The Escapist

antillles:

lord-kitschener:

I think the main issue with how progressives/leftists talk about “cultural appropriation” is that is used so goddamn lazily, and usually in an attempt to be woker than thou, instead of actually examining or explaining the issue at hand. This makes it very easy for people (especially ones who aren’t familiar with online activism terms) to think that the takeaway message is “mixing cultures or doing something from another culture is Doubleplus Bad and Stealing Culture, the only way to preserve culture is to build a fence around it so it doesn’t get diluted” a message that is in fact pretty fucking close to what people like Richard Spencer want to push. (And people like him actually like this misuse of “cultural appropriation” because they see it as a reflection of their ideas about “racial consciousness” and that “culture = race/ethnicity”.)

The only way to really avoid this danger is to be specific about the issue, and stop counting on the buzzwords to do all the work to show how woke you are. Just screeching “stealing culture!!!!” doesn’t do shit, and probably sends a very different message than you intend. You have to get off your ass and specify that the issue is things like “it’s wrong and harmful that POC/immigrants get stigmatized for their food, language, music, religious practices, hair/clothing styles, etc., while white people who do it are applauded for being cosmopolitan and cool,” or “large corporations making copycats of traditional art or craft styles can financially harm traditional artisans, which in turn can financially harm their families and communities,” or even stuff that should be common sense like “if you make or are inspired by another culture’s food/art/etc., it’s basic decency to give credit to where you got your inspiration.”

As a first generation immigrant in the States about to become an immigrant to another nation, I love this post.