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The concept of "Cultural Appropriation" (and the desire to avoid it) strikes me as something created out of benevolent racism that promotes cultural segregation

The concept of "Cultural Appropriation" (and the desire to avoid it) strikes me as something created out of benevolent racism that promotes cultural segregation. I understand not wanting to step on toes and put salt in old wounds, but telling me I can't (metaphorically) walk around other neighborhoods out of respect seems a bit much. Something has gone awfully wrong to get to this point and playing along instead of unwinding the stack is misguided.

gizmo686 11y ago
I think I might be mis-reading your comment but, to me, "cultural appropriation" sounds like a re-branding of integration. If would follow from this view that arguing against cultural appropriation is arguing for segregation.
- forgottenpass 11y ago
  I made a poor choice of words, as realize I could be conveying the the opposite of what I meant. I've re-written the line to better present that my thought that the drive to avoid cultural appropriation can look a lot like cultural segregation.
  - djtriptych 11y ago
    This is a false dichotomy.
    - strangecasts 11y ago
      I was disappointed that the article seemed to enforce this dichotomy as well, by bringing up the possibility of asking the people in question: > But it has never been easier to proceed with good faith and Google, to seek out and respect context[...] and then seemingly striking it down with the Shamsie essay: > The moment you say, a male American writer can’t write about a female Pakistani, you are saying, Don’t tell those stories. but leaving out the part immediately preceding the quote: > But it should be clear that the response to this is for writers to write differently, to write better, to critique the power structures rather than propping them up, to move beyond stereotype—which you need to do for purely technical reasons, because the novel doesn’t much like stereotypes. which doesn't at all preclude discussion.
- djtriptych 11y ago
  Wrong. This is a lazy reverse-racism argument.
- xlm1717 11y ago
  This reminds me of a paper I wrote for a sociology class in college. Argue for or against assimilation. Like it or not, there is evidence that immigrants who assimilate better into American culture do better economically. Cultural appropriation is not wrong, it makes assimilation easier. Keeping cultures separate, and raising an uproar when whites (in most cases) take an aspect they like from a culture and use it, is counterproductive to assimilation. Since I prioritise economic prosperity, I had to argue for assimilation. It does follow that stopping cultural appropriation leaves de facto segregation in place. The melting pot is better when everyone melts into it.
djtriptych 11y ago
Can you think of examples where the originating culture has EMBRACED extra-cultural participants? Black people embrace Eminem but not Iggy Azalea. Black people embrace Teena Marie but not so much Miley Cyrus. So what's the difference? What's being differentiated?

gizmo686 11y ago

I think I might be mis-reading your comment but, to me, "cultural appropriation" sounds like a re-branding of integration. If would follow from this view that arguing against cultural appropriation is arguing for segregation.

forgottenpass 11y ago
I made a poor choice of words, as realize I could be conveying the the opposite of what I meant. I've re-written the line to better present that my thought that the drive to avoid cultural appropriation can look a lot like cultural segregation.
- djtriptych 11y ago
  This is a false dichotomy.
  - strangecasts 11y ago
    I was disappointed that the article seemed to enforce this dichotomy as well, by bringing up the possibility of asking the people in question: > But it has never been easier to proceed with good faith and Google, to seek out and respect context[...] and then seemingly striking it down with the Shamsie essay: > The moment you say, a male American writer can’t write about a female Pakistani, you are saying, Don’t tell those stories. but leaving out the part immediately preceding the quote: > But it should be clear that the response to this is for writers to write differently, to write better, to critique the power structures rather than propping them up, to move beyond stereotype—which you need to do for purely technical reasons, because the novel doesn’t much like stereotypes. which doesn't at all preclude discussion.
djtriptych 11y ago
Wrong. This is a lazy reverse-racism argument.
xlm1717 11y ago
This reminds me of a paper I wrote for a sociology class in college. Argue for or against assimilation. Like it or not, there is evidence that immigrants who assimilate better into American culture do better economically. Cultural appropriation is not wrong, it makes assimilation easier. Keeping cultures separate, and raising an uproar when whites (in most cases) take an aspect they like from a culture and use it, is counterproductive to assimilation. Since I prioritise economic prosperity, I had to argue for assimilation. It does follow that stopping cultural appropriation leaves de facto segregation in place. The melting pot is better when everyone melts into it.

djtriptych 11y ago

Can you think of examples where the originating culture has EMBRACED extra-cultural participants? Black people embrace Eminem but not Iggy Azalea. Black people embrace Teena Marie but not so much Miley Cyrus. So what's the difference? What's being differentiated?