I like to stay current with what’s acceptable and what isn’t, but sometimes I get confused. This is one of those times, and I need some clarification. Tell me if I have this straight.
If Starbucks, McDonalds and Marvel want to sell their products to overseas consumers who clearly want them that’s cultural imperialism. It is horrible and shameful and generally one of the most awful things in the world.
If a white American of European descent wants to practice yoga or cook pad thai that’s cultural appropriation, which is also horrible and shameful and one of the most awful things ever to happen.
But if a few hundred thousand people illegally cross national borders, settle in a country and flout all of its established legal, social and religious norms… well, that’s just folks exercising their basic human rights.
Sound about right to you?
These are good and poignant points, Felix. I have been wondering about the implications, myself; the implications are the real reasons for the confrontation.
The implication is that whites with intellect and creativity should sit back and shoulder the white man’s burden, whether you believe in the phrase ‘white man’s burden’ or not. To succeed as a white man is to be mean and insensitive.
However, I ran into this situation in a different scenario. I like to eat at a small Japanese restaurant and it changed hands after 12 years or so. I had a chance to engage the new owner in conversation and I showed him some photos of antique Japanese Samurai prints with vertical symbol printing in strategic places.
I was shocked to learn the new owner was Korean and he was still upset with the Japanese for their misbehavior in the war; yet, he owns a Japanese restaurant. I gave up on a translation of the symbols, but he told me he retired from Microsoft as a programer and writer for Asian languages. He knew quite a lot about the symbols and their origination; apparently they are from the oldest script and came from China. This was information most native Japanese don’t even know, at least the ones I have met. He gave me enough information, that I was able to track down a decent translation.
It was an enlightening learning experience for me, but to be PC, I should have searched for the correct scholar to learn properly. According to political correctness, this Korean man should be embarrassed to admit he has a profound knowledge of the Japanese and Chinese scripts and he should not own a Japanese restaurant.
I find the whole PC concept to be hilarious.
The Radical Left could wear ignorance as a badge of pride.
Good, succinct post, JF – liked your last piece too. Great to see more guest contributors!
The right should perhaps worry less about the short comings of the left and try to figure out why they are failing in American politics. Adapt or die.
@Skookum: #1
Sadly, this trend in the ‘conversion’ of Sushi restaurants from Japanese ownership to Korean, is now about complete on the whole of the Western seaboard.
Very many Japanese who had come to the U.S. and Canada in the ’80s, have returned by to their homeland. The explosion of Sushi restaurants has fed a demand that continues to grow (I’m a sushi addict, so I admit that I’m part of that trend).
This industry, (relatively new to these shores — 3 decades or so) is now very much controlled by the wholesalers, many of whom are Korean. Sushi is for the most part just a commodity that no longer requires the skills and preparation it once demanded. Most of the Sushi restaurants now just take whatever the wholesaler gives them. Anyone with knife and a bag of rice can open a sushi restaurant. Alas good quality is almost impossible to find. The ‘art’ of Sushi has almost completely left these shores. Plus, having known many Sushi chefs in past years, what also left with them, was their unflagging sense of hygiene — their bars and kitchens were immaculate.
Oh, and the dislike between Japanese and Koreans seems never to have waned.
Appropriation is when you take someone’s personal property. Copying a public domain idea or fashion is flattery.
One can never convince a socialist that he has the wrong idea. His core beliefs are religious and cannot be confronted. They are just correct. Your attempts to confront them are worse than mistaken, because you are intentionally distorting your facts and arguments to protect your privileged power and position. Otherwise, you would be on his side.
A socialist also makes arguments which are not expressions of core beliefs. These intentionally distort facts and arguments to bring about a new order of power and privilege which will work for the working man rather than the elites. These facts and arguments are weapons for the cause and are not intended to be reasonable.
@john: Republicans control the House and Senate, and have reduced the “brand” in the White House to lame-duck status rather early.
Who’s failing?
Obama is Bush in 2007: Done. The pendulum swings, junior. Always back and forth.
What needs to happen is this: 1) Stymie Obama and heavily criticize him for being a closet Muslim; 2) Fight for oil and coal to keep our country independent of Obama’s OPEC clan, 3) Embarrass Obama for his PC pronouncements regarding illegal immigration (emphasis on ILLEGAL), which along with allowing sanctuary cities means that Obama is aiding and abetting illegal activity and is subject to prosecution; 4) Promote, along with European nations, the safe and humane return of ALL of the immigrants from Muslim countries. We already know what Muslims are doing in Muslim countries to prevent Christians and others from migrating themselves.
And last but not least, end PC attitudes; keep Obama sequestered from the people so he cannot promote and encourage lawlessness on behalf of his Muslim pals. Send all Muslim refugees back to Syria, Iraq and other countries with the promise of safe havens for them; such as DMZs (areas where they will not be harmed and can remain in their own country). They would probably like that.
It would not surprise me to learn that someone discovered that Obama, through his refusal to provide good leadership for America, has caused the immigrant crisis, tantamount to a Trojan horse comparison wherein vast numbers of Muslims have been allowed, ignorantly, to invade Europe.
Go figure.
If I couldn’t ”appropriate” other cultures’ foods, I’d starve to death!
No one can live on borscht, chicken paprikasch, stroganoff, and matzo ball soup for long.
I steal blacks’ fried chicken.
I steal Mexican everything (but I bake the chile rellano instead of deep frying it).
I steal Chinese everything.
I steal Japanese everything.
I steal Italian everything.
I steal French everything.
I steal MidWestern everything.
I steal BBQer’s everything.
I steal some Danish, some Scandinavian, some Swiss, some Polish and some Middle Eastern, too.
Gee, I guess I ought to steal more black food, but, hey, one deep fried thing is all I can take!
@Nanny G:
that’s a southern thing.
If you ever get down Ga way, You have to eat at ” Donnie’s” It’s a southern restaurant owned by Korean families … Their home made gravy biscuits are the best..
For lunch you get a meat, Two veggies, Homemade cornbread, And a drink for 6 dollars..
W
@ James Felix:
That mindset you describe is the driving force of Obama’s political aspirations as spelled out in his book “Dreams of my Father”, and has apparently been adopted by the radical left.