more comment (re: cultural appropriation)
It's difficult for me to get excited about cultural appropriation, mainly because it usually feels like a "victimless crime". Who is getting hurt by it? Not simply offended, but either physically or economically hurt by it?
I'd say it is different if the cultural appropriation involves making fun of another culture, that's rude, that's being intentionally offensive. But if you are copying a fashion, food, or behavior because you genuinely like it and enjoy it, where's the harm in that? Nobody holds a patent on a category of food recipes, and a lot of what is presented in the US as ethnic food from another country has been changed to appeal to American tastes anyway. Taco Bell is a far cry from traditional home cooking in Mexico, and there are regional differences within Mexican cuisine anyway, which are constantly evolving. Clothing styles are also constantly changing all around the world. Ditto for music. New ideas are constantly arising all over the world, and as different cultures visit and communicate with each other, we share our ideas.
Some point to larger forces of oppression and view cultural appropriation as furthering such oppression, but isn't the real issue the larger forces of oppression? Colonialism is bad. Cooking Vietnamese food in the United States in 2022 is a far cry from the actual colonial oppression of Vietnam by France and the US from 1945-1975 in which millions of Vietnamese died. If you want to stop the exploitation of poor countries by rich countries, do that, but going to a steak restaurant instead of an Ethiopian restaurant is not going to do a damn thing for anybody in Ethiopia.
I think the worries about cultural appropriation are a kind of misplaced reaction to guilt among affluent and educated people on the Left. They perceive a world in which many forms of exploitation and inequality are rampant, and from which they benefit, so they want to avoid directly engaging in exploitation themselves, but rather than tackling the larger issues directly, they obsess about a variety of little things that they can accomplish themselves. Like buying organic groceries, becoming vegetarian, or working to improve the racial diversity of their own office cube farm.
The real problems are so large and seemingly unstoppable. Look at what we did to the misnamed "American Indians" in this country - but rather than giving their land back to them, we "honor" the land upon which we stand as former land of the [X] Tribe. Who is even advocating giving their land back to them? But don't you dare dress up as an American Indian for Halloween, that's cultural appropriation.
Who is advocating reparations from France and the US to Vietnam for the approximately two million Vietnamese we killed?
Who is advocating that we ban all imports from poor countries unless the workers in those countries are paid the same minimum wage we pay in our own country?
Who is advocating that we reduce the US standard of living to the global average, which would require an 83% reduction in US living standards? Or that we confiscate the wealth of all the world's billionaires & multinational corporations and distribute it to the poor of Africa, Asia, and Latin America? No, instead we look for "environmentally sustainable" investments for our 401(k) savings.
I'm not saying we should do nothing unless we can fix everything. I do believe in the politics of the possible. But I am saying why focus on victimless crimes instead of helping actual victims? In most cases, cultural appropriation is a victimless crime, so I don't worry about it.
I'd say it is different if the cultural appropriation involves making fun of another culture, that's rude, that's being intentionally offensive. But if you are copying a fashion, food, or behavior because you genuinely like it and enjoy it, where's the harm in that? Nobody holds a patent on a category of food recipes, and a lot of what is presented in the US as ethnic food from another country has been changed to appeal to American tastes anyway. Taco Bell is a far cry from traditional home cooking in Mexico, and there are regional differences within Mexican cuisine anyway, which are constantly evolving. Clothing styles are also constantly changing all around the world. Ditto for music. New ideas are constantly arising all over the world, and as different cultures visit and communicate with each other, we share our ideas.
Some point to larger forces of oppression and view cultural appropriation as furthering such oppression, but isn't the real issue the larger forces of oppression? Colonialism is bad. Cooking Vietnamese food in the United States in 2022 is a far cry from the actual colonial oppression of Vietnam by France and the US from 1945-1975 in which millions of Vietnamese died. If you want to stop the exploitation of poor countries by rich countries, do that, but going to a steak restaurant instead of an Ethiopian restaurant is not going to do a damn thing for anybody in Ethiopia.
I think the worries about cultural appropriation are a kind of misplaced reaction to guilt among affluent and educated people on the Left. They perceive a world in which many forms of exploitation and inequality are rampant, and from which they benefit, so they want to avoid directly engaging in exploitation themselves, but rather than tackling the larger issues directly, they obsess about a variety of little things that they can accomplish themselves. Like buying organic groceries, becoming vegetarian, or working to improve the racial diversity of their own office cube farm.
The real problems are so large and seemingly unstoppable. Look at what we did to the misnamed "American Indians" in this country - but rather than giving their land back to them, we "honor" the land upon which we stand as former land of the [X] Tribe. Who is even advocating giving their land back to them? But don't you dare dress up as an American Indian for Halloween, that's cultural appropriation.
Who is advocating reparations from France and the US to Vietnam for the approximately two million Vietnamese we killed?
Who is advocating that we ban all imports from poor countries unless the workers in those countries are paid the same minimum wage we pay in our own country?
Who is advocating that we reduce the US standard of living to the global average, which would require an 83% reduction in US living standards? Or that we confiscate the wealth of all the world's billionaires & multinational corporations and distribute it to the poor of Africa, Asia, and Latin America? No, instead we look for "environmentally sustainable" investments for our 401(k) savings.
I'm not saying we should do nothing unless we can fix everything. I do believe in the politics of the possible. But I am saying why focus on victimless crimes instead of helping actual victims? In most cases, cultural appropriation is a victimless crime, so I don't worry about it.