Posted on 05/04/2018 2:38:19 PM PDT by Kaslin
I am very critical of China's government. It's corrupt, authoritarian and in some respects totalitarian. I have deep reservations about Chinese culture as well. The Chinese government bans sex-selective abortions -- i.e., killing females in utero -- but Chinese people still do it in staggering numbers. China also practices ethnic discrimination that would be instantly recognizable as a kind of Jim Crow or apartheid if the majority Han Chinese were white and minorities such as the Uighurs were black. I could go on, but you get the point.
The reason I bring all of this up is that I want to be clear that my imminent praise for China is selective, even grudging. But you've got to hand it China. It has something we're sorely missing today: civilizational confidence.
Exhibit A: The Chinese think we're idiots when it comes to the absurd panic over "cultural appropriation."
By now you've probably heard that an American teenager wore a traditional Chinese dress to her prom. The young lady, Keziah Daum, is not ethnically Chinese or Asian. And this infuriated a lot of people on Twitter. Someone responded to Daum's pictures by tweeting, "My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress."
And like Pavlov's dogs responding to the dinner bell, thousands of Twitter hounds rained abuse on Daum for the great alleged sin of "cultural appropriation."
Cultural appropriation was originally a sociological term to describe how a majority culture borrows or adapts from a minority culture some custom, fashion, cuisine or practice. At some point, alas, it went from being descriptive to proscriptive.
Proscriptive rules -- the opposite of prescriptive rules -- tell people what they cannot do. And while it's not quite a law (yet), save on some college campuses, there's an organized and passionate movement to pass a new social commandment: "Thou shalt not appropriate someone else's culture."
It must be noted that this is different than saying, "Thou shalt not mock or denigrate someone else's culture." That's a valuable social norm. But this is a distinction the anti-cultural-appropriation forces want to obliterate. They argue that any form of cultural appropriation is essentially indistinguishable from attacking someone's culture.
And that is idiotic.
Without cultural appropriation, American blacks would never have picked up European musical instruments to create the blues and jazz. Without cultural appropriation, white and black artists alike would never have spun these wonderful creations into rock and roll.
Nearly every meal you've ever eaten is the byproduct of centuries of cultural appropriation, to one extent or another. This column is written in English, a language that contains hundreds of thousands of words appropriated from other tongues. Just under two-thirds of our language derives from Latin or French. About a quarter is Germanic in origin. And about a sixth comes from Greek, Arabic and other languages.
Christianity was a Middle Eastern religion "appropriated" by Europeans.
Cultural appropriation manifested itself in every society and civilization since the concepts of society and civilization were born. We are living through the greatest period of poverty alleviation in all of human history right now because countries in Asia and Africa have appropriated many economic policies and practices -- free markets, property rights, etc. -- that began as quirky artifacts of English and Dutch culture.
But Western civilization is a bit different than other civilizations because, until very recently, it prided itself for its ability to embrace, and borrow from, other cultures. To be sure, some of that appropriation happened at the tip of a sword or gun, but show me a civilization that wasn't true of at one point or another.
Alas, the Puritan tradition in America takes funny new forms. So today, people can appropriate a different gender, but don't you dare wear a sombrero if you have the wrong DNA, never mind invent a Korean taco or wear a Chinese dress to the prom. I don't take much pride in the fact that Chinese elites wear Western jackets and ties, but I don't see why it should offend anyone either.
Which brings me back to China. The New York Times did a great journalistic service this week: It investigated whether the Chinese were offended by Daum's alleged hate crime. The overwhelming response? Nope. Chinese social media and cultural commentators celebrated Daum's decision as a compliment.
But in America, unfortunately, some people are so insecure in their identity and so desperate to be offended they have breathed new life into H.L. Mencken's definition of puritanism: "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
Idiots like these offend me.....................
Ditto here too.
Only a brain dead liberal could be offended by cultural appropriation. While claiming Multiculturalism is a value.
Now we have “Cultural-appropriation Outrage”???
So let’s see, we have BLM (Black Lives Matter), AniFa (Anti-Fascists (brought to you by the Nazi Lying Left)), SJW (Social Justice Warriors), and now CAO (Cultural-Appropriation Outrage)?
What next? Whatever it is, it is the latest in a long line of Leftist bull sh#t.
Victimhood is in high demand. It’s the only commodity that gets you something for nothing.
Is that the same as my not being allowed to wear a Gi when practicing Judo or Tae Kwon Do?
No problem.
Pretty sure I could kick your azz in my boxing shorts...
“My culture is NOT your goddamn prom dress.”
____________________________________________________
The irony is deep here. This coming from a culture that does not acknowledge God. Yet feels it’s OK to use our God in a profane manner.
Go back to you culture, asshole. Leave all the trappings of our western world here and enjoy your new 19th century lifestyle.
They appoint themselves judge, jury and hangman to decide what offends them as a reason to impose their iron fisted rule on others.
I have a lovely Chinese outfit I had custom made from there I’ve worn to galas, ect. Also some outfits and shoes from India Southwest, US. They can go scr*w themselves. I’ll wear what I like.
Hey! You non-white straight males stop using my culture’s electricity. Right now, now, now!!!!
The best one I saw was a was someone getting on a white guy about “cultural appropriation”. He called them out for driving a car.
Good for you and I don’t blame you.
“Pay-Me-I’m-A-Victim” has become a popular scam.
I’m not sure if I get that.
If it weren’t for Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and other bluesmen from the past Bruce Springsteen would be just another White trash from the Jersey Shore. Without The Sugar Hill Gang, Run/DMC etc. Eminem would still be living in that run down trailer off the 8 Mile getting the sh!t kicked out of him by his mom’s boyfriends.
Getting offended for the sake of getting offended. It’s like emotional meth. It gives one a short term feeling of moral superiority and empowerment, but once that high wears off, the need for the next fix becomes progressively more insatiable. What a pathetic self destructive way to go through life.
It’s just like racism. Only white folks can be racist, and only white folks can appropriate from other cultures. Other cultures, of course, are entitled to all the creations of European cultures and, actually, the white folks owe to them for free.
Tremendous power in being offended.
Exactly.
It would be a hoot if any of these nonwhites were to come down with a serious illness and the doctors tell them flatly, to their faces, “you cannot come here because that is cultural appropriation.”
Force these people to face up to, and live out, the consequences of their ideas.
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