{"id":43296,"date":"2018-05-03T05:00:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T09:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=43296"},"modified":"2018-05-02T15:57:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T19:57:12","slug":"those-who-cry-cultural-appropriation-are-merely-whingers-with-too-much-time-on-their-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2018\/05\/03\/those-who-cry-cultural-appropriation-are-merely-whingers-with-too-much-time-on-their-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"“[T]hose who cry \u2018cultural appropriation\u2019 are merely whingers with too much time on their hands”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Firsht<\/a> rightly calls cultural appropriation “the ultimate first world problem”:<\/p>\n

If ever there was an entirely invented problem, it is \u2018cultural appropriation\u2019. No one had even heard of it five years ago. Now it pops up in news stories on an almost weekly basis.<\/p>\n

Mansfield College at Oxford University cancelled a cannabis-themed party a few weeks ago because some students feared it could lead to cultural appropriation. It seems some were concerned that the team organising the event drew on the music and culture of the Caribbean in its invitation.<\/p>\n

That anyone could care so much as to complain about an event that encouraged students to \u2018Get creative with puns\u2019 for fancy-dress ideas \u2013 \u2018Ganjalf\u2019, \u2018The Grim Reefer\u2019 and \u2018Ganja Claus\u2019 were among the suggestions \u2013 is just sad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The people most likely to denounce others for their “cultural appropriation” are also the ones most likely to suffer at the sight (or thought) of anyone having fun. They’re modern-day Puritans with tattoos, piercings, and multi-coloured hair.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest, those who cry \u2018cultural appropriation\u2019 are merely whingers with too much time on their hands. Not only is this a non-problem, it is also an inherently First World, middle-class problem. Just take a look at Teen Vogue<\/em>\u2019s article on this year\u2019s Coachella \u2013 the annual music and arts festival held in California.<\/p>\n

Writer Dillon Johnson complains about \u2018appropriative fashion\u2019 at the festival, including bindis, box braids and warbonnets. \u2018It\u2019s never okay to wear someone\u2019s culture as a costume, especially not for the sake of getting double taps\u2019, writes Johnson, before generously offering to \u2018inform and educate those that are willing to learn\u2019.<\/p>\n

Considering a ticket to this year\u2019s Coachella cost a minimum of $429 (and that\u2019s before you\u2019ve paid for accommodation, travel and food), it\u2019s unlikey the festival-goers\u2019 fashion choices will be of much importance to most people.<\/p>\n

One of the greatest things about culture is its unifying power. One group borrowing cultural aspects of another is a sign of a diverse society that is proud and admiring of its many influences. As an Ashkenazi (of Eastern Europe descent) Jew, I take immense pleasure in hearing Yiddish words (the language of my grandparents and great-grandparents) being used so liberally in the US. You\u2019d be hard pressed to find a New Yorker who doesn\u2019t know words like schmuck, bubbe and chutzpah. And the liberal littering of Yiddish phrases in Hollywood films always makes me smile. It breathes new life into an old language.<\/p>\n

The rage against cultural appropriation sucks the fun out of culture, and, even worse, encourages a new kind of segregation. We should encourage cultural sharing \u2013 it enriches our society. Only a schmuck would think otherwise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Firsht rightly calls cultural appropriation “the ultimate first world problem”: If ever there was an entirely invented problem, it is \u2018cultural appropriation\u2019. No one had even heard of it five years ago. Now it pops up in news stories on an almost weekly basis. Mansfield College at Oxford University cancelled a cannabis-themed party a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10,53,13],"tags":[1126,238,912,1020],"class_list":["post-43296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-britain","category-liberty","category-politics","category-usa","tag-culturalappropriation","tag-offensensitivity","tag-privilege","tag-progressives"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-bgk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43297,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43296\/revisions\/43297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}