Why is this considered "cultural appropration"? The young lady wore a cheongsam to her prom. She didn't suddenly claim to be Chinese, or wore it to mock Asians - so what's the problem?

Funnily enough, there were voices of support for the lady from Chinese citizens...so why the offense?

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/ ... t-backlash

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/unit ... on-twitter

There is no problem. 99.99% of the population doesn't care about cultural appropriation. Its just the same small percentage of people looking to be outraged over something.

And its usually white college students/young people "defending" other cultures and races from other white students.

It's a 'made up' offense, so that the chronically offended can have something else to be offended about.

Sad, angry people.

And the other kind of chronic posts about it as if it is news, or something to be concerned about, as if such reactions are prevalent in society or a canary in the coal mine indicating the impending end of civilization.

jetero wrote:

And the other kind of chronic posts about it as if it is news, or something to be concerned about, as if such reactions are prevalent in society or a canary in the coal mine indicating the impending end of civilization.

Actually, I do think it's important. And, it's more prevalent then you may think.

There was an article this past Halloween about a mother that was agonizing over her daughter's choice that she be the Disney Princess Moana for Halloween. In the end, I believe she bullied her daughter into Elsa, but then started t agonize over the "beautiful, blue-eyed, blonde, white..blah, blah, blah" issue. I couldn't care less if this "adult" mother is screwed up, but she is screwing up her kid and those around her.

Last year, my wife had some co-workers over, and the wife asked me to whip up a batch of my "house-famous" tzatziki. One of the friends commented that it was a good thing I was part-Greek (I'm 100% Greek), otherwise I would be appropriating from the Greeks...or some such nonsense. She was dead serious. I told her she should try my tacos, or shrimp pho.

This woman is a University administrator.

Is it the harbinger of the "end of civilization?" No, but it certainly is an attack on our American culture. You know, the culture where we have taken the good (and bad) from other cultures and meshed them into something uniquely American.

I'll bet that most of the outraged do not even live in China.

Many foreigners dress up in traditional Chinese garments around Chinese celebrations such as CNY in Asia, and it has never been an issue.
These are beautiful dresses after all.

I guess some people really like to be outraged for no evident or logical reason...

Here we're experiencing a form of "reverse" cultural appropriation, where anti racist groups are being inspired by US anti racist groups (true also for feminist groups) and copy their methods and way of thinking, despite our cultures and history with these issues being very different.

So a white footballer was criticized for doing a "blackface", something he and most French people have never heard about. Now we're realizing that this is a common way to dress up during the Dunkirk festival, and these associations are asking for the practice to cease.

fr8mech wrote:

jetero wrote:

And the other kind of chronic posts about it as if it is news, or something to be concerned about, as if such reactions are prevalent in society or a canary in the coal mine indicating the impending end of civilization.

Actually, I do think it's important. And, it's more prevalent then you may think.

There was an article this past Halloween about a mother that was agonizing over her daughter's choice that she be the Disney Princess Moana for Halloween. In the end, I believe she bullied her daughter into Elsa, but then started t agonize over the "beautiful, blue-eyed, blonde, white..blah, blah, blah" issue. I couldn't care less if this "adult" mother is screwed up, but she is screwing up her kid and those around her.

Last year, my wife had some co-workers over, and the wife asked me to whip up a batch of my "house-famous" tzatziki. One of the friends commented that it was a good thing I was part-Greek (I'm 100% Greek), otherwise I would be appropriating from the Greeks...or some such nonsense. She was dead serious. I told her she should try my tacos, or shrimp pho.

This woman is a University administrator.

Is it the harbinger of the "end of civilization?" No, but it certainly is an attack on our American culture. You know, the culture where we have taken the good (and bad) from other cultures and meshed them into something uniquely American.

"It's more prevalent than you may think because I read an article last Halloween about Disney characters and someone made a Greek joke when I made tzatziki."

Get a grip, bro. (People who can't are the ones who are "attacking our American culture." American culture isn't Disney Halloween costumes, BTW.)

jetero wrote:

Get a grip, bro. (People who can't are the ones who are "attacking our American culture." American culture isn't Disney Halloween costumes, BTW.)

American culture is what we make it. And, if you don't think Disney and its characters aren't part of the culture, you haven't been paying attention.

I've got a firm grip on reality. Pay attention to what's going on on our university campuses. The wife brings me stories all the time. I read the articles. I've met some of the people.

You know, I'm not quite sure why I continue to try to re-enter the debate on this forum. It really has degenerated to name calling and/or personal insults at the slightest hint of disagreement.

I think I'll stick to Tech/Ops and Airstud's non-nonsensical threads.

Isn’t cultural appropriation good for bringing communities together? Haven’t we always taken the best of other lands?

mham001 wrote:

CCGPV wrote:

seahawk wrote:

If you do not know the problem, you are lacking cultural sensitivity. It is not appropriate for a white person to claim the culture of others. Or you are lacking a social media account in dire need of publicity.

Can black people wear jeans or baseball hats? Can Asian people offer pizza in their restaurants? What about playing tennis? Who's allowed to do that? Am I allowed to drink coffee? Should Europeans be allowed to smoke cigarettes?

How far down the rabbit hole are we going to go?

hmmm. Does that mean it won't be appropriate for Asians to drive cars?

It depends on where every single part and design idea for the car came from. If anything came from any other culture they are racist for even THINKING about driving a car that was invented and made in another culture.

British people are racist for drinking tea.

The Irish are racist for eating potatoes.

We're all racist for eating sushi.

We should be ashamed.

mham001 wrote:

CCGPV wrote:

seahawk wrote:

If you do not know the problem, you are lacking cultural sensitivity. It is not appropriate for a white person to claim the culture of others. Or you are lacking a social media account in dire need of publicity.

Can black people wear jeans or baseball hats? Can Asian people offer pizza in their restaurants? What about playing tennis? Who's allowed to do that? Am I allowed to drink coffee? Should Europeans be allowed to smoke cigarettes?

How far down the rabbit hole are we going to go?

hmmm. Does that mean it won't be appropriate for Asians to drive cars?

Hell yes, they should be riding bikes, not allowed jordans and I can’t think of anything else apart americans shouldn’t wear kilts!!

Kiwirob wrote:

mham001 wrote:

CCGPV wrote:

Can black people wear jeans or baseball hats? Can Asian people offer pizza in their restaurants? What about playing tennis? Who's allowed to do that? Am I allowed to drink coffee? Should Europeans be allowed to smoke cigarettes?

How far down the rabbit hole are we going to go?

hmmm. Does that mean it won't be appropriate for Asians to drive cars?

Hell yes, they should be riding bikes, not allowed jordans and I can’t think of anything else apart americans shouldn’t wear kilts!!

Aren't the Jordan's made in Asian sweatshops though?

BestWestern wrote:

Isn’t cultural appropriation good for bringing communities together? Haven’t we always taken the best of other lands?

I think the problem in the USA is just that precisely... that we have in the past just taken the best land of others....

The USA is a melting pot, the idea is that other cultures and ideas and traditions etc. are supposed to meld into and be spread across the "USA culture". But lately people have become afraid that "what makes me special" (what they perceive in their fantasies ameks them or other special) can't be used by anyone else. It is ridiculous.
Sure, yes, sometimes there is what is really truly "cultural appropriation" whereby the home population shuts out another culture etc. but uses and distorts that cultures wears and concepts. But that is not that common in the USA today. So instead some have confused cultural appreciation and inclusion and enjoyment and celebration for appropriation.

Happily those in China don't seem offended: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/worl ... dress.html

Tugg

Please keep comments respectful towards other users. There's no need for harsh personal language.

✈️ atcsundevil

CCGPV wrote:

There is no problem. 99.99% of the population doesn't care about cultural appropriation. Its just the same small percentage of people looking to be outraged over something.

And its usually white college students/young people "defending" other cultures and races from other white students.

The original "outrage" was started by a Chinese guy call Jeremy Lam (Who I believe live in US), whose single tweet somehow blow up Twitter. But quite frankly, from comments I've seen over in China (and HK), people laugh at how much fussed about something that's nothing.

On the other hand, in general netizens in China dislike what they considered "leftard" (or "Baizuo", or to certain extent, SJWs), so maybe why the reaction is so different also.

Not to mention, you know, there are shops in China that sell qipao and their target customers are nothing but foreign "western" (mostly white) tourists.

I saw some Japanese kids having fun in Disney World a few hours ago. They were wearing mickey ear hats and it make me want to puke I was so angry.

How dare they appropriate my American culture for their sick entertainment. On their CHILDREN no less!

fr8mech wrote:

jetero wrote:

Get a grip, bro. (People who can't are the ones who are "attacking our American culture." American culture isn't Disney Halloween costumes, BTW.)

American culture is what we make it. And, if you don't think Disney and its characters aren't part of the culture, you haven't been paying attention.

I've got a firm grip on reality. Pay attention to what's going on on our university campuses. The wife brings me stories all the time. I read the articles. I've met some of the people.

You know, I'm not quite sure why I continue to try to re-enter the debate on this forum. It really has degenerated to name calling and/or personal insults at the slightest hint of disagreement.

I think I'll stick to Tech/Ops and Airstud's non-nonsensical threads.

FINALLY someone gets why I post those!!!!!!!!!!!

zakuivcustom wrote:

The original "outrage" was started by a Chinese guy call Jeremy Lam (Who I believe live in US), whose single tweet somehow blow up Twitter.

Yep, and in Mister Lam's profile photo he is wearing a baseball cap, a plain T-shirt, and what appears to be brightly patterned "board shorts", thereby appropriating US and Polynesian culture for himself. If one cares to research Mister Lam's Twitter history, one would find that he has in the past had no problem appropriating the slang terms of a minority group to which he does not belong as well.

TSS wrote:

zakuivcustom wrote:

The original "outrage" was started by a Chinese guy call Jeremy Lam (Who I believe live in US), whose single tweet somehow blow up Twitter.

Yep, and in Mister Lam's profile photo he is wearing a baseball cap, a plain T-shirt, and what appears to be brightly patterned "board shorts", thereby appropriating US and Polynesian culture for himself. If one cares to research Mister Lam's Twitter history, one would find that he has in the past had no problem appropriating the slang terms of a minority group to which he does not belong as well.

At least he is being exposed as nothing more than a racist himself.

While I am there, why is he tweeting in English? Doesn't he know that it is not his language? (If he claim Chinese to be "his culture"). Ok, let's say he is an American, and follow American culture. But if that's the case, the Chinese dress/qipao would no longer be his culture anymore. Ok, let expand it further into ABC (America-born Chinese for those who doesn't know what I'm referring to) or Chinese-American culture. Nope, qipao not part of that, either.

Just too much irony if you ask me.

The term cultural appropriation makes me irrationally angry, because it’s another example of the left going crazy.

I got news for non-Westerners…if you can’t use things that originate with other cultures, then they’re excluded from inventions such as computers, phones, electricity, modern medicine, cars, airplanes, air conditionings, kitchen appliances, and a scad of other things that all originated by free Western thinkers that have benefitted the entire globe.

Also, I have to point out that, once again, the hypocrisy of the left speaks loudly—they who claim to be tolerant and then cyber-bully a young lady with whom they disagree. But don’t criticize David Hogg, because he’s just a teenager, how dare you, you bully…. Give me a break.

I wonder if the people crying "cultural appropriation" and insisting everyone stick to their own culture realize that they are literally advocating for segregation?

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Why is this considered "cultural appropration"?

Sorry I missed this thread.

Here's my comments from the NYT article at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/worl ... dress.html

I agree with the point of view that if the young lady thinks she looks good in the dress, she should wear the dress.

I'm not sure why cultural appropriation is a bad thing.

In this case it seems to be cultural appreciation rather than cultural appropriation.

Or, simply, some times a dress is just a dress.

fr8mech wrote:

jetero wrote:

And the other kind of chronic posts about it as if it is news, or something to be concerned about, as if such reactions are prevalent in society or a canary in the coal mine indicating the impending end of civilization.

Actually, I do think it's important.

I agree it's important.

I'd like to think of this as a teaching moment.

I've always hoped the Internet would help us recognize and then understand our differences, instead of building group think silos.

I'm still hopeful.

Aesma wrote:

So a white footballer was criticized for doing a "blackface", something he and most French people have never heard about. Now we're realizing that this is a common way to dress up during the Dunkirk festival, and these associations are asking for the practice to cease.

There's a big difference by honoring a culture's fashion or food, and mocking a culture. I don't know enough about this festival, perhaps you can fill us in.

Revelation wrote:

fr8mech wrote:

jetero wrote:

And the other kind of chronic posts about it as if it is news, or something to be concerned about, as if such reactions are prevalent in society or a canary in the coal mine indicating the impending end of civilization.

Actually, I do think it's important.

I agree it's important.

I'd like to think of this as a teaching moment.

I've always hoped the Internet would help us recognize and then understand our differences, instead of building group think silos.

Yes, it's a perfect teaching moment to use the Internet and find the guy's Twitter page

https://twitter.com/jere_bare

And ask, "Why in the hell are we discussing this?"

Look what he labels as his location . . .

jetero wrote:

Yes, it's a perfect teaching moment to use the Internet and find the guy's Twitter page

https://twitter.com/jere_bare

And ask, "Why in the hell are we discussing this?"

Look what he labels as his location . . .

Some times you can learn as much from idiots as you can from geniuses.

Look at how much we're learning by having an idiot as our current President.

jetero wrote:

Revelation wrote:

fr8mech wrote:

Actually, I do think it's important.

I agree it's important.

I'd like to think of this as a teaching moment.

I've always hoped the Internet would help us recognize and then understand our differences, instead of building group think silos.

Yes, it's a perfect teaching moment to use the Internet and find the guy's Twitter page

https://twitter.com/jere_bare

And ask, "Why in the hell are we discussing this?"

Look what he labels as his location . . .

This guy has fewer followers than my local grocery store. Not the national chain's Twitter account....my local neighborhood's store Twitter.

Revelation wrote:

Some times you can learn as much from idiots as you can from geniuses.

Look at how much we're learning by having an idiot as our current President.

Surely you agree there's a difference between an idiot who is the President of the United States and any run-of-the-mill idiot tweeting from between the, er, cheeks.

WAIT . . . maybe he's the mysterious 400-pound hacker! That would make sense . . . Trump said it could've been Russia, could've been JYNA. (Don't think the tweeter has seen one of those, though.)

TSS wrote:

zakuivcustom wrote:

The original "outrage" was started by a Chinese guy call Jeremy Lam (Who I believe live in US), whose single tweet somehow blow up Twitter.

Yep, and in Mister Lam's profile photo he is wearing a baseball cap, a plain T-shirt, and what appears to be brightly patterned "board shorts", thereby appropriating US and Polynesian culture for himself. If one cares to research Mister Lam's Twitter history, one would find that he has in the past had no problem appropriating the slang terms of a minority group to which he does not belong as well.

Boardshorts are Australian. As much as I hate giving Aussie any credit for anything but they get it for boardshorts, I must have owned several hundred pairs by now.

jetero wrote:

Revelation wrote:

Some times you can learn as much from idiots as you can from geniuses.

Look at how much we're learning by having an idiot as our current President.

Surely you agree there's a difference between an idiot who is the President of the United States and any run-of-the-mill idiot tweeting from between the, er, cheeks.

Thing is, both have caused large Twitter reactions because they're triggering things in us or people around us.

Revelation wrote:

jetero wrote:

Revelation wrote:

Some times you can learn as much from idiots as you can from geniuses.

Look at how much we're learning by having an idiot as our current President.

Surely you agree there's a difference between an idiot who is the President of the United States and any run-of-the-mill idiot tweeting from between the, er, cheeks.

Thing is, both have caused large Twitter reactions because they're triggering things in us or people around us.

The media being lazy plays a large part in all these "triggering things" anyway. Have you seen how many articles about people being "outrage" by quoting random users on Twitter lately? It's seriously not that hard to hide behind some anonymity (at least one would think) and say the ugliest stuff in one's mind. It also gives people false sense that they're "important" (Which is why that certain person in Mar-a-Lago loves Twitter so much anyway, it definitely boost one's ego).

zakuivcustom wrote:

Revelation wrote:

jetero wrote:

Surely you agree there's a difference between an idiot who is the President of the United States and any run-of-the-mill idiot tweeting from between the, er, cheeks.

Thing is, both have caused large Twitter reactions because they're triggering things in us or people around us.

The media being lazy plays a large part in all these "triggering things" anyway. Have you seen how many articles about people being "outrage" by quoting random users on Twitter lately? It's seriously not that hard to hide behind some anonymity (at least one would think) and say the ugliest stuff in one's mind. It also gives people false sense that they're "important" (Which is why that certain person in Mar-a-Lago loves Twitter so much anyway, it definitely boost one's ego).

As far as I'm concerned, the only news here is that people seriously lack perspective these days. And it's as much the people who react to the guy posting his opinion on a Chinese prom dress as it is the poster himself.

The only difference as far as these things being more prevalent "these days" is that there is now a free medium for people to share their stupid opinions on everything with most of the world, without any editorial filter, and such opinions spread like a virus because a small cohort of people feel the need to react to them (i.e., by posting their own damned stupid opinions).

Stop reacting to it and it's not a problem. Or react to it with the perspective knowing that it's just one person's stupid opinion.

Kiwirob wrote:

TSS wrote:

zakuivcustom wrote:

The original "outrage" was started by a Chinese guy call Jeremy Lam (Who I believe live in US), whose single tweet somehow blow up Twitter.

Yep, and in Mister Lam's profile photo he is wearing a baseball cap, a plain T-shirt, and what appears to be brightly patterned "board shorts", thereby appropriating US and Polynesian culture for himself. If one cares to research Mister Lam's Twitter history, one would find that he has in the past had no problem appropriating the slang terms of a minority group to which he does not belong as well.

Boardshorts are Australian. As much as I hate giving Aussie any credit for anything but they get it for boardshorts, I must have owned several hundred pairs by now.

Duly noted. To be honest, I remembered the vibrant pattern on the shorts more than I remembered their specific style/cut/etc.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Why is this considered "cultural appropration"? The young lady wore a cheongsam to her prom. She didn't suddenly claim to be Chinese, or wore it to mock Asians - so what's the problem?

Funnily enough, there were voices of support for the lady from Chinese citizens...so why the offense?

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/ ... t-backlash

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/unit ... on-twitter

Its just another buzzword from the regressive left to attempt to justify their white/success envy.

Aesma wrote:

Here we're experiencing a form of "reverse" cultural appropriation, where anti racist groups are being inspired by US anti racist groups (true also for feminist groups) and copy their methods and way of thinking, despite our cultures and history with these issues being very different.

So a white footballer was criticized for doing a "blackface", something he and most French people have never heard about. Now we're realizing that this is a common way to dress up during the Dunkirk festival, and these associations are asking for the practice to cease.

Let's hope that you guys don't give in to those crybabies. They are a very small vocal minority and if you ignore them they eventually get tired of it.

zakuivcustom wrote:

CCGPV wrote:

There is no problem. 99.99% of the population doesn't care about cultural appropriation. Its just the same small percentage of people looking to be outraged over something.

And its usually white college students/young people "defending" other cultures and races from other white students.

The original "outrage" was started by a Chinese guy call Jeremy Lam (Who I believe live in US), whose single tweet somehow blow up Twitter. But quite frankly, from comments I've seen over in China (and HK), people laugh at how much fussed about something that's nothing.

On the other hand, in general netizens in China dislike what they considered "leftard" (or "Baizuo", or to certain extent, SJWs), so maybe why the reaction is so different also.

Not to mention, you know, there are shops in China that sell qipao and their target customers are nothing but foreign "western" (mostly white) tourists.

Its funny because that Jeremy Lam kids tweets shows hes appropriates black culture. He was throwing around the n-word like crazy.

Bigstud69 wrote:

zakuivcustom wrote:

CCGPV wrote:

There is no problem. 99.99% of the population doesn't care about cultural appropriation. Its just the same small percentage of people looking to be outraged over something.

And its usually white college students/young people "defending" other cultures and races from other white students.

The original "outrage" was started by a Chinese guy call Jeremy Lam (Who I believe live in US), whose single tweet somehow blow up Twitter. But quite frankly, from comments I've seen over in China (and HK), people laugh at how much fussed about something that's nothing.

On the other hand, in general netizens in China dislike what they considered "leftard" (or "Baizuo", or to certain extent, SJWs), so maybe why the reaction is so different also.

Not to mention, you know, there are shops in China that sell qipao and their target customers are nothing but foreign "western" (mostly white) tourists.

Its funny because that Jeremy Lam kids tweets shows hes appropriates black culture. He was throwing around the n-word like crazy.

.
You realize he's just saying these things for the attention and the reaction, right?