Cultural Appropriation is a Non-Issue

[Matt8800]

The implication of the anti-cultural appropriation movement basically says that if you are asian, you must act asian, look asian and like asian things. If you are Indian, you must act and look Indian, African - act and look African, etc.

How is telling someone that they must stick to a particular culture due to the ethnicity of their birth not racism and bigotry? 

The only caveat I see in this is that sacred things should always be treated as sacred, in my subjective opinion. For example, I think there is a difference in a Chinese factory making Native American moccasins as opposed to making sacred Native American dream catchers however I think it would be perfectly fine for a Native American to make sacred dream catchers to sell to non-Native Americans, should they choose to do so.

Am I missing something?

Edited October 21, 2019 by Matt8800

[tenta]

That's just far-left idiocy, while Trump is in power you might underestimate the stupidity of the far left (anti-white racists etc.) but it's still there

[Moreira]

If a Non-native american believes in a tradiction or a sacred object whats the problem? I wear a maori tattoo,  and opposite to 99% of people who wear maori tattoos I investigated the meaning of certain patterns, it resonated with my ideals and get the tattoo. If some maori get angry with me gtfo.

[Matt8800]

9 minutes ago, Moreira said:

If a Non-native american believes in a tradiction or a sacred object whats the problem? I wear a maori tattoo,  and opposite to 99% of people who wear maori tattoos I investigated the meaning of certain patterns, it resonated with my ideals and get the tattoo. If some maori get angry with me gtfo.

@Moreira I totally agree. In my occult practice, I utilize other culture's sacred things and symbols but I treat them as sacred and with honor. Not only do I not see a problem with that, I embrace it.

Edited October 21, 2019 by Matt8800

[Matt8800]

14 minutes ago, tenta said:

That's just far-left idiocy, while Trump is in power you might underestimate the stupidity of the far left (anti-white racists etc.) but it's still there

@tenta I agree. It is this kind of nonsense that might get us a second term of Trump.

[Forestluv]

5 hours ago, Matt8800 said:

The implication of the anti-cultural appropriation movement basically says that if you are asian, you must act asian, look asian and like asian things. If you are Indian, you must act and look Indian, African - act and look African, etc.

How is telling someone that they must stick to a particular culture due to the ethnicity of their birth not racism and bigotry? 

The only caveat I see in this is that sacred things should always be treated as sacred, in my subjective opinion. For example, I think there is a difference in a Chinese factory making Native American moccasins as opposed to making sacred Native American dream catchers however I think it would be perfectly fine for a Native American to make sacred dream catchers to sell to non-Native Americans, should they choose to do so.

Am I missing something?

What you describe is not cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation involves a power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group. From the perspective of the dominant culture, there is nothing wrong with it. From the perspective of the oppressed group, there is something wrong. You are not seeing the power dynamics and oppression involved as well as various perspectives. 

Context and impact matters. Below is a straightforward explanation.

https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/

[remember]

authenticity is nothing we can recreate in mass production, it`s as simple as that. what people should or should not do or revive as their cultural heritage is their own business, it`s sad if traditional manufacturing techniques get lost because there is no one who wants to inherit it, but that`s how it has always been. there is a reason why some things are protected by regions of origin, because the energy going into it deserves some status and as such protection.

[JustThinkingAloud]

The world is constantly changing and cultures and views are mixing together especially now through the internet. As any change, it needs to get integrated and fined tuned for it to become a good change. Perfection doesn’t exist, everything has it faults. All it matters whether there’s more good than bad.

That being said, I’ve lived through very diverse cultures and changes in my life. I grew up in communism, the wall came down when I was 14, I had successes, I had failures, I changed country, I left my community and became accepted in a different culture and community I wasn’t born in. I learnt new language, new customs but I’ve always stuck to my beliefs that I think are universal and all cultures have them with some variations.

In regards to previous generations or current oppression, I recognize that people got hurt and it shouldn’t be ignored, it needs be acknowledged and we need to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. These people need to get compensated as it’s the only thing we can do at this moment, we can’t change the past. These are the important things, anything smaller than that is unimportant.

So is it really a horrible thing that someone takes on other people’s culture/beliefs and adjusts it to fit their life? Of course, it’s not perfect but can we stop it? Do we have to stop it? What is the real damage? Is it horrible to see the whole elephant by using different cultures views?

Personally, I’m excited to see how the internet and social media making all cultures to blend, understand each other and adapt the best of each culture.

[CreamCat]

7 hours ago, Matt8800 said:

The implication of the anti-cultural appropriation movement basically says that if you are asian, you must act asian, look asian and like asian things. If you are Indian, you must act and look Indian, African - act and look African, etc.

 

3 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

Cultural appropriation involves a power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.

I like neither.

[Hansu]

1 hour ago, JustThinkingAloud said:

These people need to get compensated as it’s the only thing we can do at this moment, we can’t change the past.

Compensated? Like with money? Thats gonna bring their culture back? And what for? Something that our ancestors did or something we have done during our lifetime?

Does your grandfather being cultural oppressor make you cultural oppressor? Thats what they think in North Korea where shame is applied on everyone of a family line for 3 generations

 

[JustThinkingAloud]

19 minutes ago, Hansu said:

Compensated? Like with money? Thats gonna bring their culture back? And what for? Something that our ancestors did or something we have done during our lifetime?

YES! And it’s already happening and it has always been happening! A sick person gets more care than a healthy person, a poor person gets more help than a rich person, an oppressed person gets more attention than a happy person. Of course, it’s not perfect but it’s happening and it will still get better because it has always been getting better. It’s about progress not perfection.

 

19 minutes ago, Hansu said:

Does your grandfather being cultural oppressor make you cultural oppressor? Thats what they think in North Korea where shame is applied on everyone of a family line for 3 generations

No need to take it to the extreme 

[Hansu]

@JustThinkingAloud

How exactly would money help, for example, the philippino community?

@Keyhole

Gonna watch it after work ?

[JustThinkingAloud]

6 minutes ago, Hansu said:

@JustThinkingAloud

How exactly would money help, for example, the philippino community?

Sorry, I’m not a philippino and I don’t follow every problem in this world, I’m this one human being that only can do so much in my limited time. It’s up to the philippino to decide what to do with it and it’s surely better than nothing. Or would you like to invent a time machine?

[JustThinkingAloud]

1 minute ago, Keyhole said:

This video also offers insight into the long standing effects of ruling over other races of people, and very often these oppressive effects aren't that noticeable at first glance.  This mentions some of the ways that people who are compensated can still be taken advantage of.  We need to do more than offer compensation, we need to move towards preventing people from being preyed upon when they are compensated for the damages caused by previous generations.

So what is your plan? You could make it your life purpose, someone has to do something, it all starts with us. I would but I already have a big project.

[Hansu]

11 minutes ago, Keyhole said:

This mentions some of the ways that people who are compensated can still be taken advantage of.  We need to do more than offer compensation, we need to move towards preventing people from being preyed upon when they are compensated for the damages caused by previous generations.

Amen!

[JustThinkingAloud]

Just now, Hansu said:

Amen!

What about you, what you gonna do to change it? It's easy to complain.

[Hansu]

@JustThinkingAloud

I try to learn about other cultures and understand them on individual and mass level.

For one, I have spoken with enough Philippinos to understand how British and Spanish colonies have shaped their culture in ways that are irredeemable and no amount of alms will buy British and Spanish history out of this shame.

For second, I have read enough articles to understand how food and cloth aid to Africa is hurting their economy and creating depency on the said aid so I dont support food or cloth aid to Africa.

Im not wise enough to know great answers to the question of how we can reverse damages done by colonisers, but I think it has something to do with teaching and spreading wisdom. What I do know is that one cant buy a ticket to heaven with alms.

[JustThinkingAloud]

2 minutes ago, Hansu said:

What I do know is that one cant buy a ticket to heaven with alms.

One can't buy a ticket to heaven with words either.

[Matt8800]

16 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

What you describe is not cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation involves a power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group. From the perspective of the dominant culture, there is nothing wrong with it. From the perspective of the oppressed group, there is something wrong. You are not seeing the power dynamics and oppression involved as well as various perspectives. 

Context and impact matters. Below is a straightforward explanation.

https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/

So, in other words, if my individual skin color is a particular color that others deem is the wrong color, I am limited in what I can like and participate in. An individual is judged according to what "group" he/she belongs to. Isnt that literally the exact definition of racism?

Sounds to me like this is "acceptable" racism as opposed to "unacceptable" racism.

There is no argument as to how I personally have oppressed anybody. Just like MLK, I believe that a person should be judged as an individual rather than the color of their skin.

[Matt8800]

14 hours ago, remember said:

authenticity is nothing we can recreate in mass production, it`s as simple as that. what people should or should not do or revive as their cultural heritage is their own business, it`s sad if traditional manufacturing techniques get lost because there is no one who wants to inherit it, but that`s how it has always been. there is a reason why some things are protected by regions of origin, because the energy going into it deserves some status and as such protection.

@remember Thats a reasonable argument to consider. I think the item's "sacredness" to that culture is a consideration in this point.