Honestly? I think these discussions/debate/outrage about “cultural appropriation” are much to do about nothing.
But, I decided some time ago to test myself on that topic, being an individual of half-Arabic descent, married to an immigrant, and with a rather large immigrant family, I thought I could probably get a decent cross section of thought on the topic without having to pay a professional pollster boocoo $$ to assemble the data for me.
What triggered me was this:
Long story short, a fundraiser was cancelled because it involved tacos. Now, this is perhaps more inexplicable to me because I live in Texas, and any decent list of “local cuisine” down here includes tacos, fajitas, and quesadillas; the gringos and mexicanos merged menus down here decades ago. So, to say the least, I considered the above to be a case of “faux outrage”.
But, then, to be fair, I thought to myself……what if this was a frat/sorority fundraiser where everyone was going to be dressed as this and this, eating that, and smoking (ugh) THAT. Would *I* be offended?
Honestly, no. If such a fundraiser were done honestly (e.g., no stereotypical exaggerations, nobody playing up the “terrorist” notion, then, I thought, it would be kind of cute, and actually kind of nice, acknowledging that slowly but surely, we were becoming part of the American Fabric.
But, that’s just me, and I was born here. So I ran it by my extended family…..same response. So, add up another 30 votes from the immigrant community. They all voted “nice idea”.
Then, I saw this. And I got fucking pissed off like you can’t believe.
Yeppers. That’s one of the protests against the so-called “Muslim ban”. That’s some self-appointed “social justice warrior”, completely clueless as to what she is doing, wearing a fucking pussy hat, participating in a solemn religious observance of a faith she does not practice and does not subscribe to.
Note to Social Justice Warriors: You do not show solidarity with me by blaspheming my faith.
It occurs to me that there is a very, very large difference between “cultural appropriation”, which may or may not be insensitive based on its manifestation, and “religious appropriation”. The Muslim prayer is a observance that is preceded by a ritual cleansing, requires specific clothing, involves specific body movements, and above all, implies belief. It’s not something you just plop down and do because you’re in the mood.
Enough said.
