimes lol.
Australian sarcasm translates worse online than it does IRL
Not wrong lol. Australian humour is a very tricky thing to understand for outsiders.
I was once accused of being racist for telling a story about how I joked that my black friend didn't need sunscreen.
Unless you understand how Aussie humour works, you won't understand that I'm actually saying "I don't give a shit about what colour your skin is".
For the uninitiated, much of Aussie humour revolves around how much you can "take-the-piss" meaning, "I know where your boundaries are, and I'll show you that I respect you by walking up to that line, but not crossing it".
Tell the story and explain the joke then
Was at the beach with some mates and had some sunblock, after I SlipSlopSlapped, I asked if my black mate if he wanted some, then quickly corrected myself saying "nah you're alright, anyone else?"
He had a chuckle and said "fuck you", then I gave him the tube because black people still get sunburned.
While there are people who are too trigger happy with the term, and a sizable gray area between cultural exchange and cultural appropriation, I do think there are cases where people cross over into objectionable cultural appropriation.
A really good example was when white American college students wore fake native American headwear with significant cultural and spiritual importance as decoration for drunken parties. I can definitely sympathize with native Americans not wanting their culture treated with disrespect.
Maybe it's just may way of looking at things, but I think for something to be culturally appropriated, it would need to be done with sincerity.
Ironically dressing up in Native-American headwear for a frat-party doesn't seem like cultural appropriation, just kinda fucked up (like doing blackface).
Yeah, blackface is fucked up. And using spiritually significant indigenous clothing to go butt chug booze is fucked up. I think the difference is that blackface was never part of black culture. It was part of white culture. The appropriation part comes from the fact that it’s crossing cultural boundaries.
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From what I've heard, plenty of black folks are mad about white people with dreadlocks because black people have been penalised for having locs for so long and along comes the dominant culture saying "actually that's cool and we're gonna make it cool, but you still look like shit".
Same with the fox eye trend that non Asians did for a bit, when Asian kids were forever bullied for having eyes like that.
Cultural sharing? Excellent. Cultural appropriation where one culture is plundered for anything of value and that culture is also denied acceptance for having those same characteristics? Not so good.
I understand that, but the people who were mad about those things were the fringe, most people didn't give a shit.
From what I remember, dreadlocks are a Caribbean thing, but the African-American population had adopted them.
There's a case to be made, based on what you're saying, that there's no issue because the African-American population weren't being oppressive.
However, Identity Politics is the most boring game in town. To judge who is culturally appropriating and who isn't is to assume a persons entire history based on the colour of their skin, which is, you know..