"Cultural Appropriation"

[bennyboy]

Benny, my race is still irrelevant, and you might think gender is not important, but you're the one who described me as a white woman and then dismissed me for it. I didn't dismiss the feelings of the person who doesn't like people using dreamcatchers. I simply am not going to apply them to my everyday life. I personally think he or she is being a bit of a crybaby about it. Given that it's in reference to "spirituality," I'm not given to caring about the origin of these items. They don't get more respect because they're native.

Race is for sure relevant, because Tizheruk's culture and racial identity are bound, and you are of neither. Saying what he should/shouldn't consider important, or how he should/shouldn't want people of other cultures or races to interact with his, seems inappropriate. Whether you should be expected to care enough not to have a dream catcher is a different issue.

While I definitely recognize that Tizheruk's claims are legitimate, he/she hasn't come up with a good enough reason for me to really care deeply about the issue or take any action. I just can't find it in my little charcoal heart to care about that. Now, when it comes to reparations for natives-- extra help with school funding, drug and training programs, or straight up cash-- I'm all for it. But dreamcatchers-- meh. This is an atheist forum, and it's not really reasonable to expect anyone here to give much of a crap about things because they have spiritual significance to someone. In fact, it seems to me that ANY interest people take in native Americans is likely to generate more sympathy, and more action about things that might matter.

I do have a question for you, though. If I go pee on you parents' graves, would you say, "Oh. . . it's just dirt and dead tissue, that doesn't matter much"? Or is there still some cultural vestige in which despite the literal unimportance of bones to our lives, you'd still be deeply offended?