I never really understood the concept of cultural appropriation. I thought it was a little far-fetched. Then I learned about “Israeli” cuisine and I immediately got it.
I think it’s also easy to see when you’re familiar with some original thing that’s been appropriated across cultural boundaries, the appropriated thing becomes more ubiquitous than the original, and people from the other culture don’t realize where it came from. It doesn’t have to be in bad taste for people to find it grating.
The example I’ve seen is imagining the reactions of white Christian conservatives in the US if suddenly the only version of Jingle Bells that got played on the radio was in Hindi. The Hindi version wouldn’t be badly done. The quality would be fine. But people would FREAK OUT. But then again, American culture prides itself on being a “melting pot” while also being aggressively assimilationist, so maybe that’s not a good example for this point.
You know, it’s funny, I actually really enjoy seeing foreign interpretations of American culture. Games like Metal Wolf Chaos, for example. It’s kind of fascinating to see yourself through someone else’s eyes.
Of course, I absolutely understand how someone whose culture is sidelined and commodified to the point that it effectively gets overshadowed by a caricature of itself would feel differently. Just one more reason to say fuck imperialism and fuck capitalism.
I think it’s also easy to see when you’re familiar with some original thing that’s been appropriated across cultural boundaries, the appropriated thing becomes more ubiquitous than the original, and people from the other culture don’t realize where it came from. It doesn’t have to be in bad taste for people to find it grating.
Hallowe’en is like this. It’s Irish, but then Americanised Hallowe’en is pushing in.
Ever see one of those influencer dudebros that makes videos where they order food from to some exotic foreigner and totally blow them away with how fluent they sound in the foreigner’s language?
So many white people have this intense fantasy scenario where someone is talking shit about them while speaking another language. I think a lot of the “oh, you speak so fluently” videos appeal to that.
One of my chuddiest blood relatives, a lanyard-wearing middle manager, has a deep fixation on his coworkers “speaking foreign gibberish” around him. I don’t talk or hang around him anymore for good reason, but when I did, almost every conversation was about his most recent transcendent wine tasting experience, or his latest authentic foreign vacation where an authentic rug merchant sold him an authentic exotic rug while authentically haggling with him while offering him authentic homemade tea in his authentic quaint foreign dwelling, or him being really mad at his subordinates for “speaking foreign gibberish” in a way that makes him feel like they’re talking about him… which maybe they are because he’s a piece of shit.
his latest authentic foreign vacation where an authentic rug merchant sold him an authentic exotic rug while authentically haggling with him while offering him authentic homemade tea in his authentic quaint foreign dwelling,
It’s impressive how exactly similar the discourse you quickly sketched out in your original comment is to what I hear in from cretins coming back from airplane holidays.
Usually combined with insane stuff like “they live so simply”, “they have so little but they’re so happy”, “they really know how to relax”, “they’re so welcoming and authentic”, etc.
I guess “wine cave liberals” are universal across the empire
They like to muse about “simple” lives but are terrified of even the chance of ever having to live one like that. They get very defensive about their colonial treats, don’t they?
I actually had this experience once, but it was pretty light shit talking, and was a miracle they happened to use words I understood. Nobody was impressed, but we all laughed.
in my experience people are happy you try and learn their language (unless they’re Icelandic, Icelandic people often feel that the language is so small outside influence would destroy it)
One of the more annoying aspects of living in Japan was when people would assume I couldn’t speak Japanese and would desperately try to speak English, which they very clearly hadn’t used in absolute ages, and basically refuse to speak in Japanese no matter what. There were plenty of people that once I spoke Japanese to them you could see the relief and just went with it. Generally people were happy that I spoke Japanese.
It doesn’t really make sense outside the context of colonial domination. The point isn’t that it’s bad to adopt the customs or ways of other cultures, so much as it is to do so for the purpose of obscuring or eliminating that culture.
My first encounter with the concept of cultural appropriation (without knowing the word at the time) was when I saw my boomer Chinese dad get mad at the fact that there was unlicensed Walmart(a mall that decided to name itself Walmart for whatever reason) in China that had a KFC inside(inauthentic appropriation of burgerland culture) and not Mcdonald’s (authentic).
I never really understood the concept of cultural appropriation. I thought it was a little far-fetched. Then I learned about “Israeli” cuisine and I immediately got it.
I didn’t get it until I learned about “Elizardbeth Warren”
Tsai Ing-Wen is doing an offensive appropriation of the traditional Anglo practice of pretending to be native.
Omg the two even look alike with their glasses
game meats game
I didn’t get it til I saw people copying my culture really badly
I think it’s also easy to see when you’re familiar with some original thing that’s been appropriated across cultural boundaries, the appropriated thing becomes more ubiquitous than the original, and people from the other culture don’t realize where it came from. It doesn’t have to be in bad taste for people to find it grating.
The example I’ve seen is imagining the reactions of white Christian conservatives in the US if suddenly the only version of Jingle Bells that got played on the radio was in Hindi. The Hindi version wouldn’t be badly done. The quality would be fine. But people would FREAK OUT. But then again, American culture prides itself on being a “melting pot” while also being aggressively assimilationist, so maybe that’s not a good example for this point.
I wanted to check out Jingle Bells in Hindi because of this
I found a version with a terrifying video
Ok just turning it into “ding ding ding, ding ding ding” makes me a lil upset. That’s too lazy. Do better.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Santa’s got Parkinson’s
You know, it’s funny, I actually really enjoy seeing foreign interpretations of American culture. Games like Metal Wolf Chaos, for example. It’s kind of fascinating to see yourself through someone else’s eyes.
Of course, I absolutely understand how someone whose culture is sidelined and commodified to the point that it effectively gets overshadowed by a caricature of itself would feel differently. Just one more reason to say fuck imperialism and fuck capitalism.
I RICHARD HAWK AM THE LAST GREAT AMERICAN HERO
You may enjoy Pretty Woman from Kal Ho Naa Ho. It’s supposed to be set in NYC iirc
I’ll check it out, thanks!
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Hallowe’en is like this. It’s Irish, but then Americanised Hallowe’en is pushing in.
As a partly Japanese person who doesn’t really watch anime
deleted by creator
Ever see one of those
influencer dudebros that makes videos where they order food from to some exotic foreigner and totally blow them away with how fluent they sound in the foreigner’s language? 
So many white people have this intense fantasy scenario where someone is talking shit about them while speaking another language. I think a lot of the “oh, you speak so fluently” videos appeal to that.
One of my chuddiest blood relatives, a lanyard-wearing middle manager, has a deep fixation on his coworkers “speaking foreign gibberish” around him. I don’t talk or hang around him anymore for good reason, but when I did, almost every conversation was about his most recent transcendent wine tasting experience, or his latest authentic foreign vacation where an authentic rug merchant sold him an authentic exotic rug while authentically haggling with him while offering him authentic homemade tea in his authentic quaint foreign dwelling, or him being really mad at his subordinates for “speaking foreign gibberish” in a way that makes him feel like they’re talking about him… which maybe they are because he’s a piece of shit.
Real
energy
Plot twist: that relative really likes the American Psycho film in the worst possible blue curtain way.
When I rant about “wine cave liberals” I say so because I’ve spent too many years painfully close to Napa Valley.
It’s impressive how exactly similar the discourse you quickly sketched out in your original comment is to what I hear in
from cretins coming back from airplane holidays.
Usually combined with insane stuff like “they live so simply”, “they have so little but they’re so happy”, “they really know how to relax”, “they’re so welcoming and authentic”, etc.
I guess “wine cave liberals” are universal across the empire
They like to muse about “simple” lives but are terrified of even the chance of ever having to live one like that. They get very defensive about their colonial treats, don’t they?
Yup. “They have so little”, motherfucker that’s because we took it all
I actually had this experience once, but it was pretty light shit talking, and was a miracle they happened to use words I understood. Nobody was impressed, but we all laughed.
in my experience people are happy you try and learn their language (unless they’re Icelandic, Icelandic people often feel that the language is so small outside influence would destroy it)
One of the more annoying aspects of living in Japan was when people would assume I couldn’t speak Japanese and would desperately try to speak English, which they very clearly hadn’t used in absolute ages, and basically refuse to speak in Japanese no matter what. There were plenty of people that once I spoke Japanese to them you could see the relief and just went with it. Generally people were happy that I spoke Japanese.
learning someone’s language is to my mind the ultimate mark of respect. It’s a lot of work and you took it to reach out to them
It doesn’t really make sense outside the context of colonial domination. The point isn’t that it’s bad to adopt the customs or ways of other cultures, so much as it is to do so for the purpose of obscuring or eliminating that culture.
My first encounter with the concept of cultural appropriation (without knowing the word at the time) was when I saw my boomer Chinese dad get mad at the fact that there was unlicensed Walmart(a mall that decided to name itself Walmart for whatever reason) in China that had a KFC inside(inauthentic appropriation of burgerland culture) and not Mcdonald’s (authentic).