I don't fuss or fret about cultural misapropriation.
Back in the late 1960's I used to get annoyed at the plastic day-trippers and weekend hippies who attempted to look cool by copying the fashion of hippies who had vastly different social values than they did.
When I moved to NOLA, I got offended by seeing US soldiets wearing a peace symbol.
But I have come to realize that there is NO pure current of tradition.
In pr-columbian America, there was a vast trading network of religious tools. Little stone mushrooms were used as coins which could be later redeemed for magic mushrooms as they became available. Walrus tusks from Alaska have been found in Mexico. Fragments of a polar bear skin were found in Tierra del Fuego.
Locally, I know Christians who maintain an altar to Ganesh. Likewise voodoo trmples also have Ganehs amongst the loa. I have heard of Krishnas and Voodoists who create ceremonies together.
I have come upon people belonging to very narrow-minded covens whose members were not permitted to attend pagan festivals because they might be exposed to practices not in their tradition.
Soldiers fight imperials wars who wear a peace symbol does not negatively impact what the symbol means to me. Likewise, plastic hippies never diluted or changed my ability to follow my ideals. Some of the plastic hippies began to follow Eastern spiritual paths and dropped out of school and their economic safety net.
Once in a great while, some Hindu gets upset at my Hindu statuary on my work table. I point to Ganesh and say (innocently) "but I thought that Ganesh was supposed to be visibly displayed in ALL temples, no matter what the main deity of the temple actually was." That usually shuts them up.
Once a child (probably about 7) who seemed somewhat retarded or autistic came running up to my table. His parents (very well dressed middle class looking Southerners) followed their child to make sure he did not cause problems. The kid yells out "Hi `Nesh!" and bows to my large seated Ganesh statue.
His father began to apologize for his child's behavior
I turned to the child and asked "Where do you know `Nesh from?" The kid screwed up his face and groped for words. He smiled, and said "From Before!" with big wide innocent smiling eyes.
The parents looked bewildered. I smiled at them and told them that some children had past life memories which they often phrased as being "from before".
The mother gasped. "You mean he's not just crazy?"
I told her that I never said that. But that some people are able to tap into things they could not have learned in this lifetime.
So, to me, the pluses of cultural appropriation far outweight the politically correct purist viewpoint. Information exchange, even if it is tainted by mercantilism and cultural insensitity is, imo, a very good thing.
no subject
Back in the late 1960's I used to get annoyed at the plastic day-trippers and weekend hippies who attempted to look cool by copying the fashion of hippies who had vastly different social values than they did.
When I moved to NOLA, I got offended by seeing US soldiets wearing a peace symbol.
But I have come to realize that there is NO pure current of tradition.
In pr-columbian America, there was a vast trading network of religious tools. Little stone mushrooms were used as coins which could be later redeemed for magic mushrooms as they became available. Walrus tusks from Alaska have been found in Mexico. Fragments of a polar bear skin were found in Tierra del Fuego.
Locally, I know Christians who maintain an altar to Ganesh. Likewise voodoo trmples also have Ganehs amongst the loa. I have heard of Krishnas and Voodoists who create ceremonies together.
I have come upon people belonging to very narrow-minded covens whose members were not permitted to attend pagan festivals because they might be exposed to practices not in their tradition.
Soldiers fight imperials wars who wear a peace symbol does not negatively impact what the symbol means to me. Likewise, plastic hippies never diluted or changed my ability to follow my ideals. Some of the plastic hippies began to follow Eastern spiritual paths and dropped out of school and their economic safety net.
Once in a great while, some Hindu gets upset at my Hindu statuary on my work table. I point to Ganesh and say (innocently) "but I thought that Ganesh was supposed to be visibly displayed in ALL temples, no matter what the main deity of the temple actually was." That usually shuts them up.
Once a child (probably about 7) who seemed somewhat retarded or autistic came running up to my table. His parents (very well dressed middle class looking Southerners) followed their child to make sure he did not cause problems. The kid yells out "Hi `Nesh!" and bows to my large seated Ganesh statue.
His father began to apologize for his child's behavior
I turned to the child and asked "Where do you know `Nesh from?" The kid screwed up his face and groped for words. He smiled, and said "From Before!" with big wide innocent smiling eyes.
The parents looked bewildered. I smiled at them and told them that some children had past life memories which they often phrased as being "from before".
The mother gasped. "You mean he's not just crazy?"
I told her that I never said that. But that some people are able to tap into things they could not have learned in this lifetime.
So, to me, the pluses of cultural appropriation far outweight the politically correct purist viewpoint. Information exchange, even if it is tainted by mercantilism and cultural insensitity is, imo, a very good thing.