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Is dressing up as a Native American really that offensive?

I'm not going to name the name of the institute, but I'm currently at a summer school event and tonight we have a costume party. We are limited in choices as the outfits must begin with specific letters. I bought a Native American outfit(really just a brown dress and thin headband with a feather). Earlier today I was confronted by one of the leaders about how my chosen choice of costume is 'cultural appropriation' and may deemed as offensive to some. Frankly I find this absurd, and plan on wearing it still. However I've been attempting to to look at alternative opinions about why such costume is offensive or not right. What are your opinions?

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Original post by teenhorrorstory
What are your opinions?


Presumably this attitude means that Africans should not wear t-shirts and trousers, Europeans may not eat curry, Japanese may not drink whisky lest they give offence for cultural appropriation, and only Europeans should be able to use cars and trains.

It is a specious and nonsensical concept, invented by SJWs purely to have something to argue about.
walking is offensive
breathing is offensive
ur nan is offensive
who gives a crap?
Original post by Good bloke
Presumably this attitude means that Africans should not wear t-shirts and trousers, Europeans may not eat curry, Japanese may not drink whisky lest they give offence for cultural appropriation, and only Europeans should be able to use cars and trains.

It is a specious and nonsensical concept, invented by SJWs purely to have something to argue about.




Or perhaps Native Americans consider some of their attire to be incredibly sacred, for ceremonials and not just anyone can wear it, let alone wearing it for entertainment purposes.

It's the same with certain Japanese attire and other countries (whether it be for martial arts or other things)

Maybe learn to explore different cultures first before making such stupid posts.
Does this leader have any Native American heritage? If the answer is no tell them to piss off and stop taking offense on the behalf of others.
Has anybody actually bothered to ask the ancestors of native Americans their opinion? Their opinion should be respected as authority of this matter surely?
Reply 6
Avatar for Alexion
Alexion
17
Original post by SterlingArcher
It's the same with certain Japanese attire and other countries (whether it be for martial arts or other things)


I wish I were a girl just so I could wear a kimono tbh :emo:
Original post by SterlingArcher
Or perhaps Native Americans consider some of their attire to be incredibly sacred, for ceremonials and not just anyone can wear it, let alone wearing it for entertainment purposes.

It's the same with certain Japanese attire and other countries (whether it be for martial arts or other things)

Maybe learn to explore different cultures first before making such stupid posts.


The answer is simply So what?

By that ridiculous logic nobody can dress up as a vicar, as Santa Claus, or even as a pantomime cow, lest Hindus be offended.

If you say I must give respect to all religious beliefs then I will say all religious beliefs are mere superstitions - irrational beliefs - and are owed no respect whatever.
Reply 8
Avatar for Arkasia
Arkasia
19
Original post by SterlingArcher
Or perhaps Native Americans consider some of their attire to be incredibly sacred, for ceremonials and not just anyone can wear it, let alone wearing it for entertainment purposes.

It's the same with certain Japanese attire and other countries (whether it be for martial arts or other things)

Maybe learn to explore different cultures first before making such stupid posts.


Nah, if you ask any Native American or Japanese person if you're allowed to wear their attire (headdress/samurai outfit etc) they will say 'who cares'. For the most part they make a killing off tourism and off promoting their cultural uniqueness as a marketable commodity, and if someone else wears clothing that looks like theirs, they will just shrug it off. Only the easily offended will care.
Reply 9
Avatar for oShahpo
oShahpo
20
Don't ask us, ask Native Americans. **** the professionally offended, unless a good amount of Native Americans come out and say they don't like it, nothing wrong is happening.
Original post by Good bloke
The answer is simply So what?

By that ridiculous logic nobody can dress up as a vicar, as Santa Claus, or even as a pantomime cow, lest Hindus be offended.

If you say I must give respect to all religious beliefs then I will say all religious beliefs are mere superstitions - irrational beliefs - and are owed no respect whatever.


Alright edgelord - it's something that has been ingrained into their culture, their way of life and it is far more than just an irrational belief.

Maybe you don't have any traditions or culture you want respected, that's great for you but for other people it's different; not every ceremonial attire has anything to do with religion.

If someone came and spat on your mother's grave would you care? Why, of course you would - respect the dead right? Why should we respect the dead?
I think it's more the fact that it's for "fancy dress" like it's being made fun of. But that's not to say that I agree with them. Like others have said, does that mean that nuns/vicars/doctors can't be fancy dress now?
Original post by Arkasia
Nah, if you ask any Native American or Japanese person if you're allowed to wear their attire (headdress/samurai outfit etc) they will say 'who cares'. For the most part they make a killing off tourism and off promoting their cultural uniqueness as a marketable commodity, and if someone else wears clothing that looks like theirs, they will just shrug it off. Only the easily offended will care.


No, for the most part this is wrong. Native Americans make money through the land that the US government allows them to have (which I believe they're also allowed their own tax)

If you've ever attended a martial arts class you'd realise there are certain things that you're not allowed to wear and this is strict throughout - it's nothing to do with being easily offended but it is respecting the culture.

Ceremonial clothing, especially in Japan, isn't being worn by everyone nor are they making it for tourists.
Reply 13
Avatar for Joep95
Joep95
19
Was the leader a white middle class female?

The way to respond is to just laugh at them, cultural appropriation is how society evolves.
Say you are cosplaying the Native American guy from Mortal Kombat 9?
It shouldn't be, but this is a newly popularized mode of thinking on the left, right up there with privilege and microaggressions. This kind of thinking is why I no longer respect the left.

Essentially, if taken seriously, it turns culture into copyright. It means that no one is allowed to take parts of any culture they aren't connected to by blood, unless they were oppressed by that culture.

In other words, people from other cultures are allowed to adopt European cultures for the most part, but White people aren't allowed to adopt or appreciate elements of other cultures. Arguably, that means you can't eat sushi, wear a kimono, or watch Anime because of World War II. In turn, Koreans would be allowed to do these things because they were conquered by Japan at one point, but Japanese people wouldn't be allowed to listen to K-Pop or eat kimchi. The rules become more and more absurd the longer you think about them. The claim is always that it's "just a guideline" or that you can "ask for permission," but even then you don't know how every member of that culture feels about it, so you have to worry about how it will be seen and be ready to stop if someone is offended.

I spent a long time thinking about it, and I came to the conclusion that I would have to listen to Classical music, sea shanties, and old church hymns, while only eating foods native to Europe before the colonization of the Americas if I wanted to be absolutely sure of not offending anyone. Arguably corn and potatoes could be considered cultural appropriation from Native Americans. And anything derived from jazz and soul or affected by it in any way could be regarded as appropriation from Black people.

And apparently even British people might have to stop drinking tea, because they apparently "appropriated" that from India or China several centuries ago.

In theory, there's a possibility that there could be cross-licensing agreements if an international body were setup to allow nations and ethnic groups to share parts of their culture in exchange for royalties, etc, but that would become a huge mess, and even the most serious advocates would back away from the impersonality and scale of such a byzantine system, along with the amount of monitoring and self-awareness required to enforce it.

The longer you think about it, the more it seems like a bad idea. It probably doesn't even deserve the amount of thought I've put into it. It's probably better to just offend people and deal with the consequences... which, unless you're very unlucky, won't be too intolerable.
(edited 7 years ago)
Even if it was, it doesn't deserve to be cared about.
Lol if your costume was an authentic replica of what native Americans actually wear I'd be like ok whatever. In reality tho your costume is probably a 'hoe' version of Pocahontas. Many natives also consider their attire (feathers on the headdress, beads etc ) to be sacred.
Original post by SterlingArcher
Alright edgelord - it's something that has been ingrained into their culture, their way of life and it is far more than just an irrational belief.

Maybe you don't have any traditions or culture you want respected, that's great for you but for other people it's different; not every ceremonial attire has anything to do with religion.

If someone came and spat on your mother's grave would you care? Why, of course you would - respect the dead right? Why should we respect the dead?


Are you saying all religious beliefs should be respected? Or just the ones ingrained into a culture?

It doesn't matter how ingrained into the culture a belief is, if it is irrational it is not worthy of respect.

If someone spat on my mother's grave I would think they were wasting their time as she is past caring, and I have more sense than to be offended. Respect for people, dead or alive, though, is not the same as respect for irrational beliefs.
Original post by Good bloke
Presumably this attitude means that Africans should not wear t-shirts and trousers, Europeans may not eat curry, Japanese may not drink whisky lest they give offence for cultural appropriation, and only Europeans should be able to use cars and trains.

It is a specious and nonsensical concept, invented by SJWs purely to have something to argue about.


I guess that's a no to the OP then. :smile:

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