Cultural Appropriation

            Have you ever worked at Taco Bell or Panda Express as a part time job? If so then you are a huge racist and should probably be made to wear a colored letter of some kind in public. This sounds crazy and it honestly is, unless you believe in the idea of cultural appropriation. According to Susan Scafidi, law professor at Fordham University and author of Who Owns Culture? Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law cultural appropriation is,

“Taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission. This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects.”

A closer look at this definition shows how ill-informed this idea is. “Taking… from someone else’s culture without permission.” Who do you get permission from? If I want to make tortilla and start selling tacos in a food truck, do I have to get a permission slip from any Mexican saying it is okay or is there a department of cultural affairs I need to go to file a petition to ‘appropriate’ someone’s culture? You can clearly see that this idea is rooted in Marxist philosophy because it separates people into groups and labels some of them oppressed and other oppressors. The ideas behind cultural appropriation are also totalitarian and a form of segregation.

They want to control who can do what based on skin color/culture. To them the two are linked. What is even crazier is that if you turn the ideology around you get White Nationalism, an ideology equally as ridiculous. White Nationalists want a white ethno state and the people behind cultural appropriation want to keep tortilla for Mexican’s. Seems like these people would get along just fine.

So what can we do about this ideology that shuts down business because they are offended? First we must support the businesses that are under attack and let them know they are not alone. We won’t let them suffer because some outrage addict is directing a smear campaign against them. Second, we must shine a light on this behavior and mock it. And lastly we must refuse to let them dictate to us our behavior. So go forth and eat burritos, dance the salsa, sell tortillas, and enjoy other cultures.