Cultural 'appropriation'?
Something I read on fandomsecrets (I read it and very occasionally comment; I never post on it) made me wonder. There were a couple of secrets complaining essentially about US 'appropriation' of British culture. Basically, apparently US Americans who like British TV and literature are somehow behaving offensively.
I can't understand this at all. Lots of people I know from the US like British culture, for various reasons. The issue seems to be with people claiming to understand a culture they didn't grow up in. Apparently, this is not only a bit optimistic on their part, but downright evil. Whut? To me, this sounds an awful lot like some people I came across once who though it was wrong for white people to write books about black people, etc. And that journalist guy who thinks gay actors can't play straight roles realistically. When did trying to put yourself in somebody else's place and see things from their point of view become offensive? Sure, complete understanding of a culture or social class you've never been immersed in is highly improbable, even if you spend a lifetime studying it academically, or second-hand from friends or literature/TV. But I don't see why that makes it wrong even to try.
I love Ireland - I feel at home there, I love Irish literature, TV, and humour, and I would be delighted to live there some day. I like, and therefore cook, Irish food. Is this appropriative, or is it only offensive if I then claim to know what it's like to be Irish? But honestly, is being Irish really that different from being English - or is it just those dang group biases going on again? Everybody wants to think that their group is, if not actually better, at least different from anybody else's. 'We're special, dammit'. Thing is, *everybody* thinks their group is different and special - and *everybody* is wrong. Individuals can be different and special. A group of people is only as interesting and important as the stupidest, most pointless person in it.
I don't own my culture. I grew up here by accident; I didn't choose it. To my mind, a culture you choose, one that fits you better than the place you grew up in just because your parents happened to live there, can be more special and personal to you than the one you were born into. I have no reason to be either proud or ashamed of being English, and no reason to care whether people who aren't English want to share the cultural heritage I happened to grow up with. Being bothered by these things is to not only accept the validity of evolutionarily informed, outdated group biases, but to revel in them. That...bothers me in ways it would take an even longer ramble than this to explain. I'm all for celebrating culture. But can't we all celebrate everybody's rather than trying to keep the one we arbitrarily ended up with out of everyone else's grasp?
tl;dr: people enjoying 'my' culture doesn't take anything away from me; I can still enjoy it too, it's just now I have lots more people with whom to take pleasure in it. I am aware of all the arguments surrounding cultural appropriation by the majority group from minority groups, and, while recognising that this is a different kettle of fish, I still believe that it fundamentally comes down to people's phobia of their supposed uniqueness and individuality being taken away. The problem is, you can't have individuality as a group, only as an actual person, and an actual person shouldn't need a group identity to feel secure and proud. I say again, a *person* can be great. *People* are just hairless monkeys throwing shit at each other.
Even more tl;dr: quit being proud of some arbitrary group identity and try for a little self-esteem, folks. I am not my race, culture, sexuality, class, sex, neurodevelopmental disorder, brand of clothing that I wear, and neither is anybody else, unless they choose to be. Those group influences are powerful, and seductive - it's human nature to want to feel part of something, to feel that thing is special and everything outside it is inferior. But that's just the monkey within speaking, the old, insecure, irrational bits of the brain that are only interested in your survival at everyone else's expense. You claim to be better than your inner monkey - so why so proud of it, humanity?
Really really tl;dr: it comes down yet again to people not only allowing outdated evolutionary neurology to control their behaviour, but actively choosing it, even revelling in it. The tremendous irony of nationalism/culturalism is that everyone is thinking themselves terribly superior while actively demonstrating the complete opposite.
I can't understand this at all. Lots of people I know from the US like British culture, for various reasons. The issue seems to be with people claiming to understand a culture they didn't grow up in. Apparently, this is not only a bit optimistic on their part, but downright evil. Whut? To me, this sounds an awful lot like some people I came across once who though it was wrong for white people to write books about black people, etc. And that journalist guy who thinks gay actors can't play straight roles realistically. When did trying to put yourself in somebody else's place and see things from their point of view become offensive? Sure, complete understanding of a culture or social class you've never been immersed in is highly improbable, even if you spend a lifetime studying it academically, or second-hand from friends or literature/TV. But I don't see why that makes it wrong even to try.
I love Ireland - I feel at home there, I love Irish literature, TV, and humour, and I would be delighted to live there some day. I like, and therefore cook, Irish food. Is this appropriative, or is it only offensive if I then claim to know what it's like to be Irish? But honestly, is being Irish really that different from being English - or is it just those dang group biases going on again? Everybody wants to think that their group is, if not actually better, at least different from anybody else's. 'We're special, dammit'. Thing is, *everybody* thinks their group is different and special - and *everybody* is wrong. Individuals can be different and special. A group of people is only as interesting and important as the stupidest, most pointless person in it.
I don't own my culture. I grew up here by accident; I didn't choose it. To my mind, a culture you choose, one that fits you better than the place you grew up in just because your parents happened to live there, can be more special and personal to you than the one you were born into. I have no reason to be either proud or ashamed of being English, and no reason to care whether people who aren't English want to share the cultural heritage I happened to grow up with. Being bothered by these things is to not only accept the validity of evolutionarily informed, outdated group biases, but to revel in them. That...bothers me in ways it would take an even longer ramble than this to explain. I'm all for celebrating culture. But can't we all celebrate everybody's rather than trying to keep the one we arbitrarily ended up with out of everyone else's grasp?
tl;dr: people enjoying 'my' culture doesn't take anything away from me; I can still enjoy it too, it's just now I have lots more people with whom to take pleasure in it. I am aware of all the arguments surrounding cultural appropriation by the majority group from minority groups, and, while recognising that this is a different kettle of fish, I still believe that it fundamentally comes down to people's phobia of their supposed uniqueness and individuality being taken away. The problem is, you can't have individuality as a group, only as an actual person, and an actual person shouldn't need a group identity to feel secure and proud. I say again, a *person* can be great. *People* are just hairless monkeys throwing shit at each other.
Even more tl;dr: quit being proud of some arbitrary group identity and try for a little self-esteem, folks. I am not my race, culture, sexuality, class, sex, neurodevelopmental disorder, brand of clothing that I wear, and neither is anybody else, unless they choose to be. Those group influences are powerful, and seductive - it's human nature to want to feel part of something, to feel that thing is special and everything outside it is inferior. But that's just the monkey within speaking, the old, insecure, irrational bits of the brain that are only interested in your survival at everyone else's expense. You claim to be better than your inner monkey - so why so proud of it, humanity?
Really really tl;dr: it comes down yet again to people not only allowing outdated evolutionary neurology to control their behaviour, but actively choosing it, even revelling in it. The tremendous irony of nationalism/culturalism is that everyone is thinking themselves terribly superior while actively demonstrating the complete opposite.