I don't really understand "cultural appropriation"

White people shouldn't wear dreads mainly because they look terrible on them. No white person has ever pulled them off throughout all of human history.

 

Sideshow Bob?

 

Bo Derek?

 

Bo had braids.

 

I don't know...wake up Little Susie was a little racy for the times. I bet those two ended up 'having' to get married even though nothing happened.

 

Ron Swanson

 

Those are cornrows.

 

I know what the difference between dreadlocks and cornrows are, I just wasn't paying close enough attention to the discussion, I guess, and tossed in a random pop culture example of a culturally appropriated hairdon't as a joke.

 

Sorry, my home town was 53% black so I just learned these things. I also learned a lot of Tupac songs.

 

Damn I feel old, rap music was Run DMC and Vanilla Ice when I was growing up

 

I know all of Ninja Rap from the Ninja Turtle sequel.

 

No, you're not.

In my case, I'm half Jewish and half anglo and atheist to boot so I feel no allegiance to any one race or cultural tradition. So I kind of pine away for a post-racial post-sexist society in which everyone is allowed to be individuals rather than representing this or that camp that stands in defense/opposition to other camps.

If you look at Trek, I think more than a simple celebration of diversity there is an emphasis on mixed heritage with a search for identity.

If you look at the character arc of someone like Spock, his mixed blood was a key aspect. Yes, we are asked to accept his difference, but at the same time we are shown him deciding for himself what aspects of Vulcan to accept and reject, meeting somewhere in the middle in the TOS movies, starting with TMP.



Trek V was a bad film, but the introduction of Sybok as a full Vulcan who rejected logic teachings helped break the idea that Vulcan society was monolithic and that the people there sort of congenitally could not feel emotions (outside of mind-meld incidents).

Even if you look at Spock's parents, the dynamic between Amanda and Sarek, you see one way for tolerance to "work", not just between a man and a woman, but when they come from such different backgrounds.


I think this message is being lost in the modern era of internet shouting-matches and the sport of exposing that someone is "wrong on the internet".

7 of 9 searches for a unique identity after getting separated from the Borg collective. She's not really Borg anymore and yet she can't ever be completely human either. She has to invent her identity. Data, same thing. He admires humanity but has to learn to find a sweet spot somewhere shy of full humanity (until the anti-climax of the emotion-chip).

I didn't follow Voyager much but you had B'Elanna Torres who was half human, and Worf who was full Klingon but raised by humans and never truly "becomes" Klingon (no real sense of humor for one thing--he's sort of a perpetual wannabe).

Then you have the Trill, which is sort of a composite consciousness that goes through multiple finine lifespans, hopping from gender to gender, upending questions of identity.

I think Trek has often been criticized for representing different alien groups as speaking with only a single voice but when it comes to the major characters like above you see how the IDIC is really more about individuals finding their way. "Special snowflake" has become sort of a pejorative but that's how I see it.

Sorry if this feels OT as it's about Trek and not Ghost in the Shell. I'm thinking a little more about how there is some sort of dustup over everything these days, from the supposed lack of white males in the Discovery trailer to the all-female Alamo drafthouse screenings of Wonder Woman, to Wonder Woman armpit hair scandal, to gay Sulu, to Spock/Uhura pro vs. con, and on and on and on. It just seems that people are addicted to the feeling of being outraged over something these days.

 

I'd never heard of it before this thread and more recently on another, more balanced forum. After some reading, it seems to me that "cultural appropriation" is just a new way to say that white people are bad. It's my opinion, you don't have to like it.

 

Not sure why you feel the need to add that qualifier at the end but okay. If someone doesn't like reading differing opinions they can go play on their Facebook.

Culture Appropriation is really nothing more than another non issue created by race hustlers and it's ridiculous. America has always been a blend of many cultures: Cuisines, architecture, literature etc. Those things were brought to this country by people who were thankful for the opportunity to be here. Hence the term "Melting Pot."

 

That's not on anyone else but urbandefault. He feels the need to add a qualifier like that or "Just sayin'" after a bunch of his posts to call attention to what a rebel he is, as if he's announcing "Hey everybody, look out, I'm about to finish saying something edgy!" Only, when you constantly have to call attention to what a badass rebel you supposedly are instead of just stating your opinion, it kind of saps the effectiveness of your defiant stance. It's a bit like George Costanza trying to play the bad boy.

 

White people are bad. Study your history!

 

We've had a lot of opportunity and practice.

 

This is cultural appropriation:

French high fashion brand Chanel has come under fire for appropriating Aboriginal culture by selling a boomerang that retails for almost $2,000.

The black "wood and resin" boomerang — priced at $1,930 — is one of several items available in the "other accessories" line of Chanel's recently-launched 2017 spring-summer pre-collection.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-...sparks-aboriginal-appropriation-claim/8531496