I'm going to be honest.
I don't understand what cultural appropriation is.

From my point of view, we live in a world where people's cultural experiences are shared.
Music, films, theatre, books, goods, sports, hobbies, fashion, art, cuisine, public events, ideologies and religions are shared.
People engage in a variety of different interests and hobbies from all over the world.

I see globalisation. I see integration. I see people from all over the world interacting with each other and partaking in each other's interests.


The only examples of cultural appropriation I can think of is certain museums.
When artifacts are taken from foreign countries to put on display (such as The Parthenon Marbles).


Ultimately the reason I don't really get cultural appropriation is because I don't view culture as a tangible thing that one can own.
It is more to do with life experience. People will travel all over the world to see the great myriad of cultures. They don't steal culture, rather they encounter culture and some may even embrace it.

Cultural appropriation is a natural phenomenon. Wherever different cultures interact, people will experience different cultural facets and will accomodate for the sake of sociability, which ultimately leads to different cultures blending together. There isn't a single culture on this planet that retained its original form throughout history after it interacted with other cultures. It's simply another form of how cultures change/evolve.

There are however a couple bad eggs who use the term as a form of cultural discrimination, similar in meaning to the term 'purity' wherein cultural appropriation is viewed as something bad for allegedly stealing from a culture and/or diluting one's own. It's the same kind of think as 'racial purity', likening it to crossbreeding (un-)desireable traits.

Cultural appropriation is the obtaining of a piece of culture from another culture. Perfectly natural event. What gets people up in arms is when it is from a minority culture going into a majority culture, without the respect of what the assimilated facet of culture they are taking from.

Kinda like Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick's Day are just used as an excuse to drink heavily, and the use of Native Americans as mascots.

It sometimes is overexaggerated, and if you see it on tumblr it is 99% of the time overexaggerated and given an overly negative connotation.

Also, we don't need three SJW threads.

I thought this video would be interesting. I think there is still a need for feminism.
There are some real horrific issues that aren't being discussed.



The Amazing Atheist has started his own charitable campaign for dealing with situations like the ones described in this video.

I'm going to retreat into my safe space. I find your patriarchal mansplaining very triggering.
If you excuse me I'm going to post stuff on Tumblr. Bye.


Just kidding.

It's ridiculous as a government mandate in the vein of cigarette regulations, but some companies are already doing that sort of thing voluntarily.

corporate.target.com/article/2015/08/gender-based-signs-corporate

Just wait until your alcoholic beverages have to use plain decals, and then, when it is legalized, no funky names for the various strains of marijuana, only generic numbering (e.g. Cannabis Strain #71).

At least sex shops aren't required to put their merchandise in plain packaging, if you catch my drift.

Oh dear.



P.s. Here is a video that explains Cultural Appropriation.