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Your Opinion on Cultural Appropriation

I've had discussions with some people about cultural appropriation and cultural exchange as a whole, but many seem to think it's a twisted ideology and doesn't necessarily make sense.

I hold my belief that cultural appropriation goes unnoticed and well, is bad.

Do you think it exists?
Are there limits?

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Reply 1
Like "white privilege" and "microaggressions", it's just another bulls**t concept, made up by the perpetually offended who are seemingly running out of things to get offended over.
Original post by Wōden
Like "white privilege" and "microaggressions", it's just another bulls**t concept, made up by the perpetually offended who are seemingly running out of things to get offended over.


Cultural Appropriation, White privilege and Microaggressions are all things. If you refuse to believe they exist then you are part of the problem.
Reply 3
Original post by erratic_deus
Cultural Appropriation, White privilege and Microaggressions are all things. If you refuse to believe they exist then you are part of the problem.


Fine by me.
Cultural Appropriation exists.
I'm a black girl so I will speak from my perspective and for something I know about.

The natural hair movement.

In 40's America, African Americans were ostracised for embracing their hair the way it grows.
The whole 4c hair that grows naturally from their scalp. They were encouraged to relax, tex-lax or chemically change their hair.
It wasn't beautiful enough.
It wasn't white enough.

Some didn't want to conform to this standard, so this is when braids became widespread amongst the black community.
It was a way for black people to embrace their texture but keep it "in code" enough for white America.

This hair was never accepted though, it was called ugly, unkempt and "nappy".
When the hair is left in braids for so long, the hair becomes matted.
The white peoples called this "nappy" hair. They made African Americans hate their hair texture from the beginning.
This is when weaves and other methods also became popular. No matter what black americans did to their hair, it was always nappy.
So covering it was their solution.

A few decades later, African Americans had their own established communities!
Africans from the motherland started migrating to America with their own natural hair.
They weren't offered jobs because their hair was viewed "messy" or "inappropriate"
Children are kicked out of school because their hair is "unkempt" yet it is the way the hair naturally grows!
https://mic.com/articles/177839/florida-school-told-black-teen-her-afro-was-too-extreme-needs-to-be-fixed#.b931i737v


So one day in 2010 America, a white woman decided she wanted to have an afro. She called it "crazy" hair.
She wore it and everyone admired her for her beauty.
Yet black people are sidelined for theirs.

So another day in modern America, a white woman decided to get fulani braids. She called it "Bo Derek" braids.
https://www.essence.com/hair/kim-kardashian-bo-derek-fulani-braid-problematic
She wore it and everyone admired her for her beauty.
Yet black people are called "nappy headed" and much worse, the N-word.

Do you see how terrible Cultural Appropriation is? I find it an insult.

To any black woman who happens to read this! Wear your natural hair! I'm wearing mine...
Reply 5
If someone is mocking a culture, using it as a costume or using it without understanding the meaning, I get how that is offensive.

When someone does their hair a certain way because they think it’s beautiful, that’s cultural appreciation.
When someone eats food from another culture, that’s cultural appreciation.
When someone wears clothes from another culture in the right context, that’s cultural appreciation.

The intent and the context are important, this isn’t a clear cut right or wrong. Though some people police it to a ridiculous extent, wanting to keep white people in a box to be preserved as far away from any other culture. God forbid people share good things with people different from them.
Original post by cat_mac
If someone is mocking a culture, using it as a costume or using it without understanding the meaning, I get how that is offensive.

When someone does their hair a certain way because they think it’s beautiful, that’s cultural appreciation.
When someone eats food from another culture, that’s cultural appreciation.
When someone wears clothes from another culture in the right context, that’s cultural appreciation.

The intent and the context are important, this isn’t a clear cut right or wrong. Though some people police it to a ridiculous extent, wanting to keep white people in a box to be preserved as far away from any other culture. God forbid people share good things with people different from them.


Tag me next time.

Kim Kardashian got her braids done "fulani style" by a black hairdresser who spoke out!
She then went to tag Bo Derek instead of her hairdresser and ignore the west african community of which she stole the style from.

Don't forget the beautiful Africans who created the style!

I love when the culture is tagged and acknowledged. Not when they're disregarded.
This beautiful white lady tagged the sub-saharan community who showed her how to get heatless curls! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxVQLW6iQOA
Original post by erratic_deus
Kim Kardashian got her braids done "fulani style" by a black hairdresser who spoke out!
She then went to tag Bo Derek instead of her hairdresser and ignore the west african community of which she stole the style from.


So you're saying cultural appropriation is 'stealing' ideas from other cultures. Alright.

Stop speaking English, it's a white-culture language. Stop using the internet, it's a white-culture technology. How dare you appropriate my culture like this.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by DarthRoar
So you're saying cultural appropriation is 'stealing' ideas from other cultures. Alright.

Stop speaking English, it's a white-culture language. Stop using the internet, it's a white-culture technology. How dare you appropriate my culture like this.


I never said that.
Don't be ignorant.
Reply 9
Original post by erratic_deus
Tag me next time.

Kim Kardashian got her braids done "fulani style" by a black hairdresser who spoke out!
She then went to tag Bo Derek instead of her hairdresser and ignore the west african community of which she stole the style from.

Don't forget the beautiful Africans who created the style!

I love when the culture is tagged and acknowledged. Not when they're disregarded.
This beautiful white lady tagged the sub-saharan community who showed her how to get heatless curls! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxVQLW6iQOA


I wasn’t talking to or about you? I’ve not seen any discussion about this topic from you. You’re not under attack or the most important thought in everyone on tsr’s head.

The Kardashians have a shady history with the topic, the “Bo Derek Braids” comment was definitely out of line imo.

Part of appreciating something is understanding where it comes from and how it began, personally I think it’s nice to do things that are different from your normal style and look to other cultures for inspiration. If done right, I don’t think sharing styles should be something we put a stop to. So many people put a big angry “no white people can ever have X hairstyle” wall up, no open communication or education.
Original post by DarthRoar
you're saying cultural appropriation is 'stealing' ideas from other cultures


Original post by erratic_deus
I never said that.


Original post by erratic_deus
she stole the style


kay
Reply 11
Original post by DarthRoar
kay


Busted
Original post by k.n.h.
Busted


I wasn't busted. He took it out of context.
Reply 13
The main issue is when cultures are used as a fashion trend or without fully taking the time to understand that culture. My culture is not "fashionable" or "cute", however, like someone said, if your intent is to be educated and learn more, go ahead.
Original post by erratic_deus
Who said that white people can't have X hairstyle?

It's just you.

---- IMO this thread is full of white people who will constantly defend and refuse to listen because they'll understand that they're wrong and always have been from the beginning when they decided that they were the superior race and they'd go on and massacre millions of non-whites to prove their so-called superiority.
The lovely R1B haplogroup.


You know racism continues to exist because of people like you, right? People that just won't let the past go. One generation raises children that know and acknowledge racism, then they pass that on to the next and racism continues to exist. If we were just to raise a nation of children that don't know what racism is or have any notion of why people of different ethnicities would be treated differently, racism would be dead and buried once and for all. Racism will always exist if people keep talking about it.
Original post by erratic_deus
He


pls do not assume my gender thank
Reply 16
Original post by erratic_deus
I never said that.
Don't be ignorant.


So what do you define as 'cultural appropriation'? :holmes:
Original post by erratic_deus
Who said that white people can't have X hairstyle?

It's just you.

---- IMO this thread is full of white people who will constantly defend and refuse to listen because they'll understand that they're wrong and always have been from the beginning when they decided that they were the superior race and they'd go on and massacre millions of non-whites to prove their so-called superiority.
The lovely R1B haplogroup.


Many, many people have said, for example, white people can’t have dreads. If you haven’t seen that you must have been living under a rock.

You don’t need to be so defensive in your replies, what in my last post reflected “white people who constantly defend and refuse to listen” ? You aren’t even talking about cultural appropriation anymore, just an unwarranted general racism rant.

What about what I’ve said do you disagree with? Or is it just my whiteness you have a problem with?
b r i n g
b a c k
t h e
e m p i r e
Reply 19
Original post by cat_mac
Many, many people have said, for example, white people can’t have dreads. If you haven’t seen that you must have been living under a rock.

You don’t need to be so defensive in your replies, what in my last post reflected “white people who constantly defend and refuse to listen” ? You aren’t even talking about cultural appropriation anymore, just an unwarranted general racism rant.

What about what I’ve said do you disagree with? Or is it just my whiteness you have a problem with?


Going off other replies today, I suspect the latter holds more weight than it should.

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