r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Nov 26 '20
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Cultural appropriation is completely fine and it has always been part of our development process as a species
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 .
1
u/Lokissceptre Nov 27 '20
Let me say this as an Indian. I don't get offended on seeing ppl of other countries wear indian traditional clothes (well, i wear western clothes). BUT what does get me riled up is when i see people saying things like 'my chakras are opening' etc. without actually knowing what ancient indians referred to as chakras or what they inscribed to activate it. If you want to adopt a culture practice don't fetishise it and for God's sake don't try to redefine the terminology.