"Cultural Appropriation"

[The Grand Nudger]

It just doesn;t fit the definition of appropriation.  Mostly, in that no attempt has been made, in dreamcatchers, to minimize the host culture.  

I dunno.  Trivializing symbols that are meaningful to a subculture is a kind of minimization.

It's about trivializing the culture, the people, not the symbols themselves.  Christians, for example, have trivialized their own symbols..and it's not accurate to call that cultural appropriation even laying aside that they would be appropriating it from themselves.  

I'm not happy to see Americans wearing Canadian flags when they travel, even though they might think it's a great compliment to hide behind the goodwill other nations have for us.  On a bad day, and on a particularly rude American, I might even pick a fight over it.  Nobody ever sees the hockey fight style coming before it's too late!



That being said though, while I'm sympathetic to Tizheruk, if I see a cute hippy girl wearing a little dreamcatcher, I'm more likely to think "Yum!" than "Culture-appropriating little bitch!"  So while I can see where Tizheruk has a valid complaint, I'm not sure that I need to get SJW about it myself.  I'm mainly glancing around hoping my wife doesn't catch me staring at her. . . "dreamcatcher."

Hehehe, the canadian flag thing is just a valid strategy for pleasant travel.  

Tiz is insulted by a misuse of what Tiz feels to be somehow sacred.  We are a secular nation, take a number.  That Tiz has grounds for feeling that slight is unfortunate, and to a great extent an effect of poor relations between america, american culture, and the natives.  I also sympathize, but the issue of dreamcatchers, today, doesn't fit the definition of cultural appropriation any more than white rappers or "black" hairstyles.  They can be the ongoing effects of oppression and inequality..past and current....but, they just aren't an example of a person engaging in what is referred to by the term cultural appropriation. Despite the protestations of the mental midgets in the room..it really is a specific term to refer to a specific relationship and series of events.