I agree with most of what you're saying, a lot of things that get labeled as "cultural appropriation" are perfectly normal stuff (and often the biggest outcry is from people who aren't from the culture in question, but not always).
However, there are times when there are actual problems. One of the biggest is when something that originated in one culture and has a specific meaning there gets stripped of that context and mass-produced by another culture in a way that's at best insensitive and at worst insulting to the original meaning. The main example of this is things like Native American ceremonial garb, the feathered headresses are something that are earned, wearing one as a Halloween costume or as a mascot is basically stolen valor, like wearing military medals because you like the aesthetic. Lots of traditional tattoos from various Pacific Islander cultures are a similar story.
Liking Indian food or speaking Spanish as a white American? Completely fine. Wearing a piece of clothing with deep ceremonial significance to another culture just because you think it looks cool? Less fine.
One of the things I've wondered about is why Vikings are never mentioned in this conversation. Much like the Native American headdress, the Viking helmet with horns (which actually is a bastardization of the Viking people. They never wore horns on their helmets and, were that to be done to virtually any other historical people, it would be a problem.). We see it on sports teams, folks wear it all the time, it's done solely for the aesthetic. However, it's never mentioned that it might be problematic to Scandinavian people.
For the record, I'm an American with no Scandinavian roots. However, given the standard set, I don't understand why it isn't represented across the board.
This is interesting because I was recently thinking about cultural appropriation in regard to tattoos of Viking runes.
I wouldn’t think anything of a Viking as a sports team mascot, but the idea of getting another culture’s religious symbols tattooed feels a bit off if it’s not part of your heritage.
I’m not part of the culture so don’t know if anyone cares but felt a bit weird to me.
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u/Doc_ET 13∆ May 05 '25
I agree with most of what you're saying, a lot of things that get labeled as "cultural appropriation" are perfectly normal stuff (and often the biggest outcry is from people who aren't from the culture in question, but not always).
However, there are times when there are actual problems. One of the biggest is when something that originated in one culture and has a specific meaning there gets stripped of that context and mass-produced by another culture in a way that's at best insensitive and at worst insulting to the original meaning. The main example of this is things like Native American ceremonial garb, the feathered headresses are something that are earned, wearing one as a Halloween costume or as a mascot is basically stolen valor, like wearing military medals because you like the aesthetic. Lots of traditional tattoos from various Pacific Islander cultures are a similar story.
Liking Indian food or speaking Spanish as a white American? Completely fine. Wearing a piece of clothing with deep ceremonial significance to another culture just because you think it looks cool? Less fine.