Today in Cultural Appropriation

With all due respect, this is complete and utter poppycock. Get over yourself. A high schooler wore a pretty prom dress. Nobody was offended... worldwide.
JFC

 

Damn, sure fooled me, it had the look of something real.

 

But could be? lol

And if he’s not, and the video’s legitimate, well then, I just spent an hour and a half writing a story about a racist pastor who probably doesn’t care one iota about what I think about the way he hails Jesus.

 

That's certainly one way to look at it.

 

I wouldn't want to live in the world where RickStain - and apparently, you at times, DW, live. It's a dark, cynical place of hate, mistrust, misery and racial scorekeeping. With an extra helping of self-loathing. And more than a decent bit of smugness thrown in. It sounds absolutely miserable. You guys are free toil there. I've taught my kids to be good people, and to be good to others. If my daughter found that prom dress, and it worked for her, god bless her, enjoy it. And ignore all the nannies of negativity on the internet. Life's going to get hard enough, soon enough. Work, commute, parenthood, health, relationships, finance. Be good, and enjoy life. There have always been miserable people wanting to put a negative on everything. Now they have voices on the internet. Ignore them.

 

I don't live in a dark, cynical place. Quite the contrary. I just try to take people's positions seriously and not reject them out of hand, on impulse. I wouldn't want to live in the world where I'm so sure of my own ingrained biases that I can no longer even bring myself to try to see things from someone's else's place. @RickStain and I may arrive at the same place, very broadly - i.e. conceding that the prom dress may represent cultural appropriation - but we take very, very different paths there.

 

Whose place are you seeing it from for the dress?

 

“You also had some very fine people on both sides”

 

Are you really arguing that being aware of your surroundings and the impact of your actions on others is “dark” and “cynical?”

 

No. I am saying that some of the things Stain has written here about his viewpoint on life is dark. And cynical. And self-loathing.

 

I agree with that 100 percent and I've said that, as well. He has a very dark view of the rest of humanity.

 

Sorry, man, but this is white privilege perfectly encapsulated. I can live like that too, as can my kids. But geez, when I read the crap that people of color go through every day, I realize how it would wear on me and beat me down. The Yale student who got the police called because he was sleeping in the common area. The guy who bought a pack of Mentos only to turn around and see a cop's gun drawn. The kids in St. Louis who were followed around the Nordstrom because some old lady didn't like the way they looked and the clerks called the cops for an unfounded shoplifting allegation. The daily or weekly tales of people in positions of power and the racist jokes they tell and emails they send when they think nobody who would object is listening.

It would be very, very difficult not to see malice in interactions that look neutral to a white person. I don't experience it. But I know people who aren't white do. Acting like it doesn't exist, or brushing it off with "life's tough, get over it," isn't the right answer either.