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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 6705557">Sure people believe lots of things I think are misguided or counter productive. I am okay with that. Never said people had to agree with me or that I expect everyone to suddenly not find use in the concept. I am always happy to share space with people who disagree with me on things. That is one of the things that makes life interesting.I am all for real social justice Umbran. There are a lot of racial disparities in our culture that are very real and need to be remedied. I am not asking people to be sensitive to my sensibilities. And I am certainly not opposed to progress on social and racial issues. My point is I just don't believe Cultural Appropriation as a concept is a useful tool for improving any of this stuff. Certainly I don't think it is a useful tool for improving how cultures interact. Like I said before I think being culturally sensitive and avoiding things like stereotypes are all good. But CA is a much more esoteric concept and I think it clouds the issue. I think this is an unhelpful tone. It is like you are here to enlighten me rather than have a discussion and it assumes I have no interest in listening to your arguments. As a poster I am pretty good about acknowledging when I am wrong if someone convinces me. Obviously this is an issue where people on both sides feel strongly, and we are therefore less likely to convince one another. But I approach these topics in good faith. I am happy to consider the possibility I am wrong (in every discussion I have, believe it or not, this is something I actively do and on this topic in particular I have regularly re-evaluated my position and sought input from people I know who come from other cultures). But I think it is fair for me to expect you to be as self reflective as well and genuinely consider the possibility that you are wrong. When I said I believed this was divisive rather than unifying, I was serious and sincere in that concern. Now I could be wrong that this is where it leads, but further fragmenting and dividing of people in this world is a consquence I think we ought to weigh carefully as a potential outcome when we effectively make certain forms of cultural borrowing and sharing immoral by invoking a concept that is vague and connects things like someone in the present making use of a cultural artifact with colonialism and imperialism. I think we are better off the more people from different cultures interact and share with each other. My view is this concept makes people more hesitant to do that (the OP himself said some fences make for good neighbors). I don't want to live in a world with more fences and more walls. Maybe this isn't the case. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Cultural Aproppropriation will open the door for more exchange or at least exchange that is more respectful. I can certainly see the case for that. And I can certainly see that your position is grounded in sincere concerns for potential harm done to people through cultural appropriation. But I have my doubts, and this is largely due to the fact that hate movements have begun to adopt the language of Cultural Appropriation to make an argument for things like white nationalism. I don't think these issues are as black and white as people like to make them out to be. They certainly are not ones with easy solutions or conclusions in my view.</blockquote>

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