Vicariously Offended

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This is one thing ive never understood about "cultural appropriation." If someone is partaking in your nations/cultures traditions, apperal, food, etc. Why is that a bad thing? Wouldnt people want their traditions known and shared and experienced by many?

Idk im just a white guy who loves dia de los muertos

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It seems like literally every Chinese person I’ve talked to is absolutely delighted when a westerner is interested in Chinese culture. I remember being assigned a trip to a buffet for a high school Chinese class, and my atonal 你好 got about as much praise as a baby sputtering out “da-da” for the first time. I posted some calligraphy on 小红书 a couple days ago and I am getting gassed up for it.

Flax

I remember seeing a child have a japanese themed birthday. Some white person was giving off to her parents for cultural appropriation while Japanese people were flattered

Flax

Found it

1000060931

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The only reason im replying is

being against IP as a concept

Has me hella curious. Can you elaborate? Is it the capitalist aspect of patents/trademarks and licensing or something else? I believe that people who invent a concept/character/world should have ownership to develop it into what their grander vision may be before someone else can come and write the story/use of their tool. Id love to hear your side of this though because I don't know anyone thats ever told me their against IP as a concept

Flax

You can say the most basic phrase in mandarin and completely screw it up both grammatically and pronunciation-wise and they'd absolutely love it and applaud you for it

Provided you're white

Flax

I know someone who said that America is racist for siding with Taiwan on things and then I pointed out to them that (except a minority) Taiwan is predominantly Han Chinese

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Idk im just a white guy who loves dia de los muertos

How dare you

Lemminary

I have no problem with that at all. Please dress up for the 16th of September, the Mexican Independence Day, or as a catrín on Día de los Muertos. My Korean friend looked so good as an Adelita and I was so proud of her.

I guess I'd only have a problem with a Halloween costume that exaggerates a negative and unrealistic stereotype but I don't think people make those anymore, or at least I haven't seen one.

CarrotsHaveEars

This is a loud wake-up call that the internet is not reality.

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So, virtue signaling?

Ah, as expected

GladiusB

It's damn true. I ran a crew of workers that were Spanish speaking. After two years all I gotta say is, is there a word that isn't used as a dick?

Annoyed_🦀

Funny that i'm chinese and living in asia as well and i support that. Western folks have a weird sense of justice that they want to protect everyone, to a point i feels like they're seeing us as a lesser kind that need protection.

Flax

I think it's NIMBYism in a way. Sure, they like to talk to Laowai and like it when they do something Chinese, but they don't really want them intruding on their social media network. The Great Firewall exists for a reason- Chinese culture and attitudes are vastly different to that of the west. There was a joke going around that watching Chinese short-form videos "is like tuning into interdimensional cable"

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Some people just love to find reasons to get offended.

Hell, a way to carry a baby was called cultural appropriation by some black people where I live when first Nations have been carrying their baby the same way on our territory since way before any black people set foot in northern America but we don't hear them complain.

Nightwatch Admin

I love this

Lemminary

She's wearing chopsticks in her hair which is generally frowned upon. She could've used a broach or a traditional kansashi instead which would've made her look more elegant.

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We will always love to see others enjoy a part of our culture (as long as it is not in an exploitative and fetishistic way).

I think this is a big part of the why some people get all white-knight about cultural appropriation. It can be quite difficult to know, as a cultural outsider, and from a glance, when something is being done in an exploitative and/or fetishistic way.

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Enjoying other cultures isn't appropriation. I think the line where it becomes appropriation is profiteering. If you are commodifying and profiting off someone else's culture that's pretty shitty. Obviously that's not a perfectly clear cut line (who 'owns' culture?), but it's a good place to start.

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This is a great read on the IP topic. I highly recommend it:

Against Intellectual Monopoly

This is the co-author's site and it does contain the full text, although physical copies are available directly from the Cambridge University Press.

Here's a summary:

“Intellectual property” – patents and copyrights – have become controversial. We witness teenagers being sued for “pirating” music – and we observe AIDS patients in Africa dying due to lack of ability to pay for drugs that are high priced to satisfy patent holders. Are patents and copyrights essential to thriving creation and innovation – do we need them so that we all may enjoy fine music and good health? Across time and space the resounding answer is: No. So-called intellectual property is in fact an “intellectual monopoly” that hinders rather than helps the competitive free market regime that has delivered wealth and innovation to our doorsteps. This book has broad coverage of both copyrights and patents and is designed for a general audience, focusing on simple examples. The authors conclude that the only sensible policy to follow is to eliminate the patents and copyright systems as they currently exist.