Cultural Appreciation vs Cultural Appropriation

[snowboarder720]

This is a topic that I covered with some diverse friends where I honestly learned so much. This is a reoccurring problem that happens time and time again and constantly overlooked by people who share my background time and time again so I think this myTake is called for.

Let's say you painted something at school in art class. It's a painting that you're so very proud of. You're proud of yourself painting it. The teacher in your art class places everyone's painting in a display exhibit for all of the public to see. The teacher adds a 'twist' to your work of art by painting an extra tree, or a mountain, or a dog, or a small design without your knowledge or permission before it's placed on display. Your art teacher places your painting on display with their name on it. The public loves your art teacher's painting so much that they take pictures of it, post it on social media, your teacher gets money for your painting, and your teacher is claiming 100% responsibility of your painting when asked and giving no credit to you at all.

When you confront your teacher for taking credit for your painting they tell you that you didn't own your painting. In fact all painting is about is art and nobody really owns art and telling you to just get over it. Imagine how you'd feel after someone literally stole something like that from you. Manipulating something that you personally created and taking all the credit for it. Instead of a painting, imagine this happening to something that's deeply rooted in your heritage or even your family.

Cultural Appreciation

This is self-explanatory. You see something that looks way neat. Maybe it's an item, a food recipe, a dance, a dress/suit, etc. You enjoy it so much that you use it, you buy it, you wear it, you dance it, you cook it, etc. You don't even know where it came from or who originated it all you know is you love it.

Cultural Appropriation

This is when you're using the item and not giving any credit to the originators, the culture of where that item came from, or respecting the meaning of the item.

What to remember

If you never want to face the consequences of Cultural Appropriation,

• Give credit to the originators.
• Respect the reason for what something was created or made for.
• Do some research if you're not sure where something is from.
• Be open to learning something new.
• Don't let your lack of knowledge lead you.

Being unknowledgeable about something is no excuse to remain ignorant. Though if you find something from the thrift store that you like you can't really trace it to where it came from but you know where you've found it. Take a picture of it and do a search by picture in Google.

Go to a cultural community center

This is the place that will save you! If you've made active effort in asking about another culture and learning about the origins of something with the little knowledge that you have, it will literally save you. This is where you'll find elders of the culture. They are there to help the public to understand their culture and what they are about. They normally host galas, dances, and events where there's food, music, and awesome classes about how to remain aware. These centers are so important to all communities. You'll learn a lot, make friends, and eat good food and all that they want is support. Go there and you won't regret it, I promise.

Share what you've experienced

Have you been impacted by cultural appropriation? What did you learn? What was your experience? I’d like to hear it.

Thank you for your time reading my myTake. It was fun to write about. Please let me know if I didn’t add anything or if I may have something wrong that needs correction. I’m still learning about this myself and I appreciate you.

[Nekokamiguru]

I found the whole "cultural appropriation" argument is less than helpful if you want to have a useful discussion about racism as broader topic. Most people have been bitten by a troll who has used 'cultural appropriation' and other progressive talking points as a blunt weapon to bludgeon people they want to attack, which makes having a good faith conversation about these topics significantly more difficult or even impossible , if someone has been trolled repeatedly by people in this way then they will invariably be hostile towards these topics , and the first task of someone who has the task of de-radicalizing these people is to work past the hostility trolls have generated before the real conversation can begin , and this is often not possible , the trolls did such a good job of radicalizing that person that they will take their hatred to their grave and never bother to learn.

[snowboarder720]

I completely agree.

[Anonymous]

A large part of cultural appropriation also is not allowing people of color to practice their culture or calling them backwards or for example not hiring black people for having braids or dreads but then when a white person like kim k wears them she is suddenly a fashion icon while people who literally own that culture can’t embrace it in peace

[snowboarder720]

say it louder for the people in the back! 👏 👏 👏

[snowboarder720]

White culture is about being in the center of attention and all other cultures need to assimilate… but have no problem taking a pieces of another culture and erase its history.
Braids, dreads, and Afros and everything else needs to be normalized in the workplace.

[random779]

i wouldve said it differently but i gotta agree with @BIZARRE_TRUTH here. look, white culture isn't a thing. what do you mean by white culture anyways? what are your boundaries one what classifies someone as "white?" American? italian culture exists, and so does grecian, french, russian (you can argue they're eurasia however that is a different topic), and so many others. what about spain? would you consider them "white?" im korean. and korean culture is heavily influenced by chinese culture and traditions. does this, by your definition, mean that korean culture is about being the center of attention and needing all cultures to assimilate? (not talking about north korea. they are a separate political issue.) not to mention, many other cultures have done exactly the same thing as taking pieces of differ cultures and erasing their history. thats not "white" behavior. that's actually called colonization. lets talk about braids and dreads. hate to break it to you, but black people are not the founding fathers of those hairstyles. yes, there are certain styles that are classified as their own, but "viking" people also wore dreadlocks. so did many followers of the abrahamic religion. the aztecs did, and so did many others. google is free by the way! you are a white man, thirty six whole years of age. its crazy to think that i as a fourteen year old Asian child should be telling you this. please listen to people who face more oppression than you instead of mistakenly trying to speak out for them. i mean no disrespect in my response, and i am more than welcome to arguments and further discussion. i truly believe you have the right spirit, but that you're just misguided. i just implore you to take my opinion seriously. if you've read all the way through this, thank you.

[snowboarder720]

@random779 I think I see what you’re meaning to say and we can agree to disagree. When I refer to white culture I’m referring to the racial culture of Caucasian people. What you’ve listed are just countries; There’s no such thing as the French race, Russian race, etc.
while I do agree that all cultures are guilty of cultural appropriation, I’m calling out white culture specifically because I see it happening time and time again during my 36+ years of living inside of the said white culture. If calling out cultural appropriation is racist then what I’m speaking about is racism in itself.
No, I don’t find it crazy when a 14 year old wants to speak their mind. They often do that often and you’re entitled to your opinion. I read what you typed and thanks for sharing.

[random779]

oh its a stubborn one okay, pack it up chat there's no use arguing w a mule

[Rei13]

@random779 well said on your part and that’s why I haven’t commented on here. Didn’t want to waste the energy

[BoopBoopBeep]

You realize vikings had braids as well, yes? Having braids isn't something black people have a monopoly on.

[Caroline91]

I agree that many people with white skin do take on characteristics of other cultures bc they think it is cool or some other obscure reason. It may also be at least partly bc many white people, especially here in America, don't actually know what culture we came from. Here, I'd like to point out that there really is no "white" culture. I am white of Celtic and Dutch ancestry. Those are my cultures, not "white". I have been accused of cultural appropriation bc someone of Indigenous American background (sorry, don't know what tribe) saw some people with white skin playing drums and spoke of how those white people were stealing their indigenous culture then generalized it to me. They were not happy with me when I pointed out that pretty much all cultures have historically had drums, and those particular drums happened to be Bodhrán, traditional Celtic drums, which is MY cultural ancestry. I think we all need to approach each other in a "posture of learning", recognize that we are all part of the human family, just trying to figure things out as we circle 'round the sun on the same piece of cosmic dirt that nobody owns. I so appreciate your efforts to bring this up for examination together.

[snowboarder720]

@BoopBoopBeep letmegooglethat.com/?q=who+wore+braids+first

[BoopBoopBeep]

Right except I don't care. I'm not some soy boy trying to simp for the gender fluid freaks in my gender studies class. Mongols wore braids, Africans wore braids (ever been there, by the way?), Vikings wore braids. I don't care when someone does something my culture did "first" last or otherwise because there's real shit wrong in the world other than which dude wore what for Halloween.

[BoopBoopBeep]

"The oldest known reproduction of hair braiding may go back about 30,000 years: the Venus of Willendorf in Austria, now known in academia as the Woman of Willendorf, is a female figurine estimated to have been made between about 28,000 and 25,000 BCE.[3] It has been disputed whether or not she wears braided hair or some sort of a woven basket on her head. The Venus of Brassempouy in France is estimated to be about 25,000 years old and ostensibly shows a braided hairstyle."

Austria, famous for its Nubian heritage.

Toolbag.

[handsomelad70]

Couldn't have typed it better, Anonymous 18-24 !!!1

[Chazmatazz269]

You started strong but then lost track.
As in your analogy about the painting, “appropriation” literally means stealing. The painting doesn’t belong to you. You no longer get to claim it and keep it or share it as you wish. Someone else took all of that away from you.
What most people consider “cultural appropriation”, isn’t that by any stretch of the imagination. You don’t have to give up dancing Salsa because i like dancing Salsa. You don’t have to give up wearing braids because i like wearing braids. You don’t have to stop wearing a horned helmet because i wear a horned helmet. (Isn’t it curious how most cultural appropriation conversations ignore primarily caucasian cultures?). And ‘NO’, i don’t have to give a sermon on the history and development of a thing i appreciate every time i want to enjoy it in order to not appropriate it. As long as the people and culture from which it originated can still practice and appreciate it, it is NOT appropriation because it wasn’t STOLEN.
Moreover, it’s important to note that the majority of the whining about cultural appropriation actually stems from idolization and imitation. We’re being slammed because we thought something was SO kool, and we just wanted to be like the kool kids who did it first. That’s NOT appropriation. Let’s go back to your original analogy. The teacher added to the painting. They didn’t really even appreciate the original property. True appropriation would have looked something like that teacher suspending the original artist for trying to recreate the original painting. Presently, we could “steal” a culture by making it illegal or, more easily, socially unacceptable. Sure, you can make your own cheese from goats’ milk, but you’ll never work again if you do, or maybe you end up in prison. This is SO not the case that people are allowed to butcher animals in the most unimaginably brutal ways that it actually IS illegal unless you claim a certain culture or religion. We literally have laws in place to prevent cultural appropriation, even when it’s almost universally seen as a vulgar tradition.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no culture that’s been truly appropriated by the west in my lifetime. Sure, it would be grand if everyone who appreciates a thing was more knowledgeable about it and vocal about their appreciation. But i shouldn’t lose my job or my educational opportunities, or have to worry about my family and friends’ lives and livelihoods being threatened because i wore moccasins.

[snowboarder720]

Hmm looks like you could use a visit to a cultural community center. Thanks for sharing!

[Flatmanlewis]

I love when I meet POCs and they say things like “So are you just white?” as if only brown skin has a culture and we’re all just one big scoop of vanilla ice cream. “No, buddy, we too have a culture, traditions, and history. To my knowledge there is no country of ‘White’.”

[Chazmatazz269]

Word

[BIZARRE_TRUTH]

he's a fucking retard and a racist

[BIZARRE_TRUTH]

you need to stop being such a facetious asshole
literally everything you say has these 3 qualities
1. Rude 2. Stupid 3. Lie
literally everything you said so far maintains all of those qualities. you're probably schizophrenic

[Flatmanlewis]

I don’t know how accurate this is. Do I need to solemnly give credit to every cultural overlap? Absolutely not. Particularly in a country like the US where there is a cultural amalgamation in any large city this is just burdensome. Many of the traditions we share as a nation have history from various cultures and have become mainstream. I offer as a very low-hanging-fruit example Cinco De Mayo and St. Patrick’s Day. Neither has almost any true connection to the events in their home country, yet we as Americans pound the alcohol and serve up our own versions of their ethnic foods. Do we owe special respect or fealty to their cultures for hijacking their meaningful events and turning them into drinking holidays? No. Not even a little bit. Not anymore than they do for adopting any of the cultural traditions of anybody else. (One of the most Mexican things in existence - mariachi - has roots in French weddings and when the French army occupied and fought in parts of mexico.) Beautiful parts of cultures become absorbed by adjacent cultures and this is okay. Imitation is sometimes the greatest form of flattery.

[BIZARRE_TRUTH]

The Question Asker is blatantly racist and you can clearly tell he's a retard

[Flatmanlewis]

The Asker seems kind of like the hyper-sensitive to cultures type. Am I reading him wrong?

[Friendlybro79]

I am sometimes confused by cultural appropriation and I'm not being sarcastic about it. Trying to be a good human being here. I get why someone of native American background would find it offensive for me to wear native American clothing running around like an idiot making a joke out of it.

Where's the line with it is my question?

If I like shakshuka, which I believe is a North African/ Middle Eastern dish, am I being insensitive to open a restaurant and serve it? Taking into consideration I'm a white owner.

If that's cultural appropriation, does that mean that only the people of a the culture can make food for those folks? Not saying in the privacy of your own home but as a business?

So if I want Chinese food should only Chinese descendants be allowed to open Chinese restaurants? Just as an ex I used Chinese but this could go for any culture.

I think it's important we respect each other without being insane either. I always try to be respectful but it is easy to offend anyone.

[purplepoppy]

People have been incorporating other peoples cultural items into their own for thousands of years. It's only wrong when the INTENTION is to mock or cause offence. People should stop looking for reasons to be offended when none was intended.

[Lliam]

🎯🎯🎯

[FunkyMonkee]

WHO THE FUCK CARES?
"Hey, gang! I found something else to whine, cry and wet my pants about!!"
I'm Irish, mostly. If you wanna wear green, pretend to be a leprechaun, drink yourself stupid, get into fights over stupid shit, do an Irish jig, smoke an upside down pipe, dye your hair red, throw clover all over everything, sing Irish ballads, or even use an Irish brogue, tell Irish jokes, make fun of the Irish, go right the fuck ahead!! It doesn't bother me A BIT!! I'm not the least bit thin-skinned!! I've got MUCH better things to do with my life than to get my panties in a twist over incredibly stupid and petty bullshit as that!!
By the way, I don't drink at all, never have, and I avoid fights like the plague!!

[AJR78]

Slippery slope. At some point I can envision an America where only the wealthiest people can do this so called appropriation thing and will have to pay royalties to some arbitrary group or government body in order to do it. And furthermore that not paying these royalties comes with consequences and penalties due to laws being created to enforce these new standards of ethics. If I wear something attributed to another culture and know it, whose permission do I need or to whom do you believe I should be paying homage directly and on what basis? Do these standards apply to every race or only the colonizers? Serious questions.

[jshm2]

Both are mostly bullshit.

But usually its people with no sense of cultural appreciation that will bitch about cultural appropriation. Mainly as they have even less of a clue than the other, but feel "attacked" that someone is wearing\eating\showing something people like him would.

On the other side, cultural appropriation is mostly a trope. Calling out bigotry and racism subverting opinion and symbols for their own entertainment or machinations. When it could just be a clueless idiot or someone who had little inkling what it meant.

Hence why it's always a good idea to scrutinize the accusers/victims as well as the defendant. We had a dimwit a while back get all uppity about someone culturally appropriating. Turns out it was something completely different and the geezer just wanted his moment of fame.

[hahahmm]

I would look on things on a case by case basis & also understanding that all cultures borrow from others. There's a different about doing something respectful or to MOCK someone tho. Sometimes a person claims something is offensive without bothering to ask the people they claim were offended... and the people they claim were offended are NOT offended. That's where this stuff gets really ridiculous.

[hahahmm]

The other thing is... if 0.01% of a cultural group claim to be offended and the other 99.99% aren't offended but the 0.01% are on news programs complaining... you could get a false sense of things!

[Anonymous]

"If you never want to face the consequences of Cultural Appropriation," If someone else doesn't approve of my attitude on this subject, IDGAF. Therefore, there are no consequences.

Scotsmen wore kilts until the English them to pants, so:

Scotsmen, give credit to the English every time you wear pants, and tell English people how fucking cool they are for inventing pants. If you don't do this, you will face the consequences of cultural appropriation and all the really cool woke people may not come to your next tea party.

[snowboarder720]

I think what you’re missing here is the history of the culture that of which is being stolen from. When I think people have forgotten the origin of kilts then it can be cultural appropriation; it’s well known that kilts are Scottish. The same logic for pants because who doesn’t wear pants?

But an item that originated in a nearly forgotten culture from a place that isn’t very well known, it can easily be stolen. The origin is fragile and with a deeper meaning than what it is being used for.

[snowboarder720]

I’m not sure why I bother wasting my energy with someone who can’t be honest about who they are by posting anonymously. Just goes to show how you don’t take accountability for what you are posting here.
Have the day that you deserve! 👋🏻

[Opinion Owner]

I posted anonymously because I know how woke keyboard warriors love to attack the messenger instead of the message, and your response confirms that my concerns are well founded.

"Have the day that you deserve." How clever.

[Dargil]

My wife is East Asian. We rode on the Trail of Tears memorial tour. She accessorized a little like this in honor of their plight and their common blood.

[Dargil]

It was not "appropriation". It was appreciation" out of respect for their history. But come to think of it, Democrats harmed her people as well.

[Anonymous]

"Cultural appropriation" was one of the top 3 most overused terms among the woke crowd over the last year.

Unless someone is intentionally poking fun at another culture, there is no reason they shouldn't do or wear things from other cultures. People who get offended by it need to lose their entitlement and get a thicker skin.

[genericname85]

it's not that deep. just don't spread hate for other cultures and you're good. simple as that.

[BIZARRE_TRUTH]

Anyone who uses the term "cultural appropriation" is by definition severely racist

So... you're a racist @Snowboarder720

[snowboarder720]

Have the day that you deserve 👋🏻

[BIZARRE_TRUTH]

you're retarded and that has NOTHING to do with me

[BIZARRE_TRUTH]

you're a racist for using the term "cultural appropriation"
using that term means you think only certain people should do certain things
and that certain cultures own certain things to their culture
that means you're a fucking retard for one, and two, a discriminatory racist

[Caroline91]

And you're a name-caller.

[LiamJHayden]

Unless it is being done mockingly, why does anyone care?

[strateguy632]

since when is appropriated bad? i only copy because i like it.

[Anonymous]

What about all the misappropriations of European culture taking place? All the inventions and ingenuity and not giving credit to those of European stock for creating the superior culture? Yes I said it -/

[snowboarder720]

You mean White Supremacy that’s represented everywhere. Thanks for proving my point. Have the day that you deserve 👋🏻

[Opinion Owner]

@Snowboarder720 your response is such a canned response with no substantive thought. What is this white supremacy that you speak of? I mean, it’s easy to live in white Western Civilization and criticize it.. perhaps you should pack it up, move to Africa and experience a different civilization so you can appreciate the one that benefit everyone. Obviously smarter and more capable people benefit in this civilization - sans the affirmative action programs in place. Your problem is that you are part of the equality cult and can’t realize that no, we are not all equal and there are differences — once you understand that, everything makes much more sense, historically and contemporarily

[shoeboxcerealcard]

The saddest part is this guy is probably a loser. Certainly no better than average.

[Rangers]

Who the hell cares?

If you're that much of a snowflake as to get offended when people imitate something you do in your culture, you need to grow the hell up

[Guanfei]

Cultural appropriation is bullshit, it's just made up term to prevent white people, the only ones it's used against, from doing what other races are doing freely.

[boobliker]

I have no idea what is ok any more as things have changed so much in the last two to three years.

[captain_voidwalker]

There is no such thing as cultural appropriation, that's just a bullshit ledtiat term to try and police people's language and behaviors.