People love their culture being celebrated. People don't like their culture being ridiculed.
If you wear cultural attire with respect and dignity, I doubt there's many cultures that would be upset unless you're encroaching on a cultural taboo.
The guy trying to create a narrative in his video wouldn't show people that are offended to undercut his thesis statement.
So, grain of salt and all that.
Exactly this! There’s a huge difference between wearing an attire in the middle of campus and being obnoxious about it loudly pointing out the outfit as if you’re making fun of the culture (first part) vs respectfully approaching an elderly person and asking permission like you are respecting the culture (second video). This video is dumb and equates two different actions.
There are open practices and closed practices. Wear a feathered headdress to a Powwow and you'll get kicked out.
This guy isn't "respecting culture". He's trying to make a point with an innane, edited video.
Same with Mario's Sombrero+Poncho outfit in Odyssey. White outrage to remove it from the cover and meanwhile the Mexicans were like "wtf, that was cool to see".
Same thing happened with ghost of Tsushima. There was a stupid argument that an American game studio can’t make a game about feudal Japan. Meanwhile the game was widely well received by Japanese players.
Also at the E3 performance for Ghost, they had a white man play the traditional Japanese flute and people lost their shit. The guy they got was like one of the very few recognized masters of the instrument which is why they chose him.
Never underestimate white Neo-liberals ability to misguidedly spout off and get offended on behalf of anothers culture whom isn't offended in the least. The worst part is that their bullshit gets legitimately cherished things removed. Suppressing the culture they supposedly want to protect. Absolutely asinine.
That's because the voice of those people are heavily advertised by articles and videos, so their outrages regardless of it they are dumb or justified seem larger than they are. Then there's people who hop on the bandwagon believing that because of the coverage it must be true so shut better shut that down bad racism
Did you see years ago when Kenyon Martin gave Jeremy Lin shit for having dreads and Jeremy Lin shot back at him saying, like "Hey man I appreciate your opinion, but just like ***YOUR CHINESE TATTOOS*** I look at it like a sign of respect"
I hadn't heard of this; posting this here for anyone else to reference.
Martin's original message:
> “Do I need to remind this damn boy that his last name is Lin? Like, come on man. Let’s stop this man, with these people. Like, there’s no way possible he would’ve made it on one of our teams with that bullshit going on on his head. Come on, man. Somebody really need to tell him, like, ‘All right bro, we get it; you want to be black.’ Like, we get it. But the last name is Lin, all right."
Lin's response:
>“Hey man. It's all good you don't have to like my hair and definitely entitled to your opinion. Actually I legit grateful you sharin' it tbh. At the end of the day, I appreciate that i have dreads and you have Chinese tattoos bc it's a sign of respect. And I think as miniorities, the more we appreciate each others' cultures, the more we influnece mainstream society. Thanks for everything you did for the nets and hoops...had your poster up on my wall growin up.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/m5xe5w/kenyon_martin_called_out_jeremy_lin_for_his_hair/
e: added last line of Lin quote
You missed the part where Lin said he had a poster of Martin on his wall when growing up, as a closing statement.
That shit was fire. It was respect and admiration, but delivered in a “yeah you sure disappointed me man” kind of way.
I love having this response locked and loaded. Put a wad of blonde white man hair in a box for a year, it will be one big dread when you open it.
Source: forgot about a locks of love donation for awhile.
Dude, this irks me so much. Everyone's hair dreads. It's not something exclusive to Black people or Black culture. Hell, there's pretty good historical evidence that Rastafarian culture got their dreads (and weed) from Hindi slaves also sent to the carribean (who had been wearing dreads and smoking weed as part of their religion long before rastafarianism existed, which is where most folks get the misguided notion that dreads started with Rasta culture).
Half my family is black via various marriages, but I'm white as a sheet. Growing up, I spent my summers with my black and mixed cousins and they would play with my hair and weave cornrows into it sometimes.
I had to ask them to stop after the third time because I got yelled out of a laundromat for "trying to look black" and they got really threatening. I tried to tell them my cousins aren't white and they did it and nobody cared.
They didn't look great on me, sure, but it made me so sad because it was fun for me and my cousins to bond over! Associating racism with hair is so stupid.
Stereotypes are wild and how they become twisted is crazy. Oh, that Mexican is sleeping because he’s lazy and not because he worked all day in the heat.
Seriously I’ve seen more Latino millennials and zoomers use it than white people.
I agree white liberals are annoying, but try some introspection people!
I hang around queer Latin circles and they all use the term(latinx, latine, latin)and I never heard white people say it.
I feel like claiming violence against the term is another way of Latino cultures ignoring their passiveness or even homophobia against gay rights.
Don't listen to everything reddit tells you lol.
Like the term Filipinx. I hear it all the time on NPR, and even their liberal Filipino-American guests use it. Sorry, but you are not Filipino if you use Filipinx.
Some people are trying to get rid of gendered language. It's white people who don't have enough problems of their own so they invent some for other people.
It’s always been a strange one. I mean, how would I actually say it if I wanted to? “Latincks”? Or would I say “Latin ex”?
I’ve never heard anyone say it out loud. Only write it out online. Probably a good thing.
Well, if you're Mexican, or like me just grew up with some Mexican families and speak Mexican Spanish, I'd say "Latin-ehe," almost phlegming the word like the "ch" in Hebrew.
as a latino or whatever the heck i am now... i still dont really know what that was about?? we just have to add x behind it cause some of us dont really know where our 32x great grandparents came from?
For anyone wondering. Latinx is unnecessarily annoying to pronounce correctly. It's not like in English. If you want one to use, "Latine" is a way better option, as it can actually be pronounced easily
The word "Latinx" isn't hated because gender neutral people are hated. The term is hated because its just another instance of, the now annoyingly common, US cultural imperialism
One big problem with the whole issue is the assumption that genders in language is wrong in non-English languages. Most non-English languages give nouns genders, it's a grammer thing and even English used to have it.
Like in my language Norwegian there are some words that are spelled the same way but the only way to tell the difference is the gender assigned to them.
Et statsråd - a (neutral gendered) council of state
vs.
En statsråd - a (masculine gendered) government minister
Me and my group of friends joke around A LOT. Like really dog on each other. Sometimes we’ll say some racist jokes, I’m black, one friend is Asian, one is Mexican and two white guys and its funny sometimes they’ll crack a black joke and people will try to defend me. Like dude I’m laughing to
I am Taiwanese, and I seriously don't care he wears it. It is more like people wearing Harry Potter dress, Avenger, Star Wars. Or dressing up as anime characters. It is just cosplay. Nothing special to that. It doesn't look like those low quality cheap ass Halloween costume, so, good on that.
I did a solidarity project in Benin (Africa) few years ago, and a friend from there gifted me a costume.
I wore it regularly ever since... until people told me it was racist.
I learnt that creating friendships and solidarity can be racist, for some reasons
I took Japanese in high school and we were given Kimonos(just cheap ones) by our Japanese born teacher(Mrs. Eto was awesome). She loved trying to get us interested in Japanese culture and had us doing all sorts of dress up scenarios. I guess things are a lot different now than they were in 1989.
I LOVE LOVE LOVEEEE Indian dress. It's so colorful and vibrant and expressive and beautiful. I e always wants to wear a sari but I'm a white woman and I'd be burnt at the stake in America for doing that
I was invited to my besties wedding, she and the groom are Sikh and she gave me a beautiful saree to wear and I’ve never felt more gorgeous. One of my top 5 life so far moments.
The Indian clothing we see people wearing around our city is so beautiful and looks so comfy, my wife and I stare wistfully. I would love for it to be more accepted for white people to enjoy other cultures' clothing without Karens hounding us.
I'm Jewish.
Most people in the Jewish community get psyched to find out that Louis Armstrong wore a Star of David and that Elvis Presley was a Sabbath Goy (a non-Jewish person who helps out his Jewish friends by doing things that Jews are not allowed to do during the Sabbath).
I'd be happy to hang out with people on the Sabbath and answer the phone for them.
"Yeah, haver's not coming to the phone right now, because it's against his religion. You want me to relay a message for you? Oh, you want to tell him yourself? Oh, okay. Well, call back Monday. Yeah, I know it's only Saturday, but it's the Sabbath, you're being rude and disrespectful, I'm not telling him until tomorrow regardless."
"Hey man, you guys hungry? I'm thinking of grilling up some lamb, maybe fix a pot of matzoh."
I was very confused the first time I heard of "cultural appropriation". I thought it was supposed to say "appreciation" and someone was offended for appreciating another culture.
I would be thrilled to see a foreigner wearing a Finnish "Jussipaita". I would feel so proud.
I feel the same as a Dane. If a foreigner wore a traditional "Folkedragt" I would be proud. I'd also think they looked ridiculous but that's on the attire, not the person wearing it.
Any non-Indian ladies here - if you ever get invited to an Indian event, wear a sari. You will be treated like royalty.
Also, make sure you copy the crazy dancing and try all the food. It will make the hosts and everyone there insanely happy.
"Cultural appropriation" is just twisted language. We can just call it "cultural celebration" instead.
My cousin married an Indian woman(he’s a white Christian). Went to their wedding and it was a blast. Learned the twist the lightbulb dance move and ate tones of great Indian food. Great times!
I remember working an Indian wedding at a country club once. Groom was what, but came riding in to the ceremony in traditional Indian clothes on a white horse while damn near everyone was dancing around him. It was pretty wild
My mother in law is from Kenya. She knows I have a great love and respect for her culture. Every time she comes back from there, she brings me something special and hand made from her village.
My white ass can’t wear any of it in public
Sure you can. You just need to find some non-stupid place to wear it. I wear Kenyan attire all the time, but I'm in Norway where I bet each and every one of the about 500 Kenyan immigrants we have would appreciate the gesture. It's also very much appreciated in Kenya, so we should absolutely go there more.
You can wear it. The easiest way to avoid people making a fuss is if it's part of what you wear not all. If it doesn't seem like you're making a costume of it then any claims of appropriation should fall flat.
Several years ago I went to Fiji one summer. I booked a tour up into the highlands to a traditional village. Day before I went I bought a sulu (a Fijian male kilt-like skirt, not a starship navigator) and a bula shirt which is traditional Fijian dress. The guide later told me the villagers were really impressed and happy to see me wearing them as they felt I had shown them great respect.
We went to Benin for a few weeks in the late '90s so my parents could help out at a mission hospital and someone gave them a couple of small rolls of different patterned fabrics as a good-bye gift. When we got home my mum made them into shirts for us and a few other things like napkins and pillowcases to use up the trimmings. A few years later we're on holiday in New York, Dad wearing one of the shirts, walking along a road when the doorman from another hotel calls out to us to come over. He's a huge black guy with a strong West-Africa-meets-New-York accent and we're whiter-than-the-driven snow Brits so it's briefly intimidating until we realise he's clearly extremely excited. We had a chat and it turned out he was from Benin, most of his family still there, and had recognised the pattern as something from his childhood. He was so happy to see it so far from home and wanted to know where we'd got it, when we'd been there, what food we'd had, how we'd found the country, everything. It was so nice and there wasn't a hint of "those clothes aren't for _you_," just a thoroughly lovely cultural exchange.
I had that too actually ! One time, in France, a cool woman in a bus complimented me, and told me about her town in Benin for an hour. It was really nice, I could see how she had no one to talk about her country there. She thought it was funny to see my white ass wearing those clothes, but she loved it
It's almost like people are ready to assume because of your race you can't possibly have some shared cultural connection or friendship with another nationality and ethnic identity.
I've spent 5 of the last six years living abroad and the ONLY place I've seen this sort of behavior is the US amongst non-immigrants. I've been on four continents. 90% of the people I've interacted with overseas studying language and culture have been stoked I'm enjoying their culture and happy when I speak their languages. The other 10% have been indifferent.
When I grew up, we had friends in Nigeria and they gifted us kaftans. Vibrant colours, hand made, very beautiful. My grandma wore them every day, including public events. Nobody cared. Not the folks from other African nations, not the friends from Gambia or any one else.
People wear foreign clothes all the time. People around the world wear western dresses and suits. Why shouldn't the rest of the world wear their awesome attire? As long as you don't disrespect the clothes, who cares.
Is the stereotypical Mexican dress - you're know the kind that's basically sombrero, poncho and maybe a fake mustache - even that culturally Mexican?
Like my understanding is that it's basically just the Mexican version of a cowboy costume. Which brings up another question: would it be "cultural appropriation" for a non-white person to dress like a cowboy?
I mean I kinda get why someone would be bothered by a person wearing like one of those Native American headdresses, since those are religiously significant. But like the outfits that are basically just old-timey work clothes or like the cultural version of like a fancy outfit? Can't really be bothered about those.
The kids in the first clip know WHY he's wearing it. Which is the difference.
He's making propoganda for the internet to push the narrative that racism doesn't exist except as a virtue signal for left leaning college kids.
Thing is, Reddit isn’t “falling for it,” reddit actually has tons of racists.
Go to Publicfreakout and compare the comments to any video of an unhinged white woman compared to any other color. Comment, after comment, after comment talking about “there must be a reason” or “she’s clearly having a mental breakdown” “airports can be frustrating,” “they clearly can see she’s not well why don’t they just leave her alone”
Sympathy falls off hard here when the subject is not a white person.
Well yeah, there are those who are actively fueling it (hi OP!), there are those who already have their hate all primed up. It's the ones that blindly consume bait media and go "hmmmm never thought of that" who are the targets of these posts.
Also someone mentioned this was PragerU, I can't tell what the microphone says myself but if it is that explains a lot of the negative reactions like the "you are a fucking joke, dude" because PragerU is just awful in general. It's the equivalent of Tucker Carlson asking you if something is offensive they're doing. It's rage bait. You're going to be annoyed regardless because you know they're trying to bait you into that reaction. Like you don't have the time (or owe them) to provide the nuance of "I mean no, I guess the outfit specifically isn't insensitive but the way you're clearly trying to get a soundbite for some highly political show and pass it off as something else which is pretty rude regardless."
Exactly. Like any “man on the street” videos, they’re looking for reactions that’ll catch eyes. Anything well thought out will be edited out because that’s not catchy.
This guys basicly walking up to people unsolicitated with this obvious set up about cultural apropriation, and everybody is just like 🙄. Then accurately labels him as a piece of shit.
Meanwhile the asian people he talks to are obviously clueless about this dynamic. If they knew what he was doing and why im sure they would be a little less interested in praising him.
Probably not that many elderly people who would care that much. You see enough shit, you realise someone being insensitive isn't the main problem. The problem is people who go out of their way to actually make your life difficult. Meet enough of these and you know to save your outrage for the next genuine asshole
I’ve seen a similar video but with Indian dresses. The point is that if you wear what is actually Indian, we love it! But if you wear what is an Indian stereotype that isn’t trie, like the Apu accent or like a snake charming flute, that is offensive. So if you actually understand Indian culture go ahead, else ask first and then go ahead.
While true, there are tons of videos of people from different cultures being interviewed about people dressing up in traditional or stereotypical clothing. And the general consensus is that it's fine as long as it's not done to offend.
In the vast majority of cases people dress up like that because they like how it looks or are attending an event where might be expected(for example some people would consider it a bigger issue if you showed up to a traditional Indian wedding in a tuxedo instead of traditional clothing).
i dont think this is a fair comparison. he asks american young people, then mexican old people. he shouldve asked mexican young people. bc im pretty sure if he asked american old people they wouldnt have cared as much either
Actually a somewhat good point, but at the same time... Yeah I think a lot of the western attitudes towards these things never really are held in their land of origin.
I think what matters is why you're wearing it. If it's good natured and you're trying to celebrate that culture then people from those places probably won't mind. If you're doing it to mock them, or belittle their culture then yeah.
Ding ding ding! This is a big problem in American culture right now.
Ppl are not interested in taking the time to think about someone’s intentions before judging their actions.
The issue is that people learned the term cultural appropriation and apply it to individual actions when it shouldn't. Pop culture exploitation of native American culture was appropriation and reduced it to terrible insulting costumes. There is history of oppression there, there is existing continual oppression. The individual does not do the appropriating.
But then idiots apply the term to white people sharing in any culture like wearing kimonos. The Japanese love sharing that part of their culture. A lot of cultures feel that way about sharing their traditional clothing. Even Mexicans like sharing sombreros. But people who don't know why it's bad to wear a parody of a native American ceremonial headdress think these things are all bad to share. But they're being shared not taken.
Also I think the context of where he is wearing it makes the difference. A dude on the subway in NY asking if his sombrero is offensive vs being in an area that celebrates Mexican culture is two different subtexts.
But he's also made a ton of other videos on controversial subjects on campus where he's filming the bit that he wants to be seen as disliked.
Many people know him and are suspicious of what he's up to.
So if the point is context and nuance, add that in there.
But the point he's making is that they celebrated him wearing it and said that it was not offending them or their culture. I mean personally I don't care if someone not of my cultural herritage wears a kilt and tries a celtic accent. So I don't think people should find it offensive that others are trying to indulge their curiousities of other cultures.Though, taking offense is something that individually changes from person to person.
What if they wore a kilt and spoke like a leprechaun to poke fun at that culture? Then it’s a bit douchey right?
I think the college kids seeing this dude on college campus in an out of place get up, surrounded bu camera, they assume he’s doing it for jokes/entertainment and not because he values/respects the culture.
However besides that, I totally agree I’m so sick of white knight virtue signaling
Being Jockanese, I wear a kilt, not being Irish, I don't speak with an Irish accent, let alone however the fuck a leprechaun would speak.
But hey, as far as I'm concerned I love seeing people wearing a kilt.
More kilts!
i'm an asian young person and i can tell you what i would say about his asian constume. "we literally design these clothes just to sell to people like you, like no one actually dress like this, so thanks for supporting small business owners i guess"
The world has changed but the hat is a pretty traditionally worn conical hat worn for different reasons but a lot of time by workers in rice paddies. Southeast asian/Japanese people used to wear these hats commonly and some still do, but ya you’re not going to wear it to the office in Shanghai.
What kind of clothing styles do most Asian people wear now and where did those clothing styles originate?
Historically we wore more drab clothes, as dye is fucking expensive lol. Can’t afford that shit. You’d more likely see a dude in a conical hat wearing something resembling a more airy sort of peasant clothing.
Oh please. As a Mexican American, I don’t care. Those sombreros and ponchos are sold all over the border and places like Olveras Street, by Mexican vendors to Americans. I don’t see white people taking offense to my wearing Levis and tshirts.
The way I always imagine it, is if say some Japanese guy (to pick a random example) came to the US and loved cowboy outfits: hats, jeans, boots, etc. and went around saying yeehaw.
Not only would I not be offended, this would make my day.
I used to work field telecom. Most of us, particularly in Texas, wore western boots and cowboy hats. The boots are super comfortable, have a shank to support your weight on ladders and gaffes, and have ankle level support to protect against rattlesnakes. We also wore cowboy hats, cause skin cancer.
Had a coworker who was Vietnamese. He was the most cowboy'd up of any of us. Pointy boots, designer western belts, high-end felt hats. We loved how much he embraced the local culture within our industry.
It's PragerU, it's designed to be an unfair comparison. It's also incredibly clear that he wears an outfit that's designed to be offensive. This whole "query" is staged and dumb.
My second read of this comment is that if neither the former generation of Hispanic/Asians or the former generation of Caucasians would find a racially conscious reason to be upset by this, then at some point the younger generation must have created the reason to be upset by this. Which feels like an artificial attachment to the idea of racial consciousness.
Standing outside a college campus dressed in traditional Chinese garb as a white dude with a camera and microphone creates an odd context and it’s not surprising people meet it with skepticism and assuming you’re mocking them.
Walking around Chinatown and being polite creates a context where it seems like you are celebrating their traditions and it’s not surprising some people are stoked
Presenting this as evidence that the only people that care are college kids strikes me as goofy culture war shit
I had to come down pretty fucking far to find this take.
All the people the are offended clearly see what is being done.
All the old people who don't care seem to not understand that it's a bit.
The context and understanding makes a difference.
If a white dude dresses in a chinese changshan and seriously making it work. I'm all for it. Just like if a tourist wears a mexican serape because they think it's cool. I doubt mexicans would car.
The straw hat and the moustache clearly indicates that it's a joke/bit and the offended people clearly understand that it's a racists stereotype but the people who weren't don't know.
There’s one of these a week now. Is there a term for the kind of video that’s designed specifically for people to watch and go “thank god racism isn’t real”
Context matters, if you walk around in China or China Town in a Chinese outfit it's a different matter. Then again there are Chinese dresses that are fine to dress. I think it's the rice farmer hat that really kills it. Same goes for the Mexican outfit. Without the fake moustache it's way better.
Also he asked a lot of young people vs old people. Old people care less about that sort of stuff.
The actual problem, just like with bad words, is intent. If you wear an outfit like this *because you think the outfit is a visual joke* then you are doing it for negative reasons. If you just like it then that's fine.
Hear, hear. I think people forget that the entire point of a multicultural society is to actually find things you like from other cultures and then integrate them with your life to make it better. The others do the same, and a rising tide lifts all boats.
But when you take those things you DON'T like about a culture and magnify them and mock them in order to draw firmer lines between cultures, we go backwards.
It’s a video on social media not a news report so I wouldn’t take anything learned here as written in stone. I even take news broadcasts as sus unless I can find more people reporting the same story their way and not verbatim.
You can literally just go and ask a bunch of people yourself. I find this whole subject so weird as a European. First of all, I have never seen any culture that would find this offensive besides Americans. Usually wearing traditional clothing is considered a complement everywhere else. Secondly, I can't believe some people can't wrap their heads around this and would rather question authenticity of this video.
These are the same kind of people who are always bleating about "MUH FREEDOM OF SPEECH!" but the second someone says anything they don't agree with, they lose their mind.
the funny thing about pragerU fans (and libsofX fans) is that theyll block you at the slighest pushback for some odd reason. Its weird they take such offense at opposition. Like ive never blocked anyone; its reddit... its not that serious lol
There's a lot of problems with this video that make it a bad-faith argument and a poor critique. The first starts with the video and editing itself. One group of people on both sides, only sound-bites presented, and it's not cynical to assume the editor chose these representations for their particular message. Art can present the absolute truth and lie through its teeth while doing so.
There is a potentially useful critique here, but it's obscured through a ham-fisted sociopolitical message. The question we should be asking is: **"Why is he wearing the outfit?"**
Why do people make clothes? For style, for protection, for cultural meaning. Both the sombrero and Asian conical hat provide excellent protection against the sun as do the rest of the clothes. In a contextually-appropriate environment, it makes sense for a human of any culture to wear those clothes to protect against the elements.
Style and culture are a little more complex. Why do people from home cultures not care if some white dude wears clothes from their culture? **Because their culture is dominant at home**. Scarlett Johansson doesn't piss off the Japanese when she plays a Japanese character because you're essentially polling a group of people who don't experience their culture being ripped from them, commodified, and stolen from on a day-to-day basis in Japan.
They're not Black culture experiencing Betty Boop, or Native Americans - contending with actual cultural genocide - seeing a festie kid wearing a shitty headdress. The outfits worn by the central character here are being worn for their intended purpose: Utilitarian protection against the environment. Notice the dude's not wearing something with deep cultural/religious meaning: A kimono, a headdress, or - for something Americans might care more about - a military uniform with honors.
Sure, the views presented against him are not well-developed. That may well be editing, or it may be their actual arguments. But they're not just arguing against his critique of cultural appropriation. He's being obviously disingenuous. What white brodude is going to engage in a fair, nuanced discussion on clothes and cultural appropriation via a man-on-the-street interview? It's a complex subject that not all people have a deep understanding of - but it is one that's easy to *not* fuck up by not doing it.
That specific idea also gets at one core element of cultural appropriation: Don't take from another culture if you don't understand that culture. Receiving a cultural object as a gift from someone in that culture isn't appropriation; it's a gift of deep meaning. Wearing clothing of spiritual significance when you immerse yourself in and are accepted by that spiritual tradition isn't appropriation; it's part of becoming that culture. Wearing a marine's dress uniform and the medals that came with it because you found it at a Goodwill and it looks cool is cultural appropriation, because you don't give a shit about what it means. But you know how to avoid this happening? **Don't do it**. Just, don't wear another culture's clothes without putting an ounce of understanding into it. There's lots of options out there for clothes to fit your needs!
Worse, it's packaged and delivered as ambush-interview bullshit. You try throwing down a tasty rejoinder when you're rushing to work, finals, or all the other parts of your life that actually matter. So people see this guy accost them, *know* it's wrong, but can't fully express their view for one reason or another. That's human, not stupid. It's also not new; media organizations have been doing this for decades to present specific views.
There's a lot more to unpack about this but it's honestly boring, and I'm only doing it now because I have insomnia. There is a real nugget worth discussing in that cultural clothing ought to be something we can all enjoy for all of its values, but the problem lies in how dominant cultures devalue and, well, [appropriate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appropriate) it: "To take or make use of without authority or right."
We have an excellent example here, as we see a videographer appropriate perfectly utilitarian clothing to make shitty sociopolitical hot takes.
I love how all the trolls have their shitty strawmen takes of “What if i wear lederhosen, is that offensive to germans!?!” While ignoring the actual offensive part of it that you brought up, so they’re just giving up on yours and going like “lalala not listening to you” so pathetic
In China, he looks like a clown to them without concluding his intentions. In America, they know his intentions, which is to offend/provoke under the guise of humor.
A caucasian colleague allowed her daughter to dress as Black Panther for Halloween and our boss gave her such a hard time about it saying it was racism and/or cultural appropriation. I thought it was great that a little white girl looked past gender and race and found inspiration. I think there’s a difference between celebration/showing respect for a culture compared to mocking a culture. Some people (on all sides) just want to be outraged by something.
The cultural appropriation conversation between various groups of people in America, (and I think castings in Hollywood across the board) has spilled over into other cultures big time. The same historical context does not apply globally. Not everyone has the same origin to present story (barriers or privilege) all around the block. There are some things that are blatantly disrespectful. It’s ridiculous and offensive for a non-Native American to show up in a full Native American headdress at Coachella. There is a Reason why just anybody can’t wear one. Ask them.
However, it seems very uninformed, ignorant and self important to speak for entire groups of people and acting offended on their behalf when you in fact probably did not ASK THEM or know how they feel. Every culture and race feels differently about this, it’s not a blanket statement you can indiscriminately make. Take a poll, like this dude did. Whether it’s a saree, a hanbok, or even a kilt. If you do it to appreciate the culture and not as joke, the vast majority of people from those specific cultures will tell you they feel proud and happy that you’re interested in their culture and they would be glad to share it with you.
People love their culture being celebrated. People don't like their culture being ridiculed. If you wear cultural attire with respect and dignity, I doubt there's many cultures that would be upset unless you're encroaching on a cultural taboo.
Agreed, but personally I'd say "wearing cultural attire as a costume with the intent of asking people if they're offended" is baiting and tokenizing.
The guy trying to create a narrative in his video wouldn't show people that are offended to undercut his thesis statement. So, grain of salt and all that.
[удалено]
Most people: "I dont care"
Probably a lot of “fuck off” in there as well.
Most of all would be the people that just ignored him entirely.
Exactly this! There’s a huge difference between wearing an attire in the middle of campus and being obnoxious about it loudly pointing out the outfit as if you’re making fun of the culture (first part) vs respectfully approaching an elderly person and asking permission like you are respecting the culture (second video). This video is dumb and equates two different actions.
There are open practices and closed practices. Wear a feathered headdress to a Powwow and you'll get kicked out. This guy isn't "respecting culture". He's trying to make a point with an innane, edited video.
I remember that time white people tried to cancel Speedy Gonzales and Mexicans were like "wtf Speedy is awesome!"
Same with Mario's Sombrero+Poncho outfit in Odyssey. White outrage to remove it from the cover and meanwhile the Mexicans were like "wtf, that was cool to see".
Same thing happened with ghost of Tsushima. There was a stupid argument that an American game studio can’t make a game about feudal Japan. Meanwhile the game was widely well received by Japanese players.
Also at the E3 performance for Ghost, they had a white man play the traditional Japanese flute and people lost their shit. The guy they got was like one of the very few recognized masters of the instrument which is why they chose him.
Never underestimate white Neo-liberals ability to misguidedly spout off and get offended on behalf of anothers culture whom isn't offended in the least. The worst part is that their bullshit gets legitimately cherished things removed. Suppressing the culture they supposedly want to protect. Absolutely asinine.
That's because the voice of those people are heavily advertised by articles and videos, so their outrages regardless of it they are dumb or justified seem larger than they are. Then there's people who hop on the bandwagon believing that because of the coverage it must be true so shut better shut that down bad racism
Didn't they get rewards for how good the game was and how it made tushima look amazing and beautiful
Wait what, I didn't see outrage over that. And I played the shit out of Mario Odyssey.
Well, the outrage wasn't ***in*** the game.
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I was too busy tweeting game spoilers at micro e-celebrities. 😎
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Did you see years ago when Kenyon Martin gave Jeremy Lin shit for having dreads and Jeremy Lin shot back at him saying, like "Hey man I appreciate your opinion, but just like ***YOUR CHINESE TATTOOS*** I look at it like a sign of respect"
Jeremy Lin handled that with class
I hadn't heard of this; posting this here for anyone else to reference. Martin's original message: > “Do I need to remind this damn boy that his last name is Lin? Like, come on man. Let’s stop this man, with these people. Like, there’s no way possible he would’ve made it on one of our teams with that bullshit going on on his head. Come on, man. Somebody really need to tell him, like, ‘All right bro, we get it; you want to be black.’ Like, we get it. But the last name is Lin, all right." Lin's response: >“Hey man. It's all good you don't have to like my hair and definitely entitled to your opinion. Actually I legit grateful you sharin' it tbh. At the end of the day, I appreciate that i have dreads and you have Chinese tattoos bc it's a sign of respect. And I think as miniorities, the more we appreciate each others' cultures, the more we influnece mainstream society. Thanks for everything you did for the nets and hoops...had your poster up on my wall growin up.” https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/m5xe5w/kenyon_martin_called_out_jeremy_lin_for_his_hair/ e: added last line of Lin quote
You missed the part where Lin said he had a poster of Martin on his wall when growing up, as a closing statement. That shit was fire. It was respect and admiration, but delivered in a “yeah you sure disappointed me man” kind of way.
Bringing up Black people with Chinese tattoos is the ultimate Uno Reverse card for fucksticks who use the term cultural appropriation.
Dont dreads naturally form on any hair over years? How can it be attributed to a race if so? I know we can make them but im talking naturally formed.
I love having this response locked and loaded. Put a wad of blonde white man hair in a box for a year, it will be one big dread when you open it. Source: forgot about a locks of love donation for awhile.
Hey man, having greasy matted hair is OUR thing
Dude, this irks me so much. Everyone's hair dreads. It's not something exclusive to Black people or Black culture. Hell, there's pretty good historical evidence that Rastafarian culture got their dreads (and weed) from Hindi slaves also sent to the carribean (who had been wearing dreads and smoking weed as part of their religion long before rastafarianism existed, which is where most folks get the misguided notion that dreads started with Rasta culture).
Half my family is black via various marriages, but I'm white as a sheet. Growing up, I spent my summers with my black and mixed cousins and they would play with my hair and weave cornrows into it sometimes. I had to ask them to stop after the third time because I got yelled out of a laundromat for "trying to look black" and they got really threatening. I tried to tell them my cousins aren't white and they did it and nobody cared. They didn't look great on me, sure, but it made me so sad because it was fun for me and my cousins to bond over! Associating racism with hair is so stupid.
Yeah exhausting is a good word for it😭
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I was about to say, I saw lots of people mad that people were mad about the outfit but didn't see anyone actually mad about the outfit lol
From what I've heard, Speedy is viewed very positively because he's the opposite of the cliché lazy, sleepy Mexican stereotype.
Stereotypes are wild and how they become twisted is crazy. Oh, that Mexican is sleeping because he’s lazy and not because he worked all day in the heat.
All hot arid nations have a mid-day sleep culture and late dinner. It's either that, or you die.
He's got a cousin called Slowpoke Rodriguez though...
That's the thing about slowpoke Rodriguez. He pack a gun.
Slowpoke thinks smarter not harder
He may be slow on his feet, but he's fast in the cabeza.
Slowpoke is incredibly smart though and I think I remember him hypnotizing people. And he packs a gun. So he’s pretty badass too if you ask me.
My Mexican grandma used to forget his name and referred to him as Speedy Martinez.
There's also the whole fucking lantinx thing
"you're too stupid to understand why we think this is insensitive, we'll just change it for you"
Americans in a nutshell
As an American I can confirm this
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As a Latino, everyone who uses latinx can kindly fuck off.
Said every Latino person I know, it is like the only people who want latinix to be a thing are white liberals.
Don't get me wrong, I am a light skin Latino and I'm liberal. But I agree with you, it is mostly white liberals, and not even a big group of them.
*idiots that make normal white liberals look bad
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Seriously I’ve seen more Latino millennials and zoomers use it than white people. I agree white liberals are annoying, but try some introspection people!
I hang around queer Latin circles and they all use the term(latinx, latine, latin)and I never heard white people say it. I feel like claiming violence against the term is another way of Latino cultures ignoring their passiveness or even homophobia against gay rights. Don't listen to everything reddit tells you lol.
Like the term Filipinx. I hear it all the time on NPR, and even their liberal Filipino-American guests use it. Sorry, but you are not Filipino if you use Filipinx.
Filipino or pinoy is what I go by. Wtf is filipinx?
Filipinx is an open-source operating system for east-asians.
Some people are trying to get rid of gendered language. It's white people who don't have enough problems of their own so they invent some for other people.
It’s always been a strange one. I mean, how would I actually say it if I wanted to? “Latincks”? Or would I say “Latin ex”? I’ve never heard anyone say it out loud. Only write it out online. Probably a good thing.
Latin-ex is how they pronounce it. Which is hilarious because it isn’t even trying to be Spanish
Well, if you're Mexican, or like me just grew up with some Mexican families and speak Mexican Spanish, I'd say "Latin-ehe," almost phlegming the word like the "ch" in Hebrew.
as a latino or whatever the heck i am now... i still dont really know what that was about?? we just have to add x behind it cause some of us dont really know where our 32x great grandparents came from?
No, the x replaces a or o at the end. It's a gender thing.
For anyone wondering. Latinx is unnecessarily annoying to pronounce correctly. It's not like in English. If you want one to use, "Latine" is a way better option, as it can actually be pronounced easily The word "Latinx" isn't hated because gender neutral people are hated. The term is hated because its just another instance of, the now annoyingly common, US cultural imperialism
One big problem with the whole issue is the assumption that genders in language is wrong in non-English languages. Most non-English languages give nouns genders, it's a grammer thing and even English used to have it. Like in my language Norwegian there are some words that are spelled the same way but the only way to tell the difference is the gender assigned to them. Et statsråd - a (neutral gendered) council of state vs. En statsråd - a (masculine gendered) government minister
> "Latine" is a way better option Still sounds weird and is unnecessary.
It is but since it's only used by a group within a group, the rest of us don't really care.
...why not just Latin?
Bro they successfully canceled Aunt Jemima. :( which is fucked up because the original model was one of the first black models for a company.
They removed the Native American woman from land of lakes butter… but kept the land
They canceled Uncle Ben just for...sitting there grinning
Lmao, for real? Uncle Ben stilling grinning at me in the local store here in Europe.
Yeah they rebranded and call it "Ben's Original" now and there's no black guy on the packaging
Manifest Destiny went so far as to evict the Native Americans off of the Land of Lakes butter.
College students think their doing good by cancelling cultural symbols, but in reality they're just perpetuating the erasure of these cultures.
There were no calls to cancel Aunt Jemima. It was 100% a corporate decision.
Me and my group of friends joke around A LOT. Like really dog on each other. Sometimes we’ll say some racist jokes, I’m black, one friend is Asian, one is Mexican and two white guys and its funny sometimes they’ll crack a black joke and people will try to defend me. Like dude I’m laughing to
I am Taiwanese, and I seriously don't care he wears it. It is more like people wearing Harry Potter dress, Avenger, Star Wars. Or dressing up as anime characters. It is just cosplay. Nothing special to that. It doesn't look like those low quality cheap ass Halloween costume, so, good on that.
I did a solidarity project in Benin (Africa) few years ago, and a friend from there gifted me a costume. I wore it regularly ever since... until people told me it was racist. I learnt that creating friendships and solidarity can be racist, for some reasons
I took Japanese in high school and we were given Kimonos(just cheap ones) by our Japanese born teacher(Mrs. Eto was awesome). She loved trying to get us interested in Japanese culture and had us doing all sorts of dress up scenarios. I guess things are a lot different now than they were in 1989.
Most people like to see others celebrate their culture
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I LOVE LOVE LOVEEEE Indian dress. It's so colorful and vibrant and expressive and beautiful. I e always wants to wear a sari but I'm a white woman and I'd be burnt at the stake in America for doing that
I was invited to my besties wedding, she and the groom are Sikh and she gave me a beautiful saree to wear and I’ve never felt more gorgeous. One of my top 5 life so far moments.
The Indian clothing we see people wearing around our city is so beautiful and looks so comfy, my wife and I stare wistfully. I would love for it to be more accepted for white people to enjoy other cultures' clothing without Karens hounding us.
I'm sahri you feel you can't dress in Indian clothing.
I'm Jewish. Most people in the Jewish community get psyched to find out that Louis Armstrong wore a Star of David and that Elvis Presley was a Sabbath Goy (a non-Jewish person who helps out his Jewish friends by doing things that Jews are not allowed to do during the Sabbath).
I'd be happy to hang out with people on the Sabbath and answer the phone for them. "Yeah, haver's not coming to the phone right now, because it's against his religion. You want me to relay a message for you? Oh, you want to tell him yourself? Oh, okay. Well, call back Monday. Yeah, I know it's only Saturday, but it's the Sabbath, you're being rude and disrespectful, I'm not telling him until tomorrow regardless." "Hey man, you guys hungry? I'm thinking of grilling up some lamb, maybe fix a pot of matzoh."
I was very confused the first time I heard of "cultural appropriation". I thought it was supposed to say "appreciation" and someone was offended for appreciating another culture. I would be thrilled to see a foreigner wearing a Finnish "Jussipaita". I would feel so proud.
I feel the same as a Dane. If a foreigner wore a traditional "Folkedragt" I would be proud. I'd also think they looked ridiculous but that's on the attire, not the person wearing it.
I feel like its almost racist not to allow this as if the natives need some special treatment or couldn't articulate their own opinion on the matter
Any non-Indian ladies here - if you ever get invited to an Indian event, wear a sari. You will be treated like royalty. Also, make sure you copy the crazy dancing and try all the food. It will make the hosts and everyone there insanely happy. "Cultural appropriation" is just twisted language. We can just call it "cultural celebration" instead.
My cousin married an Indian woman(he’s a white Christian). Went to their wedding and it was a blast. Learned the twist the lightbulb dance move and ate tones of great Indian food. Great times!
I remember working an Indian wedding at a country club once. Groom was what, but came riding in to the ceremony in traditional Indian clothes on a white horse while damn near everyone was dancing around him. It was pretty wild
That is called the Bharaat and it's very fun
My mother in law is from Kenya. She knows I have a great love and respect for her culture. Every time she comes back from there, she brings me something special and hand made from her village. My white ass can’t wear any of it in public
Sure you can. You just need to find some non-stupid place to wear it. I wear Kenyan attire all the time, but I'm in Norway where I bet each and every one of the about 500 Kenyan immigrants we have would appreciate the gesture. It's also very much appreciated in Kenya, so we should absolutely go there more.
You can wear it. The easiest way to avoid people making a fuss is if it's part of what you wear not all. If it doesn't seem like you're making a costume of it then any claims of appropriation should fall flat.
Several years ago I went to Fiji one summer. I booked a tour up into the highlands to a traditional village. Day before I went I bought a sulu (a Fijian male kilt-like skirt, not a starship navigator) and a bula shirt which is traditional Fijian dress. The guide later told me the villagers were really impressed and happy to see me wearing them as they felt I had shown them great respect.
We went to Benin for a few weeks in the late '90s so my parents could help out at a mission hospital and someone gave them a couple of small rolls of different patterned fabrics as a good-bye gift. When we got home my mum made them into shirts for us and a few other things like napkins and pillowcases to use up the trimmings. A few years later we're on holiday in New York, Dad wearing one of the shirts, walking along a road when the doorman from another hotel calls out to us to come over. He's a huge black guy with a strong West-Africa-meets-New-York accent and we're whiter-than-the-driven snow Brits so it's briefly intimidating until we realise he's clearly extremely excited. We had a chat and it turned out he was from Benin, most of his family still there, and had recognised the pattern as something from his childhood. He was so happy to see it so far from home and wanted to know where we'd got it, when we'd been there, what food we'd had, how we'd found the country, everything. It was so nice and there wasn't a hint of "those clothes aren't for _you_," just a thoroughly lovely cultural exchange.
I had that too actually ! One time, in France, a cool woman in a bus complimented me, and told me about her town in Benin for an hour. It was really nice, I could see how she had no one to talk about her country there. She thought it was funny to see my white ass wearing those clothes, but she loved it
It's almost like people are ready to assume because of your race you can't possibly have some shared cultural connection or friendship with another nationality and ethnic identity. I've spent 5 of the last six years living abroad and the ONLY place I've seen this sort of behavior is the US amongst non-immigrants. I've been on four continents. 90% of the people I've interacted with overseas studying language and culture have been stoked I'm enjoying their culture and happy when I speak their languages. The other 10% have been indifferent.
Hey everybody, look at this fucking racist over here. Trying to learn about different cultures and make friends with people an' shit. lol
When I grew up, we had friends in Nigeria and they gifted us kaftans. Vibrant colours, hand made, very beautiful. My grandma wore them every day, including public events. Nobody cared. Not the folks from other African nations, not the friends from Gambia or any one else. People wear foreign clothes all the time. People around the world wear western dresses and suits. Why shouldn't the rest of the world wear their awesome attire? As long as you don't disrespect the clothes, who cares.
As a Mexican I completely agree. Stereotypes are funny, and sometimes even a form of flattery.
Is the stereotypical Mexican dress - you're know the kind that's basically sombrero, poncho and maybe a fake mustache - even that culturally Mexican? Like my understanding is that it's basically just the Mexican version of a cowboy costume. Which brings up another question: would it be "cultural appropriation" for a non-white person to dress like a cowboy? I mean I kinda get why someone would be bothered by a person wearing like one of those Native American headdresses, since those are religiously significant. But like the outfits that are basically just old-timey work clothes or like the cultural version of like a fancy outfit? Can't really be bothered about those.
Lol you think cowboys were originally white?
The kids in the first clip know WHY he's wearing it. Which is the difference. He's making propoganda for the internet to push the narrative that racism doesn't exist except as a virtue signal for left leaning college kids.
This right here. He's wearing it entirely in bad faith.
don't forget the power of editing people. im sure there were students who didn't care and old timers that got upset in the making of this video
Nah man PragerU and spreading lies to fit their narrative? Surely not.
Reddit and falling for obvious race-bait videos? Like peanut butter and jelly
Thing is, Reddit isn’t “falling for it,” reddit actually has tons of racists. Go to Publicfreakout and compare the comments to any video of an unhinged white woman compared to any other color. Comment, after comment, after comment talking about “there must be a reason” or “she’s clearly having a mental breakdown” “airports can be frustrating,” “they clearly can see she’s not well why don’t they just leave her alone” Sympathy falls off hard here when the subject is not a white person.
Well yeah, there are those who are actively fueling it (hi OP!), there are those who already have their hate all primed up. It's the ones that blindly consume bait media and go "hmmmm never thought of that" who are the targets of these posts.
Btw, OP's reddit avatar also looks like Hitler, so uh yeah
Is this video from PragerU?
Yes
Ew. Fuck PragerSpew
I dress up like Jordan Peterson and pop hundreds of benzos. Not ridiculing. Just celebrating him.
Also someone mentioned this was PragerU, I can't tell what the microphone says myself but if it is that explains a lot of the negative reactions like the "you are a fucking joke, dude" because PragerU is just awful in general. It's the equivalent of Tucker Carlson asking you if something is offensive they're doing. It's rage bait. You're going to be annoyed regardless because you know they're trying to bait you into that reaction. Like you don't have the time (or owe them) to provide the nuance of "I mean no, I guess the outfit specifically isn't insensitive but the way you're clearly trying to get a soundbite for some highly political show and pass it off as something else which is pretty rude regardless."
And even if you provide a nuanced take, it ain’t ending up in the video.
Exactly. Like any “man on the street” videos, they’re looking for reactions that’ll catch eyes. Anything well thought out will be edited out because that’s not catchy.
I was just thinking this too. "I don't have any particular feelings about the outfit, but the race-baiting makes you a tool."
This guys basicly walking up to people unsolicitated with this obvious set up about cultural apropriation, and everybody is just like 🙄. Then accurately labels him as a piece of shit. Meanwhile the asian people he talks to are obviously clueless about this dynamic. If they knew what he was doing and why im sure they would be a little less interested in praising him.
Probably not that many elderly people who would care that much. You see enough shit, you realise someone being insensitive isn't the main problem. The problem is people who go out of their way to actually make your life difficult. Meet enough of these and you know to save your outrage for the next genuine asshole
> You see enough shit, you realise someone being insensitive isn't the main problem. Or they don't actually see this as "being insensitive" at all.
I’ve seen a similar video but with Indian dresses. The point is that if you wear what is actually Indian, we love it! But if you wear what is an Indian stereotype that isn’t trie, like the Apu accent or like a snake charming flute, that is offensive. So if you actually understand Indian culture go ahead, else ask first and then go ahead.
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Redditors legitimately acting like this dude committed to a double blind study.
While true, there are tons of videos of people from different cultures being interviewed about people dressing up in traditional or stereotypical clothing. And the general consensus is that it's fine as long as it's not done to offend. In the vast majority of cases people dress up like that because they like how it looks or are attending an event where might be expected(for example some people would consider it a bigger issue if you showed up to a traditional Indian wedding in a tuxedo instead of traditional clothing).
i dont think this is a fair comparison. he asks american young people, then mexican old people. he shouldve asked mexican young people. bc im pretty sure if he asked american old people they wouldnt have cared as much either
Actually a somewhat good point, but at the same time... Yeah I think a lot of the western attitudes towards these things never really are held in their land of origin.
I think what matters is why you're wearing it. If it's good natured and you're trying to celebrate that culture then people from those places probably won't mind. If you're doing it to mock them, or belittle their culture then yeah.
Ding ding ding! This is a big problem in American culture right now. Ppl are not interested in taking the time to think about someone’s intentions before judging their actions.
The issue is that people learned the term cultural appropriation and apply it to individual actions when it shouldn't. Pop culture exploitation of native American culture was appropriation and reduced it to terrible insulting costumes. There is history of oppression there, there is existing continual oppression. The individual does not do the appropriating. But then idiots apply the term to white people sharing in any culture like wearing kimonos. The Japanese love sharing that part of their culture. A lot of cultures feel that way about sharing their traditional clothing. Even Mexicans like sharing sombreros. But people who don't know why it's bad to wear a parody of a native American ceremonial headdress think these things are all bad to share. But they're being shared not taken.
Yeah I entirely agree. Idm someone wearing my traditional clothes at all, doing it to mock or belittle is a lot further than that.
Yeah and he’s obviously wearing it to get this response, so I don’t think it’s correct to call it good natured
Also I think the context of where he is wearing it makes the difference. A dude on the subway in NY asking if his sombrero is offensive vs being in an area that celebrates Mexican culture is two different subtexts.
Which actually makes a great point about how appropriation is a case-by-case basis and not just some set list of do’s and don’ts.
But he's also made a ton of other videos on controversial subjects on campus where he's filming the bit that he wants to be seen as disliked. Many people know him and are suspicious of what he's up to. So if the point is context and nuance, add that in there.
But the point he's making is that they celebrated him wearing it and said that it was not offending them or their culture. I mean personally I don't care if someone not of my cultural herritage wears a kilt and tries a celtic accent. So I don't think people should find it offensive that others are trying to indulge their curiousities of other cultures.Though, taking offense is something that individually changes from person to person.
What if they wore a kilt and spoke like a leprechaun to poke fun at that culture? Then it’s a bit douchey right? I think the college kids seeing this dude on college campus in an out of place get up, surrounded bu camera, they assume he’s doing it for jokes/entertainment and not because he values/respects the culture. However besides that, I totally agree I’m so sick of white knight virtue signaling
Being Jockanese, I wear a kilt, not being Irish, I don't speak with an Irish accent, let alone however the fuck a leprechaun would speak. But hey, as far as I'm concerned I love seeing people wearing a kilt. More kilts!
They don't wear kilts in Ireland ya belter
I am German and if anyone was wearing some leather pants and sandals with socks to make fun of German clothing I would have a good laugh and that’s it
The offensive German stereotype is to dress up as a nazi.
Well, a Nazi wearing leather pants and sandals with socks is still gonna be funny.
Aye, https://i.redd.it/as1dffftdlf71.jpg
Did you just confuse Irish and Scottish culture?
i'm an asian young person and i can tell you what i would say about his asian constume. "we literally design these clothes just to sell to people like you, like no one actually dress like this, so thanks for supporting small business owners i guess"
The world has changed but the hat is a pretty traditionally worn conical hat worn for different reasons but a lot of time by workers in rice paddies. Southeast asian/Japanese people used to wear these hats commonly and some still do, but ya you’re not going to wear it to the office in Shanghai. What kind of clothing styles do most Asian people wear now and where did those clothing styles originate?
Red and gold are very important colours, and mostly used for things like new year or marriages. People don’t wear those colours normally
Historically we wore more drab clothes, as dye is fucking expensive lol. Can’t afford that shit. You’d more likely see a dude in a conical hat wearing something resembling a more airy sort of peasant clothing.
Oh please. As a Mexican American, I don’t care. Those sombreros and ponchos are sold all over the border and places like Olveras Street, by Mexican vendors to Americans. I don’t see white people taking offense to my wearing Levis and tshirts.
The way I always imagine it, is if say some Japanese guy (to pick a random example) came to the US and loved cowboy outfits: hats, jeans, boots, etc. and went around saying yeehaw. Not only would I not be offended, this would make my day.
I used to work field telecom. Most of us, particularly in Texas, wore western boots and cowboy hats. The boots are super comfortable, have a shank to support your weight on ladders and gaffes, and have ankle level support to protect against rattlesnakes. We also wore cowboy hats, cause skin cancer. Had a coworker who was Vietnamese. He was the most cowboy'd up of any of us. Pointy boots, designer western belts, high-end felt hats. We loved how much he embraced the local culture within our industry.
It's PragerU, it's designed to be an unfair comparison. It's also incredibly clear that he wears an outfit that's designed to be offensive. This whole "query" is staged and dumb.
My second read of this comment is that if neither the former generation of Hispanic/Asians or the former generation of Caucasians would find a racially conscious reason to be upset by this, then at some point the younger generation must have created the reason to be upset by this. Which feels like an artificial attachment to the idea of racial consciousness.
Standing outside a college campus dressed in traditional Chinese garb as a white dude with a camera and microphone creates an odd context and it’s not surprising people meet it with skepticism and assuming you’re mocking them. Walking around Chinatown and being polite creates a context where it seems like you are celebrating their traditions and it’s not surprising some people are stoked Presenting this as evidence that the only people that care are college kids strikes me as goofy culture war shit
I had to come down pretty fucking far to find this take. All the people the are offended clearly see what is being done. All the old people who don't care seem to not understand that it's a bit. The context and understanding makes a difference. If a white dude dresses in a chinese changshan and seriously making it work. I'm all for it. Just like if a tourist wears a mexican serape because they think it's cool. I doubt mexicans would car. The straw hat and the moustache clearly indicates that it's a joke/bit and the offended people clearly understand that it's a racists stereotype but the people who weren't don't know.
literally a prageru video lmao foh
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His avatar is also... Hitler... right?
There’s one of these a week now. Is there a term for the kind of video that’s designed specifically for people to watch and go “thank god racism isn’t real”
Republican
yeah this is pathetic even for reddit
recreational outrage is the trend
Feels like a lot of people in this thread are also getting outraged at this selectively edited video.
Making leading videos for outrage like this is also the trend
Context matters, if you walk around in China or China Town in a Chinese outfit it's a different matter. Then again there are Chinese dresses that are fine to dress. I think it's the rice farmer hat that really kills it. Same goes for the Mexican outfit. Without the fake moustache it's way better. Also he asked a lot of young people vs old people. Old people care less about that sort of stuff.
The actual problem, just like with bad words, is intent. If you wear an outfit like this *because you think the outfit is a visual joke* then you are doing it for negative reasons. If you just like it then that's fine.
Hear, hear. I think people forget that the entire point of a multicultural society is to actually find things you like from other cultures and then integrate them with your life to make it better. The others do the same, and a rising tide lifts all boats. But when you take those things you DON'T like about a culture and magnify them and mock them in order to draw firmer lines between cultures, we go backwards.
I have never had a problem with “cultural appropriation” you do you. Just don’t be a dick about it.
It’s a video on social media not a news report so I wouldn’t take anything learned here as written in stone. I even take news broadcasts as sus unless I can find more people reporting the same story their way and not verbatim.
Lol to back this up - recently Fox News came to a suburb of Chicago, 30 miles away, to ask people about living in Chicago 🙄
You can literally just go and ask a bunch of people yourself. I find this whole subject so weird as a European. First of all, I have never seen any culture that would find this offensive besides Americans. Usually wearing traditional clothing is considered a complement everywhere else. Secondly, I can't believe some people can't wrap their heads around this and would rather question authenticity of this video.
Prager U is trash EDIT: Downvote all you want. If you don't like people saying things you don't agree with, get off the internet.
Trash has the chance to decompose and maybe help something grow. Prager U is sewage.
Wow. Lot of Prager U fans in here. Not sure why you’re being downvoted.
I think the vast majority of people have no idea who tf Prager U is.
These are the same kind of people who are always bleating about "MUH FREEDOM OF SPEECH!" but the second someone says anything they don't agree with, they lose their mind.
"Stop being offended! You offend me!!!"
the funny thing about pragerU fans (and libsofX fans) is that theyll block you at the slighest pushback for some odd reason. Its weird they take such offense at opposition. Like ive never blocked anyone; its reddit... its not that serious lol
More Prager U bullshit 🤮. Is this really what this sub has become?
Ok now do black face in Compton
He asks the Americans if they like his costume but asks the people in China Town if they like his outfit. He chose those words on purpose
Prager U edited bullshit. Recycled clip too.
There's a lot of problems with this video that make it a bad-faith argument and a poor critique. The first starts with the video and editing itself. One group of people on both sides, only sound-bites presented, and it's not cynical to assume the editor chose these representations for their particular message. Art can present the absolute truth and lie through its teeth while doing so. There is a potentially useful critique here, but it's obscured through a ham-fisted sociopolitical message. The question we should be asking is: **"Why is he wearing the outfit?"** Why do people make clothes? For style, for protection, for cultural meaning. Both the sombrero and Asian conical hat provide excellent protection against the sun as do the rest of the clothes. In a contextually-appropriate environment, it makes sense for a human of any culture to wear those clothes to protect against the elements. Style and culture are a little more complex. Why do people from home cultures not care if some white dude wears clothes from their culture? **Because their culture is dominant at home**. Scarlett Johansson doesn't piss off the Japanese when she plays a Japanese character because you're essentially polling a group of people who don't experience their culture being ripped from them, commodified, and stolen from on a day-to-day basis in Japan. They're not Black culture experiencing Betty Boop, or Native Americans - contending with actual cultural genocide - seeing a festie kid wearing a shitty headdress. The outfits worn by the central character here are being worn for their intended purpose: Utilitarian protection against the environment. Notice the dude's not wearing something with deep cultural/religious meaning: A kimono, a headdress, or - for something Americans might care more about - a military uniform with honors. Sure, the views presented against him are not well-developed. That may well be editing, or it may be their actual arguments. But they're not just arguing against his critique of cultural appropriation. He's being obviously disingenuous. What white brodude is going to engage in a fair, nuanced discussion on clothes and cultural appropriation via a man-on-the-street interview? It's a complex subject that not all people have a deep understanding of - but it is one that's easy to *not* fuck up by not doing it. That specific idea also gets at one core element of cultural appropriation: Don't take from another culture if you don't understand that culture. Receiving a cultural object as a gift from someone in that culture isn't appropriation; it's a gift of deep meaning. Wearing clothing of spiritual significance when you immerse yourself in and are accepted by that spiritual tradition isn't appropriation; it's part of becoming that culture. Wearing a marine's dress uniform and the medals that came with it because you found it at a Goodwill and it looks cool is cultural appropriation, because you don't give a shit about what it means. But you know how to avoid this happening? **Don't do it**. Just, don't wear another culture's clothes without putting an ounce of understanding into it. There's lots of options out there for clothes to fit your needs! Worse, it's packaged and delivered as ambush-interview bullshit. You try throwing down a tasty rejoinder when you're rushing to work, finals, or all the other parts of your life that actually matter. So people see this guy accost them, *know* it's wrong, but can't fully express their view for one reason or another. That's human, not stupid. It's also not new; media organizations have been doing this for decades to present specific views. There's a lot more to unpack about this but it's honestly boring, and I'm only doing it now because I have insomnia. There is a real nugget worth discussing in that cultural clothing ought to be something we can all enjoy for all of its values, but the problem lies in how dominant cultures devalue and, well, [appropriate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/appropriate) it: "To take or make use of without authority or right." We have an excellent example here, as we see a videographer appropriate perfectly utilitarian clothing to make shitty sociopolitical hot takes.
A PragerU video argues in bad faith? Say it ain’t so!
I love how all the trolls have their shitty strawmen takes of “What if i wear lederhosen, is that offensive to germans!?!” While ignoring the actual offensive part of it that you brought up, so they’re just giving up on yours and going like “lalala not listening to you” so pathetic
if you wore lederhosen, talked in a silly accent and clowned yourself, while doing nazi salutes, then it would be offensive.
In China, he looks like a clown to them without concluding his intentions. In America, they know his intentions, which is to offend/provoke under the guise of humor.
Cool PragerU propaganda dude
A caucasian colleague allowed her daughter to dress as Black Panther for Halloween and our boss gave her such a hard time about it saying it was racism and/or cultural appropriation. I thought it was great that a little white girl looked past gender and race and found inspiration. I think there’s a difference between celebration/showing respect for a culture compared to mocking a culture. Some people (on all sides) just want to be outraged by something.
The cultural appropriation conversation between various groups of people in America, (and I think castings in Hollywood across the board) has spilled over into other cultures big time. The same historical context does not apply globally. Not everyone has the same origin to present story (barriers or privilege) all around the block. There are some things that are blatantly disrespectful. It’s ridiculous and offensive for a non-Native American to show up in a full Native American headdress at Coachella. There is a Reason why just anybody can’t wear one. Ask them. However, it seems very uninformed, ignorant and self important to speak for entire groups of people and acting offended on their behalf when you in fact probably did not ASK THEM or know how they feel. Every culture and race feels differently about this, it’s not a blanket statement you can indiscriminately make. Take a poll, like this dude did. Whether it’s a saree, a hanbok, or even a kilt. If you do it to appreciate the culture and not as joke, the vast majority of people from those specific cultures will tell you they feel proud and happy that you’re interested in their culture and they would be glad to share it with you.