"Cultural appropriation" when will it stop?

Can't understand the issue with using India as a backdrop. Visually it is a beautiful country.

I could possibly understand issue with Beyonce's outfit IF, I really emphasis the if, what she's wearing something that has specific cultural implications, e.g. she's wearing an outfit that could only be worn by a priestess of a religion, aside from that this appears to be whining for the sake of it.

I remember something last year I think it was the winner of Britains Got Talent or something, was white and wearing a Bindi and loads of people bitched about, even though it doesn't really have any cultural meaning anymore and can be worn by anyone.

Reply 21

Lawliettt

14

So let me get this straight. Indians are mad because of a video showing off the countries beauty? I don't understand. Would they rather the video showed off the **** parts of india instead?

Reply 22

TheHopefulMedic

9

Original post by Sgt_Haytham

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35449878/hymn-for-the-weekend-is-being-criticised-for-mis-using-indian-culture

Simply ridiculous.

I'd agree if they were parodying the culture, but they aren't...

Oftentimes, our most common reference to something atrocious totally misrepresents the truth, making us think it’s all in good fun.

For instance, if you think about the real story of Pocahontas, having your daughter pretend to be her on Halloween is pretty disturbing. The real Pocahontas, whose given name was Matoaka, was abducted as a teenager, forced to marry an Englishman (not John Smith, by the way), and used as propaganda for racist practices before she died at the age of 21.

And it almost feels like that propaganda never ended, as our popular lessons on what happened between colonizing settlers and Indigenous people depict Native people as savages, or as happy, mystical characters, or as entirely absent.

We don’t hear the real stories, and most of us don’t live with a direct connection to their suffering.

Does the truth matter, when it comes to a little girl just trying to enjoy a holiday? You might think it does if she wanted to dress up as someone whose tragic truth is more familiar, like Anne Frank.

They’re both girls with harrowing stories. But more of us believe that trivializing Anne Frank’s life is in very poor taste. Can you imagine the outcry if Disney tried to romanticize her diary by aging her into a young woman with a love affair with a Nazi officer and a happy ending?

Now imagine if that Disney movie was mainstream culture’s primary reference for the Holocaust. And if it was marketed to Germans, who were told that the historical figures who oppressed the Jewish people were their country’s heroes.

Creepy, right?

Reply 23

anarchism101

17

Original post by MarxWasAZionist

Whatever you do White people you'll always have people call you racists. Why not eliminate the problem, by kicking them all back to their ancestral homeland?

So you'd be happy to see all the whites in the Americas, Oceania, South Africa, etc all kicked out and forced to go 'back' to Europe?

Reply 24

Sgt_Haytham

OP

2

Original post by TheHopefulMedic

Oftentimes, our most common reference to something atrocious totally misrepresents the truth, making us think it’s all in good fun.

For instance, if you think about the real story of Pocahontas, having your daughter pretend to be her on Halloween is pretty disturbing. The real Pocahontas, whose given name was Matoaka, was abducted as a teenager, forced to marry an Englishman (not John Smith, by the way), and used as propaganda for racist practices before she died at the age of 21.

I really don't care about her backstory. To me she's just the main character from a children's cartoon. Besides, if her past was that bad it wouldn't be shown.

Original post by TheHopefulMedic

We don’t hear the real stories, and most of us don’t live with a direct connection to their suffering.

Maybe because we don't have access to them? I'm certain if we did we would be adjusting our history lessons.

Original post by TheHopefulMedic

Does the truth matter, when it comes to a little girl just trying to enjoy a holiday? You might think it does if she wanted to dress up as someone whose tragic truth is more familiar, like Anne Frank.

If she wanted to dress up like Anne Frank I would encourage it, tell her about the history behind the name and praise her for being a bright spark. I won't, however, accuse her of appropriating a huge player in human history. Anne Frank isn't here to tell us we can't and I don't think she'd mind.

Original post by TheHopefulMedic

They’re both girls with harrowing stories. But more of us believe that trivializing Anne Frank’s life is in very poor taste. Can you imagine the outcry if Disney tried to romanticize her diary by aging her into a young woman with a love affair with a Nazi officer and a happy ending?

Don't be absurd. There is no way Disney would think of such a film, and if they did it wouldn't be shown.

There are already films where the heroine falls for a Nazi soldier/officer, such as "Suite Française", no "outcry" resulted from it.

Original post by TheHopefulMedic

Now imagine if that Disney movie was mainstream culture’s primary reference for the Holocaust. And if it was marketed to Germans, who were told that the historical figures who oppressed the Jewish people were their country’s heroes.

Creepy, right?

No, it's not. You're fantasising.

Reply 25

Sgt_Haytham

OP

2

Original post by Lawliettt

So let me get this straight. Indians are mad because of a video showing off the countries beauty? I don't understand. Would they rather the video showed off the **** parts of india instead?

I don't think any Indians have spoken out against it, at least not on Twitter.

If you check out the Twitter post pictures, they're mostly white people.

Reply 26

Sgt_Haytham

OP

2

Original post by limetang

Ah, I see. So, correct me if I'm mistaken, but is the general idea that because I'm "privileged", everything I do is somehow wrong?

Bingo!

Reply 27

TheAmazingETF

7

Get prepared for the influx of butthurt SJWs.

Reply 28

Lawliettt

14

Original post by Sgt_Haytham

I don't think any Indians have spoken out against it, at least not on Twitter.

If you check out the Twitter post pictures, they're mostly white people.

Loads of indians on my twitter timeline are mad for some reason

Reply 29

Asolare

20

The whole concept of ''cultural appropriation'' is so ludicrous sometimes.

I've even seen people say that LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE is ''cultural appropriation'' .. . .. .................................

Reply 30

TheHopefulMedic

9

The fact that you don't care about her story isn't the problem the fact that she was a child who was taken away forcibly from her parents and brought to England is what u should think about. The fact that it was this bad is why people are upset that it was shown.

The problem isn't that there is a movie about a fictionalised story the problem is that it is FAKE and the ONLY story most people know about the native Americans

Also Anne Frank wouldn't mind because her story wasn't a lie. She wrote her diary which I seen kn a positive light. She wrote her own story whereas Pocahontas' wasn't written by her. Do u understand now?

Reply 31

Sick My Duck

Yeah, what the tiny minority of class warfare propagandists fail to realise is that biology determines we are group based primates - we prefer our own and we extend trust to outsiders with a great deal of caution. When you attempt to declare altruism is the state of nature, not self-interest, then you land squarely on your ass - it's inevitable.

We'll be discussing these issues 100 years from now - the left-wingers (after having twisted all historical narratives as they do today, i.e., slavery being a source of guilt for white people, fascism being synonymous with 'right-wing', etc.) will be making the same points and the rational among us will be proclaiming it won't work. Eventually, as social reform doesn't exist in isolation (i.e., we've gone from tackling racism to being told we have a positive duty to patrol racism to 'white people are racist by default'), they'll inevitably end us all and destroy every advanced civilisation they touch.

Compassion is never enough for the ranks of the pathologically altruistic - no extension of altruism is ever enough. No, you've got to loathe yourself, you got to feel guilt for accentuated historical narratives which had nothing to do with you and are largely works of propaganda and you've got to fit within the confines of their totalitarian agenda to control society and place power in the hands of ever fewer people (for the betterment of all individuals, apparently).

Marxism never ends - nowadays it's merely Marxism waged along gender, ethnic, sexual and religious lines. It's all class warfare.

Reply 32

username2130115

16

srsly
who cares about mickey mouse stuff like this??

Reply 33

Observatory

20

Original post by Dima-Blackburn

Western culture invites and, at times, demands assimilation. Not every culture has chosen to open itself up to being adopted by outsiders in the same way.

People who talk about "cultural appropriation" oppose making western culture exclusive. Probably don't see a distinction between that and "cultural appropriation", as illogical as that is.

Reply 34

Roofas

2

Perhaps the non-European descented world should stop using all electronic devices and scientifically refined medicines, or the fetilizers their bloated populations are dependent on, all modern musical instruments such as the violin, guitar, saxophone, oboe, and piano and including bagpipes and cello are very popular on the subcontinent. Perhaps they should give up Parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, water purification, any form of mechanised industry that isn't dependent on horse. I shall await the disbanding of all stock exchanges and dismantling of nuclear weapons outside of the Western World.

Perhaps the Indians should just be grateful the world wasn't shown a depiction of the Sati ritual or an Indian rape statistics sheet.

People are growing increasingly fed up with this white hate.The world today would be unrecognisable without Europe and it's time people stop be so ashamed to be white or to rebuke these ridiculous claims of cultural appropriation, especially from hypocritical Indians who worship Bollywood.

Reply 35

Sgt_Haytham

OP

2

Original post by Inexorably

The whole concept of ''cultural appropriation'' is so ludicrous sometimes.

I've even seen people say that LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE is ''cultural appropriation'' .. . .. .................................

Jesus Christ... I must be pure evil then...

Reply 36

Sgt_Haytham

OP

2

Original post by TheHopefulMedic

The fact that you don't care about her story isn't the problem the fact that she was a child who was taken away forcibly from her parents and brought to England is what u should think about. The fact that it was this bad is why people are upset that it was shown.

The problem isn't that there is a movie about a fictionalised story the problem is that it is FAKE and the ONLY story most people know about the native Americans

Also Anne Frank wouldn't mind because her story wasn't a lie. She wrote her diary which I seen kn a positive light. She wrote her own story whereas Pocahontas' wasn't written by her. Do u understand now?

I don't even think you understand yourself :lol:

Reply 37

Jebedee

17

Fine, have your Indian gold and head dresses etc. But leave your Iphone, laptop and internet by the door on your way out. Cheers.

Reply 38

MildredMalone

16

Original post by fire_and_ice

This is for those who don't understand why people get angry over cultural appropriation:

I'm guessing that comes from Tumblr? Always a good site to find vapid rubbish. I think a ceremonious knickers de-twisting is in order.

People should be allowed to "want" whatever they, well, want. Why do people think they have to whinge just because a white person wants to wear a jewel on their head?