"friendly reminder that if you're white, you'd better be uptight to the point of constipation at all times, except for moments of stress-induced diarrhea"
plus imagining thinking that, as a white person, you have the ability to decide who gets to celebrate what, while speaking over Asian people. like that was a bigotry 360°; you went right around to being racist again lmao
This is what happens most of the time when people scream cultural appropriation. The problem is that people without understanding of the terms use the terms every day. This leads to scenarios like the one above, or where someone is getting offended you're enjoying a cultural food, or listening to a specific kind of music. Appreciating other cultures isn't appropriation.
Exactly, appropriating means to take and pretend you invented it or created it. Interacting with culture or enjoying other people's culture isn't harmful and if these people actually went to other countries they'd realize their people WANT to share their culture.
Some of the reason cultural appropriation is a bad thing is due to capitalism. Taking something, even symbolically, for profit, is different than learning, experiencing and sharing.
That's why people who do understand the terms need to call the people who don't out at every opportunity, but they won't do that because of "solidarity."
I remember someone giving a huge speech on...tumblr probably it sounds like something that would come from that shithole...that white people learning Spanish was cultural appropriation.
Hundred. Percent. It's astounding, I am astounded at the number of messages I have received as a result of this post exactly mirroring the less desired sentiment you've described.
But it's cool, they can go f*** themselves, there's like 2 billion people wholesomely celebrating this holiday in defiance of bigotry, so it's not a real problem.
I recall when I was first informed about “cultural appropriation” and how it boiled down to the concept that if a white person enjoys any aspect of a non-white culture it was an act of racism. Gotta love the gravity well of ultra liberal bullshit warping back in on itself and becoming fascism.
TBH though I do find the term used to gatekeep far more than I see it used to promote respect. Most cultural arts and traditions formed from bringing a few items/ideas from other cultures back to their own and overtime they incorporated it into their own. Shit like wearing a cultures clothing item that requires significant cultural acts to obtain in said culture when you are not a patt of it, theres nuance and issues of cultural respect to talk about there. But "cultural appropriation" as a term doesnt really get used that often with that level of nuance
I mostly disagree, every time I visited a country and wore the cultural dress, the local culture has been very supportive and appreciative, and I've been able to enter into more interesting conversations because I'm willing to engage in their culture on a more visceral level.
I understand cultural sensitivity, but I have yet to encounter a culture that does not want to be recognized, particularly for their notable and impressive achievements.
Or if their clothing looks f****** cool, like in Morocco or Japan. China. Or the states. Or Vietnam. Or Germany(goofy but still fun). Malaysia.
Everywhere. Everywhere I have talked to people, they appreciate the appreciation of their culture.
To me, the term "cultural appropriation" refers to things like schools having kids make chicken feather "headdresses" to "celebrate" Native American Day, or wearing a religious symbol in a disrespectful way. Even though people like the person in the post can be annoying, I think it's still progress that we're able to have these discussions, and I think it's too bad that for many people the takeaway seems to be "cultural appropriation is never problematic." I'd take the person from the post any day over someone who thinks they're immune from criticism when they unintentionally engage in behavior that truly is disrespectful.
No one person can represent an entire culture though. That's why it's on us to learn how to be respectful.
For example, someone from Mexico might be just fine with offensive Hispanic stereotypes, but that doesn't excuse such behavior. You can't just ask a random person for a pass, like what? Even asking for something like that would be utterly tasteless lmao
Thats... kinda what I'm talking about? Cultural appropriation is most often used in a context of why you SHOULDNT engage in things you like about another culture
IM not condemning the appreciation of other cultures. I'm saying the concept of Cultural Appropriation leads to the thought process of the woman who's tweet started this thread more than it leads to how to be better respectful in how you appreciate things. A person wouldnt "appopriate" anything unless something about it found interest in them. Just general lessons in respect in general are far more useful
Idk wtf "a person wouldn't appropriate anything unless something about it found interest in them" means, so I'm going to just assume that your heart is in the right place.
Tbf it took me a bit to translate your response too =P But essentially what I mean is Appropriation is basically taking something from somewhere that you like, but in a disrespectful or dishonest fasion. Its basically inappropriate/disrespectful appreciation. If this is your polite way of exiting a conversation though I respect that and wish you a good day as well.
Yeah badically. I'm not a fan of the social justice trend to focus on the negative and judgy terminology of a nuanced issue rather than focussing on the positive and how can we do things better side. I do not like the concept of privilege, but appreciate the concept of intersectionality as an example, as even though they both focus on: We all experience challenges that others might not and its helpful to be aware that someone might be experiencing a challenge that you do not personally face. One comes at it from an inclusive "everyone is in this boat" perspective, and the other comes at it from an exclusionary "Some people experience this less than others" persepective. Tangent aside, I'd much rather we focus on how to better appreciate the things and concepts we like, than put the main focus on the "wrong" ways of appreciating what we like.
Tl:dr:
I dont like cultural appropriation as a concept
but
The concept of cultural appreciation and how most respectfully to do so I think is fantastic
If you truly believe what you're saying, then please travel.
Cultural appropriation done disrespectfully is obviously heinous, and I've never seen that occurrent real life, but if you are representing the culture that you are traveling among, they love it.
I haven't been to a single country where they don't love it.
Yeah ok at this point I'm gonna respectfully opt out. I appreciate the conversation we are having, but theres small statements in each of your responses that I feel are disrespecting me such as calling my talking points nonsense, or assuming I havent traveled the world which I have. I do see and appreciate your love of other cultures And I share and share and respect that sentiment, so I do still wish you a good day
"Gatekeep", "gaslight" they've become twitter shit words. Completely poisoned. Just mentionning them cast doubt and suspicion on the speaker. Even when it applies.
That's a bullshit explanation of cultural appropriation and the person you heard it from is an idiot. Actual cultural appropriation is when you take something from another culture and either erase or overwrite its origin, so the original culture in its original form becomes forgotten.
For example, when white artists re-recorded songs from black artists and specifically removed them from the credits and claimed them as their own, that was cultural appropriation. When movie studios chopped up Indian culture and presented it in a completely distorted and inaccurate light, so much so that the original meanings were lost, that was cultural appropriation.
Simply being a participant in someone else's cultural celebration is not cultural appropriation.
Considering I've seen a lot of gatekeeping morons go on about cultural appropriation without ever mentioning that, I think most don't understand this crucial distinction.
If you form your understanding on topics you don’t understand based on what “gatekeeping morons” think or do, you are going to be perpetually misinformed
It's not any form of liberalism. The troll depicted in the original post, is building a strawman. A ridiculous opinion nobidy believes. The goal is simple to delegitimise the whole idea of cultural appropriation. To basically say, Disney did nothing wrong taking children's public domain folklore and locking it behind an intellectual property paywall for 100 years.
That's the real goal here. As usual the powerful taking away from the weak and saying they're not allowed to complain.
You are ultimately right, this is fasch behaviour. This is fasch wearing fake liberal faceskin.
Sorry to inform you, but I know people like this, and they're not building strawmen or false flags. They sincerely think they're helping, when all they're doing is creating strife and division.
I think it's malicious and they know what they're doing. They don't like the idea so they push it to the ridiculous extreme. Or, they're another form of malicious, the busybody intruder who wants to tell others how to live and pretending this is about the "victim" are simply using those "victims" as to justify their aggression.
I do think it's important that people know what it is they're celebrating, but yeah like my local Chinese community always does a lunar new year celebration that is open to everyone. I think a lot of Chinese people (and other communities that celebrate the lunar new year, like Okinawan Korean Vietnamese and many others) see open celebration as creating more appreciation for and understanding of their culture.
Nah, as a cracker ass American I think I will celebrate Lunar New Year and immerse myself in the lore and customs of people I share this plant with because history rocks my fucking socks.
I mean, it's not like there aren't large communities of Asian immigrants all over the world. In most countries, and definitely the English speaking ones, I almost guarantee your country celebrates it somewhere. Beyond all the other problems with this, it erases the experiences of Asian immigrants, I live in the US and I know for a fact there's going to be tons of celebrations here for it organized by people whose cultures it is.
According to Wikipedia, the Chicago metropolitan area has a population of about 10 million people, far less than Poland's 38 million, which makes your claim completely impossible from the start. In fact, according to other articles, it seems that there are about 185 000 people of Polish descent living in Chicago (less than half a percent of the population of Poland), and a bit less than 10 million in the entire US (which is significant compared to the population of Poland, but still "only" about a quarter). And this article claims that there are "roughly 20 000 000 people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland" [in total], which is still less than the population of Poland.
It's chinese new year? Why they call it lunar year? Yes I know their calendar is running by the moon. Is "lunar year" ultra-woke to avoid a "ugly" word like "chinese"? An other case of woke racism?
It's more because so many cultures have a lunar calendar, so even though China is the largest population that uses the lunar calendar, it's not precise to just call it the Chinese New Year, since so many countries and cultures also have a lunar calendar that share significant dates.
Sorry, today it's New Year in the Chinese Calendar. It's celebrated by Chinese all over the world. And it's not even a really "lunar" calendar. More precise is to call it a "lunar-solar" calendar. Racism, not accuracy.
Ok, you are woke and use this words. This is ok. But you are wrong to call it a lunar year, because the chinese calendar is lunisonal. Ask Chat-GPT. So you can call it a lunisonal year.
Yes. In one country, you'd call it that,or seoullal or tet, so on for each country. But if you're referring to the collective lunar festival celebrated by dint of the lunar calendar on the same day, boy, it just makes sense to call it the lunar new year.
"Lunar year" is a western term. This makes it difficult for me, because I don't want to say to a chinese restaurant guy how he has to name his celebrations. A lunar calendar is from western perspective even more primitive. You can't use it for farming, because the seasons drift through the "lunar year". The chinese calendar is a typical farming calendar which has solved this problem. Lunisolar. Lunar the month, the year solar. If you know this lunar alone sounds arrogant or non-knowing. In my ears. In my life I only know Chinese who celebrate this. Everybody wants to know the animal of the year. There is even astrology. I don't want to mix this with other cultures. The right-woke way is to ask the people how they name this. Then using their words. If you name it "lunar year" then it's ok for me. But I would to know the original name in your culture. I like to know new words. Thank you for your wishes.
Lunar year is not a western term, it's a comprehensive translation of all of the lunar New Years.
Why are you even making this up?
This is so much more embarrassing for you than if you just admitted that the lunar calendar is real and that countries other than wherever you're from celebrate different holidays than you do.
Let's examine your lunar-solar "argument"; the distinguiahing characteristic of all of these lunar-solar New years is that they're based on the lunar part of the calendar.
The Lunar New Year part of the calendar.
The same Lunar New Year date shared with many other countries.
Lunar year is an english term. And the problem is you mix other cultures with the chinese. The Chinese year starts with a lunar event, new moon, but the years are orientated by the sol. The term "lunar year" is wrong if you refer it to the chinese calendar. If you want to mix "all lunar calendars" this makes no sense beside the woke motivation. They invent names for christmas without christ. And of course chinese culture is under fire and voilà they name the biggest chinese cultural event with a new name. This can be criticized.
One of them follows the solar cycle and one of them follows the lunar cycle.
Today celebrates the new year according to the lunar cycle.
"Lunar New Year" are literally English words, but not in any conceivable way a definitively and singularly English term, that's so narcissistic of you it's almost solipsistic, hahaha
It's a reflective comprehensive translation of the lunar New Year of every culture that follows the lunar calendar.
You can totally criticize it, it's super funny that you keep trying.
No. Every three years there's an additional month to synchronize the calendar with the sol-year. So they mixed moon- and solyear.
Years ago the world I knew used the term "Chinese New Year". Now your term is quite more often used by media. I think there is purpose not to bring positive news from this land. Words can be weapons.
