Students Vs. Mexicans: Cultural Appropriation

Great post and very interesting. A perfect example of perspective forming one's opinion. However, I think it would have been better for the white students not to have judged at all. Many liberals have a tendency to do that. In their view, I shouldn't wear my Lederhosen, knitted knee-socks, and the hat with the feather in it. Yes, I really have those, but I'd feel silly wearing them anywhere but in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

 

I assume this is on campus and that is where the remarks are coming from. The question is why? What drivel are these kids learning.

Many refer to the US as a melting pot. I'm sure there are great many people in our population who wear jeans. I wonder what Levi Strauss a German born American businessman would think about such nonsense. I'm certain he has no qualms with his American Jeans being misappropriated. I certainly have no qualms with it.

 

Be careful about overarching conclusions from this one video.

My takeaway is the Mexicans that made final video cut didn't feel "appropriated" by that particular outfit. That's a far cry from a conclusion that cultural appropriation does not exist.

 

So was Burrito Bros. Good or bad

 

In a world where up is down, left is right, he is she, she is he and gender fluid identity what would you expect.

 

This is the same video source as his “independent thinker”.

If you look at this outfit’s other videos titles, they clearly have an agenda and I would gather are funded by some conservative political organization.

 

Ehhh . . . young people. Most of us went to college and then sat around at points considering how we would solve the world's problems. Very few at that age are well-informed about social issues. It's probably natural for people that age to react strongly.

One thing I take issue with, though, is the notion that all these kids are "liberals." Hogwash. It's just like the assumption that the summer of '20 protesters were liberals. Most of them are probably A-political, not well-informed, and/or do not participate in elections. If they do, there's a good chance they will switch parties at some point in their life. How many of us did this? I did and know a handful of others here did as well.

 

Does this offend anyone? Can’t get much whiter than these typical frat boys.

 

My take is the whole issue of “cultural appropriation” is mostly ridiculous. That’s kind of what America is all about. Nonetheless trolling a university to get the reactions you want is probably not hard to do. We don’t know what he picked or what wasn’t. And even if it is accurate who cares.

As to this forum yes it more leans left but I find most discussions intelligent. On occasion I get dog piled for not having the “correct” view but that is the exception. Having spent years on a conservative board and getting excoriated every day for denying obvious fantasy this is nothing.

And this is the source of your video

Dennis Prager says of the 2020 election: "There is no doubt in my mind there was cheating. I have no proof"

Prager also was featured on the election fraud movie “2000 mules”. The point? I have no reason to trust that the picture painted by that video is accurate.

 

I did not “tag you” a far right conservative, I tagged the video you posted. The content creator is obviously a conservative political advocacy group (aka political hacks!). As such, the content is 100% predictable.

I don’t even get what is thought provoking about a guy dressing up in a goofy Mexican outfit looking for people offended by “cultural appropriation”. Is cultural appropriation dumbed down to “dressing up as a racial caricature”? Wouldn’t an “independent thinker” find that incredibly simplistic and insulting to their intellect? What’s the takeaway even supposed to be from this? Should be all clear to dress in blackface too? I don’t get it. Ok actually I do, the content creator is just looking for a stunt to rail against “woke culture” because that is obviously the point of their “independent thinkers” YouTube channel!

For the record, I’ve seen a few people legitimately complaining about “cultural appropriation” over the years. On the rare occasion I see someone complaining about this, I usually take the opposite side. In the real world (non YouTube bs world) this doesn’t seem to be much of a thing America complains about, probably because most people realize that American culture basically *is* cultural appropriation.

 

As a very invested liberal/progressive; not much different than these wacky progressives for their era that created a country based in personal liberty; and a social libertarian; I only find cultural emulation offensive if the intent is clearly meant to be offensive. Most smart people should be able to differentiate between malicious intent and good fun.

I dressed as a Confederate Vampire for a “Trueblood” Halloween party. Mostly Gay and a few African Americans; a small discussion but nobody was upset. I would never dress in that garb again due to this Southern guys understanding how evil the Confederate leadership was.

More recently I dressed as Johnny Depps; Tonto. I meant nothing negative by it; didn’t hear any complaints in Wilton Manors. I was happy this once little 5 year old cowboy who would never play an Indian cause Big Valley and other cowboy movies scared the hell out of me on the animalistic nature of Indians, respectfully dressed as an Indian. I read the real history and I would root for the indigenous folks over my tribe today. Point is, intent is critical to some of this. Black face is never acceptable; the Indian thing was pretty close. A European looking person playing asian is just wrong on so many levels, it’s hard to justify. Although I do love Yule Brenner in “The King and I”.

That’s when people need to understand “Presentism”. The south doesn’t get a pass on this premise as the world was moving quickly away from slavery way before 1850. We and Brazil were last.

Definition of presentism
: an attitude toward the past dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences

 

Good on her for realizing she can compete with anyone and doesn’t need a “special” category to deserve recognition.

Separately, “cultural appropriation” is a social construct and a very unhealthy one.

 

I don’t think the Too Hot community is a strong example of this, but there is certainly a notable sect of liberals that is operating rather illiberally. This is a shame, and I can understand why it would be off-putting. Unfortunately, the other side is going through its own psychosis and I very much doubt the right wing version of Too Hot (what is that thing called again?) is offering a compelling alternative at the moment.

The bottom line is that we have very good evidence that the partisanship is more about identity than ideas. Identity in these cases comes largely from the political parties. This is dangerous because it means we will feel the need to defend propositions that aren’t necessarily in tune with reality or even our “own” ideals, as long as our group takes them on as principles. It’s definitely not a problem of the left but of humans. All of us.

And while there is certainly some liberal dominance and intertribal animosity on here, Too Hot actually seems to be one of the increasingly rare places where viewpoint diversity persists. I’ve long thought an in person Too Hot get-together would generate a notable difference in our tone on here, as it would allow us to better see each other as people and incorporate this community into our identities. Anyway, I’m sorry if you feel attacked on here. Political beliefs are clearly very personal and challenging them causes emotional responses, but I believe this is a good group of people.

 

I haven’t seen any of your posts exhibit actual independent thought. They just appear to disseminate prepackaged thought free provocations.

 

This is often the case. The left is interested in feeling superior to others, not actually solving real world problems. This is why most of them don't actively support their causes but try to force all of us to support them via government.

If they really wanted to solve inequalities in education and wealth, for example, they'd volunteer in poor school districts, serve in community service groups that help disadvantaged families, donate their money to buying food and shelter, etc... You know, what you do when you actually care. But they don't, they just want to appear outwardly like they care.