Today in Cultural Appropriation

Which is humanity, lipstick or the pig?

 

Horrible. In this thread we are talking about the dress.

Horrible. In this thread we are talking about the dress.

Horrible. In this thread we are talking about the dress.

Horrible. In this thread we are talking about the dress.

Come on folks.
Napping while black. Buying coffee while black. Shopping at Nordstroms while black. All horrible. All need to be addressed.

You guys want to connect the dots to a prom dress bought at a thrift store? Have at it. I'm not.

 

Well in 46 pages we have veered far from that initial topic, on which all (or most) of us agreed in the first place.

 

You and I probably end up at the same place on this. I'm just willing to listen, consider the position with some seriousness, then make my decision.

 

Well, I mean, even Rick has said that wasn’t a big deal, and is only getting attention because it’s so trivial, and allows us to mock the whole idea of cultural appropriation.

I think LTL’s examples demonstrate racism.

The question really is whether cultural appropriation is racism. I think it probably can be at times, but drawing the line is difficult.

Should Rick Bayless be cooking Mexican food? Let’s say that’s ok. Should PBS have made him the face of Mexican cooking in America? Could they not have found a Mexican- American cooking Mexican food?

More recently, chefs have been forced to shut down restaurants do to concerns about cultural appropriation.

But, this has always gone on. He’ll, Korean immigrants used to open Chinese restaurants. Albanians opened Italian restaurants.

And, what about dumbed down ethnic food, made for and by white people like PF Chang’s?

 

Something like what Bayless does seems different to me, than something like the dress. The dress is just taking someone's culture and using it as an adornment. It's the triviality, I think, that is at least slightly bothersome. Or, I should say, I can at least understand why it might seem bothersome to someone.

I think this is a really case-by-case topic, undergirded by some broad principles, and the more cases we evaluate, the better we become at understanding what is bothersome, what is not, and why.

 

My major concern is @YankeeFan appropriatating the English languamage.

 

My point is that when you live it every day, around every corner, you're a lot more prone to seeing racism. Of course I wouldn't be inclined to think race is the primary reason or even any factor for anything. For me, it isn't. But I don't live that.

If I had grown up in a culture where we have a team called the Redskins and we have frat boys acting black and we have all kinds of "jokes" that mock my ethnicity, I'd probably be a little jumpy about it.

 

Yeah, but Bayless is doing it to make money. Isn’t that worse? Isn’t he taking the spotlight away from Mexican chefs who should rightly be making that money.

(Counterpoint: several Mexican-American chefs he’s mentored have gone on to open their own successful restaurants.)

And, what of PBS? Their show made him a star, who sells cookbooks and sauces. Why make a white guy the face of Mexican cooking in America?

 

I think YF or someone said that we're running the risk here of equating CA with "racism." I don't know that they are necessarily the same concern.

 

Fuck off @type...

Hey, wait a second!

 

It's a good discussion point that I don't have time to fully explore right now. But I do reject the premise that doing it to make money" is necessarily "worse."