Cultural appropriation

[marshalt]

So if some little prosti-tot isn't allowed to style her hair a certain way, I, representing all white people, have decided that only white can wear baseball caps. Here's why.

Baseball is deeply ingrained in the culture of white people. It was developed by white people, from earlier games, that were also developed by white people. All of the paraphernalia associated with baseball, such as the ball itself, bats, gloves, jerseys, pants, cleats, etc, were all designed and made by white people. The most iconic of these is, of course, the baseball cap.

When a person of color wears a baseball cap in a non-baseball setting, they are robbing white people of something unique. They often wear the cap in an inappropriate manner, such as sideways, leaving the bill straight, and not removing the stickers.

The most famous example of cap abuse is wearing it backwards, which is only done on the field by the catcher. So, when a person of color wears turns their cap backwards, they are identifying themselves as the catcher and trying to claim a status that they haven't earned. The catcher position is perhaps the most difficult position in baseball. They are involved in every play, are responsible for telling the pitcher what pitch to throw, positioning fielders, watching the base runners, and calling out defensive plays. For a person of color to turn their cap backwards and claim to be in that position of leadership is deeply offensive to all white people.

It is possible, but highly unlikely, that some minorities don't know what they are doing is wrong. They will claim innocence in the matter. Even if that is the case, it's still extremely insensitive to take a cherished part of my history and culture and use it as a fashion statement.

"But marshalt," you say, "I see white people wearing baseball caps all the time in non-baseball situations. If they can do it, why can't I?" The answer is that we have the right to maintain, control, and develop our cultural heritage. We have the right to say how they should be used. You, as a non-white, do not have the right to tell whites how to use their culture.

I hope that clears everything up.

 

[DesEsseintes]

I hope that clears everything up.

Of course, and thank you for your clarity.

I mean, you gloss over a few minor historical details about the origins of black people in the US, and the bloodstained centuries, and the ongoing power imbalance. But apart from that, your analogy is flawless.

 

[marshalt]

Of course, and thank you for your clarity.

I mean, you gloss over a few minor historical details about the origins of black people in the US, and the bloodstained centuries, and the ongoing power imbalance. But apart from that, your analogy is flawless.

Culture is culture, regardless of what the owners of that culture have done. The Japanese have done horrible things, but that doesn't mean I can buy a $20 sword from ebay and run around calling myself a samurai.

 

[DesEsseintes]

Culture is culture, regardless of what the owners of that culture have done. The Japanese have done horrible things, but that doesn't mean I can buy a $20 sword from ebay and run around calling myself a samurai.

No, that wasn't my point. In my view, you make the same mistake LJ makes in his diatribes, though yours is far better expressed and more nuanced. That is, that a strict moral and logical equivalence between two social groups makes no sense if it ignores context.

 

[marshalt]

No, that wasn't my point. In my view, you make the same mistake LJ makes in his diatribes, though yours is far better expressed and more nuanced. That is, that a strict moral and logical equivalence between two social groups makes no sense if it ignores context.

Context is irrelevant and so is past interaction between the cultures. One group cannot take another group's culture. Mongolians, for example, should never wear sombreros.

 

[smoothg103rd]

I wear Fitted all the time. I don't remove the sticker, and I don't wear straight to the front or straight to the back. I wear it kinda sideways to the back, and have it hanging off my head. Are you mad because we put more style to it?

Oh, Btw, Jackie made us earn the right to wear it.

 

[DesEsseintes]

Context is irrelevant and so is past interaction between the cultures. One group cannot take another group's culture. Mongolians, for example, should never wear sombreros.

I don't think wearing a sombrero means taking over Mexican culture! But OK.

People are more than welcome to take over my culture. I wish they did. But it seems deeply unpopular.

 

[marshalt]

I wear Fitted all the time. I don't remove the sticker, and I don't wear straight to the front or straight to the back. I wear it kinda sideways to the back, and have it hanging off my head. Are you mad because we put more style to it?

Oh, Btw, Jackie made us earn the right to wear it.

Stop stealing my culture!

 

[marshalt]

I don't think wearing a sombrero means taking over Mexican culture! But OK.

People are more than welcome to take over my culture. I wish they did. But it seems deeply unpopular.

That's because the media has programmed you to hate your culture.

 

[Balladeer08]

If applied to the food industry, a lot of restaurants are going to go out of business.

But then, nobody minds "cultural appropriation" as long as they are making money from it.

 

[smoothg103rd]

Stop stealing my culture!

Stealing your culture would be me playing baseball and making millions from it. I don't play it nor watch it, so can I get a pass?

 

[DesEsseintes]

That's because the media has programmed you to hate your culture.

Not at all! I love my culture! My culture is the culture of Ancient Greece, of Dante and Goethe, Baudelaire and the Nibelungenlied, Shakespeare, Michaelangelo and Dostoevsky. It is what might be called High European Culture, and it is called elitist, but it is quite the opposite. It longs to include rather than exclude. It's just rather hard, as cultures go, and people seem to prefer other ones.

It makes me sad, because it's one hell of a birthright, and one open to all.

 

[marshalt]

Stealing your culture would be me playing baseball and making millions from it. I don't play it nor watch it, so can I get a pass?

See, that's even worse! You won't even make the effort to understand why what your doing is deeply harmful and insulting. You purposely choose to remain ignorant rather than educating yourself.

 

[smoothg103rd]

See, that's even worse! You won't even make the effort to understand why what your doing is deeply harmful and insulting. You purposely choose to remain ignorant rather than educating yourself.

Ok. I'll stop wearing fitted if you stop eating chips. Deal?

 

[marshalt]

Ok. I'll stop wearing fitted if you stop eating chips. Deal?

I'm watching my carbs anyway.

 

[smoothg103rd]

I'm watching my carbs anyway.

It's just a fucking hat. You don't know the person (personally) who invented baseball, so why do you care?

 

[marshalt]

It's just a fucking hat. You don't know the person (personally) who invented baseball, so why do you care?

For the same reason some people care what other people's hairstyles are.

 

[smoothg103rd]

For the same reason some people care what other people's hairstyles are.

Where did you get the hairstyle shit from?

 

[marshalt]

Where did you get the hairstyle shit from?

http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2015/07/12/3679557/hunger-games-star-rips-kylie-jenner-cornrows/

 

[Que Va]

Marshall, brilliant thread. Des, I feel that no "context" is needed (in this case). We are not talking some sacred symbol, prayer or talisman. We are talking braids.

http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2015/07/12/3679557/hunger-games-star-rips-kylie-jenner-cornrows/

I gotta explain some background to you, Smooth. They manufacture these little automatons called "liberals" in progressive colleges. They have whole departments like African-American Studies and Women's Studies, where they make up labels for things people should be outraged about.

After they get enough people spouting off, using the nifty new label (In this case cultural appropriation) you have to decide. Join them in their made up outrage about stuff no one ever cared about before, or become "part of the problem" or be told that "you just don't get it."

There are all kinds of papers and classes and speakers to "educate" you on the things that you should be outraged about, but just haven't been told why you are offended yet.

 

[smoothg103rd]

http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2015/07/12/3679557/hunger-games-star-rips-kylie-jenner-cornrows/

Milkshake; you let that little girl piss you off? But I understand your frustration. It shouldn't be like that. That Jenner girl should be able to express herself in any way that she wants. What really piss me off is when these uppity blacks get mad over problems that they don't go through ( Hey Zumi). That girl look like she never experienced the ghetto in her life. That's a insult in itself. But you also have to understand why black people bitch. As a child you are taught how it was back in the day. Slavery, segregation, KKK and that type of shit. Then you look at your life and see the crime, the poverty, and you neighborhood. And you realize that your lifestyle doesn't compare. Then you see how white kids live.Peaceful, no crime and with money. So when a white person does something that you feel like they crossed the line, you're going to blow up. Like bitch! You put my ancestors in slavery, you forced me to be dumb, you killed me for being black, and now you are trying to do this? It shouldn't be like that, but that's the way it is. We feel like our life doesn't matter, so what more can we do but bitch?

 

[smoothg103rd]

Marshall, brilliant thread. Des, I feel that no "context" is needed (in this case). We are not talking some sacred symbol, prayer or talisman. We are talking braids.



I gotta explain some background to you, Smooth. They manufacture these little automatons called "liberals" in progressive colleges. They have whole departments like African-American Studies and Women's Studies, where they make up labels for things people should be outraged about.

After they get enough people spouting off, using the nifty new label (In this case cultural appropriation) you have to decide. Join them in their made up outrage about stuff no one ever cared about before, or become "part of the problem" or be told that "you just don't get it."

There are all kinds of papers and classes and speakers to "educate" you on the things that you should be outraged about, but just haven't been told why you are offended yet.

As long as they're things that divide races, their will always be racism.

SmooveG103

Black history month, Puerto Rican day parade, Italian fest and etc. They need to strip all that shit, and we need to start embracing each other as equals.

 

[marshalt]

Milkshake; you let that little girl piss you off? But I understand your frustration. It shouldn't be like that. That Jenner girl should be able to express herself in any way that she wants. What really piss me off is when these uppity blacks get mad over problems that they don't go through ( Hey Zumi). That girl look like she never experienced the ghetto in her life. That's a insult in itself. But you also have to understand why black people bitch. As a child you are taught how it was back in the day. Slavery, segregation, KKK and that type of shit. Then you look at your life and see the crime, the poverty, and you neighborhood. And you realize that your lifestyle doesn't compare. Then you see how white kids live.Peaceful, no crime and with money. So when a white person does something that you feel like they crossed the line, you're going to blow up. Like bitch! You put my ancestors in slavery, you forced me to be dumb, you killed me for being black, and now you are trying to do this? It shouldn't be like that, but that's the way it is. We feel like our life doesn't matter, so what more can we do but bitch?

Ah, I'm just having fun, smooth. Both of those little twats can go jump of a cliff.

 

[smoothg103rd]

Ah, I'm just having fun, smooth. Both of those little twats can go jump of a cliff.

I took you as being serious. I don't know you as fun, I know you as the angry Milkshake.

 

[Lorilei]

Milkshake; you let that little girl piss you off? But I understand your frustration. It shouldn't be like that. That Jenner girl should be able to express herself in any way that she wants. What really piss me off is when these uppity blacks get mad over problems that they don't go through ( Hey Zumi). That girl look like she never experienced the ghetto in her life. That's a insult in itself. But you also have to understand why black people bitch. As a child you are taught how it was back in the day. Slavery, segregation, KKK and that type of shit. Then you look at your life and see the crime, the poverty, and you neighborhood. And you realize that your lifestyle doesn't compare. Then you see how white kids live.Peaceful, no crime and with money. So when a white person does something that you feel like they crossed the line, you're going to blow up. Like bitch! You put my ancestors in slavery, you forced me to be dumb, you killed me for being black, and now you are trying to do this? It shouldn't be like that, but that's the way it is. We feel like our life doesn't matter, so what more can we do but bitch?

Best post I've ever read from you.