"Cultural Appropriation"

[Shell B]

Yeah, I'm pretty hysterical.  That's why I made this thread, and I generally stand against the idea of cultural appropriation.  I'm also, however, sensitive to the fact that one AF member has expressed a personal stake in this issue, and I'd rather hear what he has to say than to rail against him and tell him how unimportant his views are.

Yes, one AF member has expressed a personal stake in this issue. I expressed my opinion that it is ludicrous, not that his or her views are unimportant. He or she has gone as far as to say people in his or her culture shouldn't sell things relating to that culture. I don't think he or she has a legitimate claim to victimization, as it has been presented here. If he or she has been victimized, I'm by all means open to hearing about it.

You've referenced my skin color and gender as reasons my opinion is unimportant, so it's not as if you have any moral high ground with which to stand against anything.

Nope.  And I'd agree with you about the garb.  I can see Tizheruk's point, but I've already confessed that I don't really care enough to act on it.

Not going to acknowledge that you completely strawmanned me with some Native American victimization denialism bullshit? Cool, cool.

The point is that a lack of direct harm, or even intent, neither makes one blameless nor reverses damage to a population if it's being done.

In most cases, it absolutely makes one blameless if you didn't harm a creature at all. I once bleached a deer skull I found so I could later burn patterns into it. No stretch would make me at fault for that animal's demise. As for reversing damage, no one claimed that it did. Dodos are fucking instinct. You'd have to be pretty crazy to believe not meaning to harm them will make them poof back into existence. There is no point to arguing that.

I'd be very surprised indeed if you owned any actual dodo feathers.

Don't think I wouldn't, though. If someone said, "Hey, I've got some dodo feathers." I wouldn't think, "Holy shit. You made them extinct!!" I would think, "Cool. They're extinct, so that's a pretty precious thing you have there. Can I see it?"

TLDR; cultural appropriation is not bad. Killing people is bad. Other forms of genocide (sterilization, impregnation with "better" races, etc.) are bad. Even what we're doing as far as not limiting our actions so reservations stay clean is bad. Buying a dreamcatcher is not a problem unless you want to make it a problem for the sake of being pissed at something. In fact, I'd say it's a good thing. It shares culture and the person selling it makes some money.