Cultural appropriation.
This was originally going to be a shorty little nothing of a throw away essay until I found this...
'Debunking Cultural Appropriation'
[Update. After ruminating on the subject of Cultural appropriation I believe that Cultural Appropriation a bit of a misnomer. It seems that all those who are upset by this Cultural Appropriation are upset because those doing the Appropriating are some how misusing their bit of culture. It seems to me that Cultural Misappropriation is the more apt and fitting and correct descriptor. It had me thinking that there might be a case to be made for the act of Cultural Dis-appropriation. I had the idea in my mind but over the course of the evening I lost it. Such is the case with old farts I guess. If I figure it out I will update. I was watching a show on the Netflix that I highly recommend "Black Doves". But in this show there is a black man in London England wearing a sweater printed and maybe woven in with some Indian Blanket pattern. Is this individual guilty of cultural Appropriation? Misappropriation? Cant he just be wearing it because he thinks it pretty and colorful without having to get into all the subtle nuance of what is or is not acceptable to the Indian tribes back in America? Of course this was a show and so some show-runner/costume designer is responsible for the shirt, sooo... ]
[ This was the throwaway part of the essay. I keep hearing more and more about 'Cultural Appropriations.' And how the black community is bent because white people are mimicking black culture. I am no expert on black culture by any means, but I do see an awful lot of black women sporting 'Straight Blonde Hair'. Certainly this is not endemic of any Black Culture at all. Black people with green eyes and other similar coloration pasterns are the result of mixed race coupling and general genetic weirdnesses. I don't mean to imply that those with the vitiligo condition are in any way weird. I look forward to your cards and letters. Are those individuals afflicted with green eyes and lighter skin ostracized by the rest of black culture? I hear some black people referring to white hoods and thugs as 'Wiggers.' These Hoods and Thugs are mimicking the Worst of black culture. Which is crumby because this culture gets the most attention because it it the most sensational and hurtful to black culture as a whole.]
This woman is attempting to "Debunk Cultural Appropriation". I disagree with her on virtually every point.
Her first point regarding cultural appropriation is "You are just looking for something to be offended by". in my opinion she deflected that argument with a non-answer. When she dredges up the Tried and true and now Fucking old "Marginalized Communities' argument. This is simply "WOKE Speak' for Whitey is oppressing us yet again in new and more offensive ways. That doesn't debunk anything. SHE IS truly looking to be offended. The Corn-Rows hair style did not originate only with the black community. Many cultures developed that hair style independently of black culture. So I disagree with her assertion that the black community 'Owns' the rights to and holds the patents and copyrights there to the corn-row hairstyle. The black community has certainly used it most recently, frequently and artistically. The fact that an individual was fired for styling their hair in corn-rows, to me speaks to the individual's aggressive attitude about their hairstyle. I don't know the specifics of this particular action but I can not imagine that any company fired an individual with out some sort of communication about the hairstyle long before the firing took place. This individual didn't walk in one day with corn-rowed hair and get fired upon setting foot through the door. HR was certain to have been involved on multiple occasions. In a business environment that style of hair might have been too aggressive at the front desk. No company would fire an individual for such a thing as hairstyle and open themselves up to a wrongful termination lawsuit. Having your hair corn-rowed off the clock is none of the companies business. Celebrities corn-rowing up their hair for public appearances is up to them, but they obviously do so at their own risk. And I don't even have to imagine that celebrities who do corn-row their hair for edgy styling looks are called out for it and do it at the risk being forced to make some form of apology or preform some other act of contrition. The terminated individual may have looked 'too edgy' or aggressive for their position at the company. They may also have even been to aggressive or otherwise militant or otherwise unfit for the job. This individual may also have had a chip on their shoulder regarding White Supremacy or some such thing. Just like its not likely that Hooters is going to hire men or obese women for their restaurants. They have a business model and business image and brand to maintain.
Her second point is that the appropriaTOR 'Must' have respect for the appropriaTED culture or piece of culture. Why is that a prerequisite for getting a tribal tattoo? Are the only persons 'legally' able to get tribal tattoos Maori tribe members? A tattoo is a deeply personal thing especially if you are going to be sporting that tattoo on your neck or face. By the way neck and face tattoos just scream DON'T HIRE ME! Is her next argument going to be against using sex to sell clothing, or cars, or jewelry, or perfume, or movies, or booze, or anything that can be sold, sex will sell it better, faster more often and for more money. Who exactly 'Owns' sex? Which culture holds the patent and copyrights to sex? Certainly the Maori tribes may have created the tribal face tattoo. And their tattoo work certainly have great personal and tribal significance, in their tribe, no argument. But slapping a face tattoo on a model selling sunglasses is no different than having a half naked woman selling the same thing. Go to ANY car show anywhere in the world and you will see pretty women standing next to the next big thing in the automotive world. Look at any beer ad. Every ad using sex to sell a product is stripping the individual model of their personality and humanity just to sell the whatever. Is that culturally appropriative or oppressive? Or both? Is that going to change? NO it is not.
Her third point is that if the corn-row-ee doesn't find it offensive to corn-row their hair and their appropriated culture friend doesn't either. But that friend doesn't necessarily represent the whole of the culture who 'owns' the rights to use or withhold the use of the bit of appropriated culture. Does the black community as a whole 'Own' the corn-rowing hairstyle? Is she making patent or copyright infringement argument?
Her next point is about the miss-use of a bit of culture. Her example is a thing that Katy Perry did on stage. Did she get Bent because an idiot singer and choreographer goofed the styles and actions for the sake of a stage performance? I don't know anything about this Particular stage show of singing and dancing but I do know that there hasn't been a music video or stage performance that hasn't gotten something wrong culturally somehow someway at some time. Heaven forbid that they use the incorrect kimono colors or styles, or makeup or incorrect historical time period hairstyle. Does the stage performance coordinator need to do a DEEP Dive into the cultural history of every single move made on stage as well as the makeup and hairstyle and dance step? Bollywood dance style is often depicted on stage and in movies NO one can argue that every instance of Bollywood depicted everywhere anywhere for public consumption must be 'pitch perfect'. There hasn't been an action movie, ever, that Absolutely adheres the exact martial arts style in an action sequence. NOT ONE. Not even the late Great Bruce Lee was immune to this type of appropriation. Is she insisting that every stage presentation and movie have a cultural appropriations coordinator, liaison and advisor, onset director and choreographer and executive producer on set to be absolutely sure that John Wick uses perfect what ever martial arts style he uses forms at all times, and doesn't make a single misstep for the sake of an imagined 'Cultural Appropriation Police'? Did the imagined 'Martial arts Defamation League' ever have anything to say about any Martial arts action movie ever made? Certainly there are now YouTube critics popping up all over the place critiquing the John Wick movies and Top Gun movies for accuracy. But those action sequences are NOT for educational purposes. The Movie makers are not pro porting their movies to be some kind of accurate in Any Way At All. It's Entertainment. Or what passes for entertainment. Nor did the Katy Perry stage people either. You do not go to a Katy Perry show to be educated. Its just a Song and Dance show. I am certain that the Katy Perry dance choreography people didn't sit down and say "you know what would be deeply offensive to the entirety of the Asian community".
Her next argument is that if you walk on stage with a floor length Chieftain Head Dress with a leopard print bikini and assorted turquoise bangles bits that some how you are somehow OPPRESSING some Body or some Culture. How is this an act of oppression exactly? Does this get-up cause any Individual or any Culture financial harm? Does it set the cause of Indian relations back 100 years? Does this stage show somehow inhibit somebody's ability to get a job? The only thing I see here is that who ever threw this get-up together probably did so after a weekend bender involving copious amounts of absinthe and some fun mushrooms in their vegan salad. People who who tune into or attend this sort of show certainly know that is not for educational purposes. Oh and that designers have Really bad taste. And was the model that was 'forced' to ware and parade around on stage being Oppressed? If you look at the Fashion industry as a whole their creative muses are pretty fucked up. If anybody is being oppressed its the models who have to go onstage wearing these hallucinogenic nightmares on stage and in public with a straight face or rather the grim face of abject disrepair. Fashion designers have been dropping ACID for decades. And it shows. Wacky Yes Oppressing NO.
I am not totally certain what her next argument is. It seems like she is balling up cultural appropriation with cultural assimilation... How is Farrell wearing an Indian head dress on the cover of Elle magazine an issue? Goofy maybe. As I said before Most Fashion is goofy or edgy by design. Why should Mr. Farrell have had the "Much Deserved Flack" delivered to him such that it caused him to deliver an apology and to whom was this apology addressed? Did Every body get the memo? Were they all appeased? I doubt it. Because once you make an apology to one group you are certain to omit some crucial piece of information that will lead those intended to appease to conclude that you are neither sincere or apologetic. Every time any Body, does any Thing, any Where, at any Time, Ever at all anymore Without the help of some Cultural liaison they must be prepared to deliver an apology or make some other act of contrition to appease the Deeply Offended party or parties and there ALWAYS offended parties. ALWAYS. Nothing is exempt. If for instance Mr. Farrell should step out sporting a French Barret but has it on wrong, however that might be, does he need to be ready to apologize for that goof as well? Does this goof rise to the level of a Gaff? I think biden has an absolute Death GRIP on Gaffs. In fact by now if you look the word Gaff in the Miriam Webster Dictionary you should see a picture of biden. Is that goof going to cause an international indecent? Is the French Nation going to go to Def-con 1 because of this? I doubt it because the French people are too busy with a collapsing government and an out of control Muslim population setting fire to some part of Paris or another. Again do the photo shoot people now need to have some sort of All Knowing Cultural Attache, Cultural Liaison on site to clear this with the Tribal Leaders or whoever to be sure this was officially approved by who ever approves such things? Did Mr. Farrell have an Apache bead band with Arapaho feathers in? Was he saying that this was a Nez Peirce tribe head dress when in fact it was a head dress representing the Pottawatomie tribe? Was he making some derogatory political reference with regard to this Indian Nations? Are you going to call out General motors for culturally appropriating the names Pontiac and Cadillac? Is the Use of those names going to cost General Motors some billions of dollars in reparations to the families of Chief Pontiac and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac? What exactly was the issue. So now Farrell isn't allowed to Ever dawn an Indian head dress because he is not an Indian? What about that goofy hat that he wares. Isnt that culturally appropriated from some other culture? Have we come to the point that only Mexican actors can play in Mexican rolls in movies? It is my understanding that the actor person that plaid the Indian person in the TV show Yellow Stone was not in fact Indian. Neither it seems that one of the women actors playing a roll of an Indian. Are Only trans people able to play trans rolls in movies? Are we really there now? And now there is complaining because a BROWN Mexican playing a Mexican roll. This TOTALLY Smacks of Victim tribalism. Apparently there is much furore about his skin color. This actor calls out "Colorism" A new word for me, a new victim tribe. In this article there is talk about the Spanish Oppression of the Meso-American tribes in colonial area Mexico. I don't think there is a square inch of acreage on the planet who's peoples have not been subjugated and or oppressed by some other group of people at some time or another. And now WE ALL must wear the Cold Wet blanket of guilt for our ancestor's misdeeds. How long until this ancestral guilt can be laid aside. Can it ever be laid aside? I don't see that happening anytime soon. Not with the wave of Guilt Culture we are now riding. Oh can I say wave and riding in the same sentence with out offending the Native Hawaiian population? Because as we ALL know they invented surfing and as such 'Own' surfing. And the White Menace has appropriated that bit of culture as well. Now disney has entered the fray with their total re-imagining of the Classic "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" 'Little people'. There is also much talk about Dwarfs 'Little People' playing the titular characters in the Disney live action remake of Snow White. disney side stepped this whole problem by simply writing the Dwarfs 'little people' right out of the picture with the stroke of a pen. And replaced them with the seven Magical Creatures. But there was SO MUCH push back on that topic too the point that disney dropped all the 'Seven Magical Creatures' from the movie and inserted Crappy CGI Dwarfs 'Little People'. But WE White People daren't address the brown elephant in the room, Snow White isn't White. Apparently Snow White's name Now comes from the idea that Snow White manage to survive a Blizzard or something. Nothing at all related to her skin color. And now we are learning that SNOW isn't even actually WHITE. If the White culture or community 'Leaders' whoever they are were to ever dare to make mention of this publicly and on the record who ever that poor slob might 'have been' would be canceled right out of existence three generations past, present and future would simply be erased.
As to her argument about Assimilation. If this woman was so moved to move to France because of her fondness for the french Culture she would certainly voluntarily and eagerly assimilate to the french culture. I know the natives would be to very forgiving for her Not learning the language in a damn big hurry. The french are damned unforgiving on that sort of thing. If you move to France because you like the culture then it follows that you would 'Assimilate' into the French culture. BECAUSE you liked the culture. You wouldn't move to France and try to remake it in your image and likeness. Much like the Muslims are doing ALL Across Europe at this very moment. The same goes for America. You have moved here its because something about the American culture appealed to you. Not just the Coke a Cola and Levies. When Ellis island was in operation 5000 people a day came to 'Make it in America'. They Assimilated. They learned the language they started companies. With out the help of the Government. For the most part the early immigrants assimilated. Yes there were Ghettos of Italian and Irish and Jewish and Chinese communities. Most major cities have a China Town or a little Italy. But I am absolutely and deeply offended by immigrants, any immigrants, coming to America by what ever means and choosing to purposefully and willfully NOT assimilate. If America is where you want to live why then why do immigrants feel the need to 'Bend' America to their own image and likeness? To force the DMV to have on staff a half dozen or more translators and to have reams of drivers license manuals in EVERY language imaginable available. You came to America. You knew what America was about. You knew that the principal language in America is English. With All of that fore knowledge you came here any way. I do not expect that you as an immigrant should shed ALL of your cultural history. Not at all! Celebrate Cinco de' Mayo, Both of them. BUT DO NOT fly the Mexican flag above the American Flag. AND DO have the courtesy to adopt the American culture as well. The new wave of 'Visaed-up' college students all across America chanting "Death to America" ARE Absolutely Despicable and ABSOLUTELY must be Deported with Extreme Prejudice, Double ASAP! Along with every immigrant that has crawled under or over or around the boarder however where ever when ever they broke the immigration laws. Those are federal laws. If I break the speed limit and get caught I am held accountable. But if you do 'move' to America you are given the advance to Go card and collect $1500.00 a month tax free. Have interest free loans for the purposes of starting businesses made available to you and have no cost counselors available for the purposes of setting up and establishing your company. And are welcome to all the free medical and free education and so many other freebees just because you made it across the boarder. When local community governments are beset with waves of immigrants legal or otherwise they are CRUSHED by the unbalanced cost of providing all the mandated handouts that they must apply higher taxes to those who are actually contributing to the local economies by paying the taxes that pay for all of those freebees. And the newly arrived immigrants are exempt from these taxes. Unlike us poor Born here in America Slobs who are taxed to death and have no free medical, and higher education is as we ALL know prohibitively expensive even to the point of a Massive Government Bail-Out.
So further along into this argument she seems to say that you must have permission that you must first be "invited" share in the Hindustani culture to get your hand hennaed- up. You cant just go all willy-nilly and appropriate the bits and pieces of a culture to fit your own personal aesthetic. You have to first get an official engraved invitation by some state recognized representative or relative or friend of a friend of the Hindi culture you intend to appropriate before you even think about getting your hand painted with henna. Barring that she seems to saying that Anybody and Everybody wanting to have henna on their hand or hands they must first read up on the history and particular sect that is representative of the henna style you are interested in having on your hand. Then you must fly to the region where that henna style is prevalent, get permission from some local indigenous person, you should also have some sort of spiritual ritual Ora reading done to determine the exact pattern of henna to be applied to your hand, learn to cook the food of that region and even learn to read, write and speak that language and specific dialect. You cant just just splash some henna on your hand without proper 'Clearance'. Or else risk offending some unknown sect of Hindustanis who will come to your home in the middle of the night and gang rape you to near death. You must also 'Apply' for a Cultural Impact Study and be granted some form of waiver and be given an Official Culturally appropriations committee card declaring this cultural waiver before you can go about in public lest you offend a person from India and not be able produce your credentials on the spot or in some YouTube 'Outing'. Similarly she seems to be sayings that if you have a desire to get your hair corn-rowed-up you must first fully immerse yourself in the culture which ever culture is representative of the corn-row you style you want to have done. And by the sound of it she would insist that the stylist who does the corn-rowing be an officially Sanctioned, State Board Certified, Representative of the culture of the style that you are 'Applying' to have performed on yourself. You Cant just get any old corn row applied to your head. and as I said before black culture doesn't 'Own' or have any copyright nor patent on the corn-row hairstyle.
And as long as I am banging on about the appropriation of a hairstyle, hairstyles seem to me to fall into a category of artistic expression. Does every would be artist trying their hand at the Cubist style of painting own some dues or reparations to the Family of Mr. Picasso? Did Mr. Picasso actually create the cubist style. Or did Mr. Picasso appropriate the cubist style and get famous for it Standing on the shoulders of some other artist? Without cultural appropriation at some level all artistic endeavor stops dead. Somebody somewhere is about to develop the next big thing in art or... but was "Inspired" by some other artist or ... who came before.
And as long I am banging on about artistic expression What about The Great Mr. Weird Al Yankovic. Jesus God ALL Mighty. His song "Jerry Springier". Is Parody now and forever and retroactively forbidden? It seems so in California. Well maybe not, but still the governor did try. Did Mr. Yankovic need to seek the help of a cultural liaison for the Amish Paradise song, or the Black cultural officials for the song White and nerdy, or the "Fat Positivity expert" in San Francisco for the song "Fat"? Where does this sort of cultural offensive avoidance end. Did the Village People have to make some apology for their band's mere existence. After all they appropriated a BUNCH of Cultures. Or did they get a pass because the band themselves were made up of a marginalized group?
Does the cultural appropriations and oppression and offenses know no bounds? Is NO Body safe? Certainly black people seem to be exempt from everything because they are a minority. Us poor reasonably fit white folk aren't even able to claim some fun new whizzy cultural moniker. The black culture and community have changed their names several time over the years in some attempt to throw off the moniker imposed up on them by the Oppressive White Man, starting out as Black then Negro then Black again now African American. And those are the changes that I am familiar with. Who pushes for these changes? Who gets to approve these changes? And the term "Man" is an out growth of black culture. As in "Hey Man How are you doing?" Black culture threw off the reference 'Boy' imposed on them by the Evil White Slave Owning Master and started using Man in its place. Now every body has used it or still do us it. Are we all going to be held accountable for that bit of cultural appropriation? Is that cultural appropriation or appreciation or oppression or cultural insensitivity or what?
