Douglas Murray makes this point wonderfully: what's being wrongly termed "cultural appropriation" is what we used to recognize as cultural appreciation. Until about two minutes ago, a white lady wearing a kimono was perceived as liking and respecting Japanese culture.
Lovely: "The anti-appropriationists of today sound much like the anti-miscegenationists of the past, taking for granted that racial groups have clear borders and ought not be seen in public to combine." FAIR keeps exposing the racism in the "anti-racist" illiberalism.
Best article I've read in 6 months...I'm always confused as to how Viking braids (not a white cultural majority) are culturally appropriated. Also, the only way you can have a "white" majority in power in the entire script is if you take all white cultures (English, Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian, Russian, Danish, etc) and make them all one group. There are distinct cultures that aren't recognized in order to call white people a majority. It's fallacy.
Dialogue should change to "cultural exploitation", I do think it is good when one is able to identify when a "dominant" culture is exploiting minority aesthetics for gross profit. Example being an AWFL opening up a Chinese restaurant shop and titling it "Me So Hongry" or something similar. This is offensive, at worst, on multiple levels and tasteless in every capacity. I don't think this situation is comparable to that poor woman who spent a decade in China learning how to speak the language and making their food, who turned around to write a cookbook about it and was mercilessly castigated online by people who otherwise could not care less about Chinese food any other day of the week. "Appropriation" doesn't adequately describe either of these situations. The former is exploitation, through and through. The latter is successful integration and sharing in respect.
Franklin - Great article and agree with so much of what you wrote. As for Braswell who obviously has found this to be better paying than a real job. If we follow his thoughts, grasps for notions of ownership even as the history he describes rips them away. Why has Wonder Years been redone and why are we going to have a Black Redheaded Mermaid? KK blasted for corn rolls, Whoppie and so many others are wearing Blonde or red. He has started down that rabbit hole that could have no end.
Cinco DeMayo should not be celebrated by any races but Latino. St Patrick's day is only for whites. Electric guitars is only for whites as is country music. No Chinese food for you and especially cooking it. Gospel must be all Black choirs. No fortune cookie for you my man.
The stupidity of the money hustlers' actually knows no bounds. Should basketball and football, plus baseball only be for whites?
I prefer to think that society learns and grows from culture, regardless of the background. That is why the cries of cultural appropriations and reparations' strikes zero sympathy from me. Do we give reparations to all of the families of dead Union Soldiers or seek out the African Tribes that sold their own into slavery? No we just need to pick one country and say they did it. (Hell no I do not condone slavery. Which by the way is bigger than any time in history and old slow Joe only makes it worse.) Do we institute the police to ensure that no one can wear certain clothes or act a certain way? M&M should be prosecuted for doing rap.
What is it, other than attention and money that people like Braswell, Jackson, Sharpton, and even those of other races want? I include other races as there are definitely enough white groups looking to play the same card, as are Latino groups and others. Try just being whatever country you are or if that doesn't work, move somewhere you feel better. Nothing ties you to one place in todays world. As for me; I prefer my mixed family and all of the friends from all races who bring so much to my life. Makes life so much more fun and interesting.
Peak insanity was reached when those poor ladies in Portland who were run out of town for making burritos out of their food truck. But then again, that was Portland, so its not like the women weren't forewarned.
I loved this sentence: "The correct descriptor, in this instance, is 'bad art'.” I get the feeling that the cultural appropriation argument is a way for bad [artists/comedians/etc.] to essentially just eliminate the competition within their particular lane.
Twitter post today, telling "settlers" not to share any information about the indigenous culture that an indigenous person may have shared with them or that they read somewhere because they did not own that info. They had to request permission to share it. Why even share information, publish art or anything with anyone outside your own culture? Why not communicate cultural info in the indigenous language that only her own people understand. I'm getting her post comes from a place of hate. Glad this wasn't a thing when Paul Simon did his Graceland album. It introduced a whole genre of music to a big market and I'm sure Ladysmith Black Mombasa aren't complaining.
The idea of "cultural appropriation" the way it is discussed now is highly toxic and incredibly ignorant of human history as a whole. As I try to lay out here (https://twoplustwo.substack.com/p/of-black-mermaids-and-white-indians), the accusation of cultural appropriation seems to be working only in one direction and therefore reveals its hypocrisy. We should celebrate each other's cultures by making it accessible to everyone, not restrict it to skin color.
Thank you. Finally. We're in some kind of situation when a banal observation is ground-breaking. (Pardon the apparent back-handedness of the compliment; you seriously nailed it, man). Nina Simone's 1967 rendition of The House of the Rising Sun, originally a Scottish folk song, was rightly celebrated as a profound contribution to the Blues. I understand 'cultural appropriation' is assessed and adjudicated overwhelmingly in one direction, but just imagine the implications of Simone not being "allowed" access to this material and just how less brilliant the world would be because of it. That's the future but for the likes of you flipping the switches on these tracks. Well done.
Manthia Diawara, a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian, wrote this in his book "We Won't Budge" (an excellent read that documents his migration from Mali to France to the United States):
"The notion that you can leave one culture and walk into another without contaminating it or being contaminated by it is erroneous. Cultures are no longer that different from each other; they have lost to each other, and they have gained from each other. Although at a surface level, there are differences marked by color and physical characteristics, which are still capable of activating prejudice, at a deeper level the desire for modernity has considerably reduced the differences between people. What people want everywhere today - whether they are dressed in dashikis or three-piece suits, whether they claim to be authentic Africans or Europeans - is the shortcut to things that only modernity can give them. …Africa has lost some characteristics of its cultures, and gained some new ones. The same can be said about everywhere in the world today. Because of modernity, we can have anybody's culture at every corner of the world, and anybody can lose his or her own culture to a new one anyplace in the world."
The stand-out aspect of human success vs all other species is our ability to communicate, assimilate and adapt to new information. For millennia this mostly came in the form of visual observation, occasionally via written documentation. We delight in novelty, ingenuity and new ideas.
It's no exaggeration to say that nearly all human progress starts with a new Idea (whether original or observed), and then trying it out.
A pointless article and needless over-obfuscation of something that matters less than you think it does. If you're doing something that upsets someone else, listen to them - and try and do better.
Douglas Murray makes this point wonderfully: what's being wrongly termed "cultural appropriation" is what we used to recognize as cultural appreciation. Until about two minutes ago, a white lady wearing a kimono was perceived as liking and respecting Japanese culture.
Lovely: "The anti-appropriationists of today sound much like the anti-miscegenationists of the past, taking for granted that racial groups have clear borders and ought not be seen in public to combine." FAIR keeps exposing the racism in the "anti-racist" illiberalism.
Best article I've read in 6 months...I'm always confused as to how Viking braids (not a white cultural majority) are culturally appropriated. Also, the only way you can have a "white" majority in power in the entire script is if you take all white cultures (English, Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian, Russian, Danish, etc) and make them all one group. There are distinct cultures that aren't recognized in order to call white people a majority. It's fallacy.
When River A and River B come together, we call the result a River. When Culture A and Culture B come together, we call the result a Culture.
Dialogue should change to "cultural exploitation", I do think it is good when one is able to identify when a "dominant" culture is exploiting minority aesthetics for gross profit. Example being an AWFL opening up a Chinese restaurant shop and titling it "Me So Hongry" or something similar. This is offensive, at worst, on multiple levels and tasteless in every capacity. I don't think this situation is comparable to that poor woman who spent a decade in China learning how to speak the language and making their food, who turned around to write a cookbook about it and was mercilessly castigated online by people who otherwise could not care less about Chinese food any other day of the week. "Appropriation" doesn't adequately describe either of these situations. The former is exploitation, through and through. The latter is successful integration and sharing in respect.
Franklin - Great article and agree with so much of what you wrote. As for Braswell who obviously has found this to be better paying than a real job. If we follow his thoughts, grasps for notions of ownership even as the history he describes rips them away. Why has Wonder Years been redone and why are we going to have a Black Redheaded Mermaid? KK blasted for corn rolls, Whoppie and so many others are wearing Blonde or red. He has started down that rabbit hole that could have no end.
Cinco DeMayo should not be celebrated by any races but Latino. St Patrick's day is only for whites. Electric guitars is only for whites as is country music. No Chinese food for you and especially cooking it. Gospel must be all Black choirs. No fortune cookie for you my man.
The stupidity of the money hustlers' actually knows no bounds. Should basketball and football, plus baseball only be for whites?
I prefer to think that society learns and grows from culture, regardless of the background. That is why the cries of cultural appropriations and reparations' strikes zero sympathy from me. Do we give reparations to all of the families of dead Union Soldiers or seek out the African Tribes that sold their own into slavery? No we just need to pick one country and say they did it. (Hell no I do not condone slavery. Which by the way is bigger than any time in history and old slow Joe only makes it worse.) Do we institute the police to ensure that no one can wear certain clothes or act a certain way? M&M should be prosecuted for doing rap.
What is it, other than attention and money that people like Braswell, Jackson, Sharpton, and even those of other races want? I include other races as there are definitely enough white groups looking to play the same card, as are Latino groups and others. Try just being whatever country you are or if that doesn't work, move somewhere you feel better. Nothing ties you to one place in todays world. As for me; I prefer my mixed family and all of the friends from all races who bring so much to my life. Makes life so much more fun and interesting.
Peak insanity was reached when those poor ladies in Portland who were run out of town for making burritos out of their food truck. But then again, that was Portland, so its not like the women weren't forewarned.
I loved this sentence: "The correct descriptor, in this instance, is 'bad art'.” I get the feeling that the cultural appropriation argument is a way for bad [artists/comedians/etc.] to essentially just eliminate the competition within their particular lane.
Twitter post today, telling "settlers" not to share any information about the indigenous culture that an indigenous person may have shared with them or that they read somewhere because they did not own that info. They had to request permission to share it. Why even share information, publish art or anything with anyone outside your own culture? Why not communicate cultural info in the indigenous language that only her own people understand. I'm getting her post comes from a place of hate. Glad this wasn't a thing when Paul Simon did his Graceland album. It introduced a whole genre of music to a big market and I'm sure Ladysmith Black Mombasa aren't complaining.
Fantastic post, thank you!
The idea of "cultural appropriation" the way it is discussed now is highly toxic and incredibly ignorant of human history as a whole. As I try to lay out here (https://twoplustwo.substack.com/p/of-black-mermaids-and-white-indians), the accusation of cultural appropriation seems to be working only in one direction and therefore reveals its hypocrisy. We should celebrate each other's cultures by making it accessible to everyone, not restrict it to skin color.
Thank you. Finally. We're in some kind of situation when a banal observation is ground-breaking. (Pardon the apparent back-handedness of the compliment; you seriously nailed it, man). Nina Simone's 1967 rendition of The House of the Rising Sun, originally a Scottish folk song, was rightly celebrated as a profound contribution to the Blues. I understand 'cultural appropriation' is assessed and adjudicated overwhelmingly in one direction, but just imagine the implications of Simone not being "allowed" access to this material and just how less brilliant the world would be because of it. That's the future but for the likes of you flipping the switches on these tracks. Well done.
Greece/Rome/Christianity! Darn culturally appropriating Christians.
Manthia Diawara, a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian, wrote this in his book "We Won't Budge" (an excellent read that documents his migration from Mali to France to the United States):
"The notion that you can leave one culture and walk into another without contaminating it or being contaminated by it is erroneous. Cultures are no longer that different from each other; they have lost to each other, and they have gained from each other. Although at a surface level, there are differences marked by color and physical characteristics, which are still capable of activating prejudice, at a deeper level the desire for modernity has considerably reduced the differences between people. What people want everywhere today - whether they are dressed in dashikis or three-piece suits, whether they claim to be authentic Africans or Europeans - is the shortcut to things that only modernity can give them. …Africa has lost some characteristics of its cultures, and gained some new ones. The same can be said about everywhere in the world today. Because of modernity, we can have anybody's culture at every corner of the world, and anybody can lose his or her own culture to a new one anyplace in the world."
The stand-out aspect of human success vs all other species is our ability to communicate, assimilate and adapt to new information. For millennia this mostly came in the form of visual observation, occasionally via written documentation. We delight in novelty, ingenuity and new ideas.
It's no exaggeration to say that nearly all human progress starts with a new Idea (whether original or observed), and then trying it out.
A pointless article and needless over-obfuscation of something that matters less than you think it does. If you're doing something that upsets someone else, listen to them - and try and do better.
Really, it's that simple.
Perfectly stated. Thank you.