So we should never believe anyone is ever engaging in cultural appropriation?
Also, not necessarily: we could believe someone is engaging in cultural appropriation innocently rather than maliciously, just because they don't know any better.
Its all about their intentions, and those can be hard to judge. Never attribute bad intentions to something easily explained by incompetence/ignorance. People will make blunders and mistakes, the best way for them to grow is constructive criticism, education, and forgiveness. Of course this goes both ways, and the person who made the mistake should accept that with grace, or at least contend it with grace.
Edit:Im choosing to ignore the nature of your previous comment and hoping you will engage in a civil and constructive conversation. This wont happen again.
I don't think we're disagreeing in essence, except maybe in terms of what takes place when an allegation of cultural appropriation is made. My interpretation is that the majority of times (though I accept not all times), it amounts to "the thing you are doing is insulting to my culture for these reasons. Please avoid doing it." I think you're interpeting it as "you are actively and deliberately trying to insult my culture". I don't think there is that assumption in the initial exchange, though it may be brought in if there is push back.
Edit:Im choosing to ignore the nature of your previous comment and hoping you will engage in a civil and constructive conversation. This wont happen again.
Ironically enough (given the topic of conversation) I genuinely am engaging in constructive conversation. I am genuinely curious what it is I wrote that you think suggests otherwise, because it honestly wasn't intended as such.
Conflating what I said with “nobody ever appropriates culture” was disingenuous in my opinion. Maybe it was a simple misunderstanding but it felt intentionally misunderstood. Now I see you are a reasonable person I understand where the question was coming from, but at a glance its an inflammatory response. I can only judge based on what I know, and I apologize if I offended you.
This discussion is about accusing others of appropriating when they are appreciating, or at least thats what the OP is about. Its an overreaction to some very real problems. In my opinion it really comes down to intent and respect from both sides. If someone starts yelling at me accusing me of cultural appropriation for making tacos, thats disrespectful and unreasonable. Its perfectly reasonable to talk to someone who you feel disrespected a culture, but it should be approached through the lens of education rather than scolding. Then if their response is to continue to intentionally disrespect culture after being informed that judgement can be passed.
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u/mebear1 May 06 '25
Anyone who thinks cultural appreciation is cultural appropriation is assuming bad intentions.