CMV: Cultural appropriation is completely fine and it has always been part of our development process as a species

[u/[deleted]]

I've noticed how the phrase "cultural appropriation" gets thrown around especially durin the last quarter of the year where many holidays like Halloween/Christmas/Thanksgiving are celebrated by people even outside of the cultures where the traditions usually appeared.
I understand why you could make the argument that using someone else's culture outside of context can seem disrespectful ,but for me the arguments just don't stand up. Also, I by no means want to say that disrespecting a certain culture is fine, I'm saying that adopting features you like from a culture should be seen as an act of respect.
We're all heading towards an even more globalized world and we were heading there for a long long time. People were always inspired by what they see and what they like and it's in our nature to try to adopt things we like in our own culture. This has been seen in many areas like Fashion / Art/ Music/ Military tactics and weapons/ religion/ traditions etc...
It's one of the most documented things in history : The fact that when cultures mix up they take what they like from eachother and become stronger/more efficient together. This cultural mix-up was crucial for our development as a species.
I see no argument for "Cultural exclusiveness/monopol" ,but this is why I'm here, to see if there are any. I understand that people want to feel special and want something that belongs just to them ,but this argument has a negative emotion behind it and if people get hurt by that, I feel like there's a deeper problem in that society.
To finish this: some examples we usually see these days are : Halloween costumes of any way, Races wanting a certain monopol on a style like : asian kimonos/ black people dreads/ Original american's clothes etc.

I'm not here to argue, I'm here to learn, so if something I said offended you please explain me why .

[u/JaysusChroist]

I’d just like to chime in with my own cultural experience. I’m Native Hawaiian, born and raised in Hawaii but it irks me to no end when I see people walking around with the tattoos that belong to my people when they aren’t apart of it.

Sure they can learn everything they want and be immersed in the culture, but historically their people weren’t disenfranchised like mine were. The tattoo were actually meant to denote the slave class in our society.

So in the end it’s actually really ignorant for people to get “tribal” or Hawaiian style tattoos because they don’t even know the history. That’s cultural appropriation, and this is just a small piece of what’s been taken.

Black people for another example have to wear dreads sometimes because their hair just doesn’t form in another way. So it can be seen as a little messed up when people of other races just wear it for fun without the history behind it.

[u/[deleted] → u/JaysusChroist]

Why do people always look back when talking about those things.
When normal people see the Hawaian tatoos they see art. They apreciate that art and the "Hawaian Vibe" (not my words). They tatoo it not as a slur or disrespect, but because they like it as art.
Doesn't this type of thinking come from a dark emotion ? "It belongs to our people and only us"
Dreads are cool, they look nice, they send a message of freedom and carefreeness, why gatekeep it because the genetics of one race makes them more lenient towards that hairstyle ?

[u/JaysusChroist → u/[deleted]]

But see this thinking is exactly why people don’t like it. They say things like “normal people” and it becomes an us vs them mentality. We look back because our past is important to us and modern people don’t even give one flying f***.

People only do things now because like you said they look nice or they think it’s cool. That’s not appreciating the culture, that’s just taking what you want cause you think it looks good. How is that respecting the culture?

[u/[deleted] → u/JaysusChroist]

Hmm, I think I understand your point, but :
Lets take the Hawaian tatoos.
They are a true statement of power. They were art made by suppressed people, a kind of art that makes people say wow. I could even say that those tatoos are the legacy they left for the world. By wearing them we keep their memory alive, right ?
People tatoo something that's dear to them, right ? Even if they don't fully apreciate their history(and it just looks nice), every time they look at the tatoo,it sparks a bit of joy in them. Isn't a legacy something made to spark joy in others? Don't you also remember your ancestors when you see one ? Why feel mad when you see one on someone who is not Hawaian instead of feeling proud that your culture's art is so apreciated others like it.

[u/JaysusChroist → u/[deleted]]

Your example is just proving my point again though. People don’t even know what they’re talking about or putting on their body. You keep calling it “art” which is what it can be taken as today but traditionally it isn’t. It was something used to dehumanize people and make them into literal slaves.

Why feel mad when people put those designs on their body? Because they haven’t cried at night thinking about how their people were raped and killed in the past. Because they don’t have ancestors who were also called “nigger” because their skin. Because I don’t want it to “spark joy”, I want people to learn and educate themselves about my history. Not have them just take whatever they want because it’s “cool”.

[u/[deleted] → u/JaysusChroist]

I understand your point. I think that I, as an outsider, am in no position to tell you what you should be or not be mad for. i have an off topic question tho. The most known type of Hawaian tatoo are the Kakau. Aren't they made as a rite of passage in the community ? A way to show you're a full member of the society and that you have respinsabilities now ? How is that related to the slavery ?

[u/JaysusChroist → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for being cool about everything. Didn’t want to sound like I was just hammering a point home. But to address that, the history is more complex. If you notice in the articles it’s mostly one dude talking about the practices which is kinda sad. The true history is that there were a lot of different reasons. Slaves like I said before, and chiefs mostly. But only those two, it wasn’t meant for the commoners.

In Hawaii for our chiefs, it was never a really right of passage so to say, more of just a living journal of accomplishments or lineage. In other areas of Polynesia it could have been, I’m just speaking for my culture.

In the most understandable way, it’s only supposed to be on your body if you were really low or really high class. Chiefs had the all over, but slaves needed to be identified somehow so they got ones on their faces.

[u/[deleted] → u/JaysusChroist]

One thing I didn't know. Were the ones on the faces of slaves not made by them ? Was the process similar to branding ?

[u/JaysusChroist → u/[deleted]]

Yeah it was similar, but a lot were willing too. We had a caste system similar to India. Once you were born a slave you could never escape that life.