I have noticed a particular form of racism seems to be on the rise, to the point that few seem to recognize it, and even to the point that many let it lead them to being racist while thinking they are the opposite. Cultural appropriation is when somebody mocks somebody of another culture by dressing up as them in their garb of significant cultural importance just as a lark or for a laugh, like making a mockery of a native American headdress, etc, but many will accuse anyone who thinks the race doesn't match of doing this, without realizing that the person could actually be from the culture. If you see a white lady wearing a kimono or a white guy eating with chopsticks do you presume they are trying a new culture? Do you assume they are mocking that other culture? Or could they been earnestly exploring new ideas ( a good thing!) or *gasp* actually be from that culture??? A person can be black and grow up in Scotland, have a thick Scottish accent and play the bagpipes since childhood. An Asian guy can grow up playing basketball. Brown skinned people do not all have the same culture nor does everyone of a particular culture need to be brown. Having an array of different skin colours doesn't necessarily mean you have diversity in anything but that alone. It is racist to presume otherwise. Just because you have the same skin tone as him and different skin tone than her doesn't mean you have more in common with him than her or that you support, have the same outlook or ideas or opinions, or identify with him more than her. That's racist.
Hear, hear. Every once in a while some trouble hunter, not always of African descent, asks me what I feel about Black people. My usual response is that there are roughly 2.5 billion black people on the planet, and thousands of different black cultures, Yoruba are different than Zulu, are different than the Falani are different than Hutu, etc etc etc. Is there some particular reason you think I should feel the same way about them all?
There should be no such confusion once you understand that there is no such thing as race. http://www.politicalforum.com/index...ace-but-there-is-such-thing-as-racism.603819/ I believe the confusion you are referring to has more to do with ethnicity. Ethnicity does include (maybe predominantly) culture. Black people don't have the same ethnicity even within the U.S.. Culture differences between the black populations of New York, California, Louisiana and South Carolina are often more pronounced than between those and white populations living in the same area
The problem with cultural appropriation is only the left sees it and gives them something to complain about. The business suit originated in England, yet it is worn by Xi, Putin, and everyone in between and no one says anything. When two white ladies sell tacos out of a truck, the left deems that to be cultural appropriation, they protest and the truck gets shut down. When that singer Katy Perry wore a kimono she was accused of cultural appropriation and apologized for wearing it. I live in a city that’s 60% Hispanic and 32% white. Just about every ethnic food here is made by someone who doesn’t belong to the origins of that food and no one complains about it other than the Italian food here absolutely sucks. So does the Chinese food. As someone who is part Italian, I don’t care if a Mexican makes my pizza, I just want it to taste good.
While some may claim 'cultural appropriation', rarely is someone eating/wearing/speaking something from a different 'culture' to mock it. Like how that hairdo looks? Try it out. That sari looks comfortable? Buy one. That dinner smells and looks great? Try it! That song or holiday interests you? Join in. Appreciating other cultures is not mocking it. The idea that 'only certain' groups can have a curly hairdo, enjoy certain types of music or cuisines is divisive and shallow. And, as Jolly Penguin mentioned, you don't know someone's background or heritage just by looking at them. Again, as always, not only assuming makes a person look silly, but in some cases, horribly wrong.
No. The confusion I speak of has to do with race. Just because race is a made up concept not well founded in biology, doesn't mean it isn't a real cultural concept.
There sure is. It's called "ethnicity". The word "race" doesn't describe anything that exists in reality. Not physically, not conceptually, So differentiating the two should be easy. I'm just pointing out that by using the terms properly there wouldn't be confusion.
For most of human history until very recently, there wasn't much distinction made on that account. You can read that in accounts of the world written before much of the 20th Century. Chinese people do this, Vietnamese people dress like this, Hindus eat that, Bengali marriage is like this and so on. It's a very recent phenomena, due to mass immigration in the modern age that you have your Black Scotsman and so forth. However, those black Scotsmen were probably born of African mothers who were raised with different foods, beliefs, and habits. So how Scottish are they actually? Maybe in time their descendants will really be Black Scotsmen, but it's likely they have a different identity now.
True. Which is historical artefact, which is fading more and more now and which likely will more and more in the future. And we need to adjust lest we push racism even when thinking we do the opposite. Race is not culture and culture is not race, unless it is racist culture.
Culture is persistent. You think an African or Asian comes to the US or Canada and instantly becomes "American," or "Canadian?" How about their children?
They don't change culture instantly, no. Neither does a white guy from eastern Europe. And there are black, white, and asian people who grow up here and have the same cutlure as each other, and quite different from any of the immigrants you speak of. Race is not culture.
