Randa Jarrar is a hypocritical cunt

[Ryantology]

It's people like this who give the 'race card' idiots all the ammunition they need.

[BrokenQuill92]

All I'm saying is sometimes people treat others culture lightly, and it doesn't even have anything to do with race. There r pieces of otaku culture that have gotten a lot of exposure, and when some show up to a convention just for cosplay, and doesn't understand anything about nerdom it chaffs. All I'm saying is while I don't completely agree with her middle America might want try to understand the people they r emulating. Not because of New Age hipster bull crap, but because America is supposed to be one people with a multifaceted culture all our own, and yes we should be get rid of this whole us vs them.

[Ryantology]

I think that part of what makes a multicultural society work is that nobody gets to decide that their particular cultural practices are exclusive only to a certain group of people. That article is just a reversal of the idea that Americans should only speak American (and should be white, straight Protestants, to boot).

[Fidel_Castronaut]

To understand my frustration, you have to read through these piles of shit, I'm sorry for that.

Why I can't stand white belly dancers

I still can’t stand white belly dancers

She takes the hypocrisy award for the beginning of the year, what a vile woman! Since when did it become impossible for women, who aren't caucasian, to be racist? Jarrar claims that she isn't, when her writings prove the opposite. Imagine if a white woman (Loki forbid, man!) would have written these pieces about something "exclusively meant for white people". Yeah, the shitstorm would have been massive. I find this both amusing and infuriating.

Honey I don't think that's what she meant. As a brown woman I can I say it's not cultrual melting that most people have a problem with. It's the light fingered privileged way it's done. Like when white teenagers lock their hair, wear sag their pants, and listen to too much rap.

I don't see any problem whatsoever. Culture is not something that can be 'protected'. It's an invented description of something that people find hard to conceptualise. I can prove that, too. Define 'culture'. The issue is when people begin trying to erect barriers against one another using culture as the excuse. It creates otherism to such an extent that we begin to see the exact thing we want to avoid; ghettoisation, segregation, racism, xenophobia, etc.

Culture, imho, is a nonsense term. Humans have evolved by copying the behaviours and trends of others not within their social/family circle. Belly dancing may have originated somewhere in the Middle East (VERY debatable, I've seen no evidence of this), just as bungee jumping originated in the Pentecost Islands, Skiing from Austria (or wherever). It doesn't matter. IF people have attached too much 'cultural' significance to a behaviour/act/past time, and have then gotten the impression that they then 'own' it because of the lottery of heredity birth (I was born in Yemen and have brown skin so only I can do this) then it's them whose wrong, not the people emulating it.

[BrokenQuill92]

Honey I don't think that's what she meant. As a brown woman I can I say it's not cultrual melting that most people have a problem with. It's the light fingered privileged way it's done. Like when white teenagers lock their hair, wear sag their pants, and listen to too much rap.

I don't see any problem whatsoever. Culture is not something that can be 'protected'. It's an invented description of something that people find hard to conceptualise. I can prove that, too. Define 'culture'. The issue is when people begin trying to erect barriers against one another using culture as the excuse. It creates otherism to such an extent that we begin to see the exact thing we want to avoid; ghettoisation, segregation, racism, xenophobia, etc.

Culture, imho, is a nonsense term. Humans have evolved by copying the behaviours and trends of others not within their social/family circle. Belly dancing may have originated somewhere in the Middle East (VERY debatable, I've seen no evidence of this), just as bungee jumping originated in the Pentecost Islands, Skiing from Austria (or wherever). It doesn't matter. IF people have attached too much 'cultural' significance to a behaviour/act/past time, and have then gotten the impression that they then 'own' it because of the lottery of heredity birth (I was born in Yemen and have brown skin so only I can do this) then it's them whose wrong, not the people emulating it.

The traditions of others aren't hobbies for middle America. Like i said, your emulating another culture isn't a problem but doing with out some knowledge of you're doing is wrong. I'm sure how many ways I have to say it.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I don't see any problem whatsoever. Culture is not something that can be 'protected'. It's an invented description of something that people find hard to conceptualise. I can prove that, too. Define 'culture'. The issue is when people begin trying to erect barriers against one another using culture as the excuse. It creates otherism to such an extent that we begin to see the exact thing we want to avoid; ghettoisation, segregation, racism, xenophobia, etc.

Culture, imho, is a nonsense term. Humans have evolved by copying the behaviours and trends of others not within their social/family circle. Belly dancing may have originated somewhere in the Middle East (VERY debatable, I've seen no evidence of this), just as bungee jumping originated in the Pentecost Islands, Skiing from Austria (or wherever). It doesn't matter. IF people have attached too much 'cultural' significance to a behaviour/act/past time, and have then gotten the impression that they then 'own' it because of the lottery of heredity birth (I was born in Yemen and have brown skin so only I can do this) then it's them whose wrong, not the people emulating it.

The traditions of others aren't hobbies for middle America. Like i said, your emulating another culture isn't a problem but doing with out some knowledge of you're doing is wrong. I'm sure how many ways I have to say it.

But that still doesn't make a jot of sense.

How many things do you do on a daily basis that you're either:

1. Not aware have cultural significance to others (or)
2. are aware of the cultural significance but don't follow/understand?

I know there's probably a lot that I do that I don't have the foggiest about. Why is understanding the historical 'meaning' behind something a precursor for being able to do said something? Refer to the above. I'm sure you can think of some things you just 'do' without really relating to the historic baggage behind it. And again, I have to insist, we're talking here about an abstract concept that, in real, analytical terms, means nothing. 'Culture' is a buzzword for things, be they behaviours, concepts, traits (etc) that mean precisely whatever the proponent of the word wants it to mean.

And I have to ask, why do you get to decide what can and can't be a 'hobby' for middle America (FYI. I'm British, not American). Who made you grand arbiter of the cultural inquisition?

The issue with the article quoted in the OP is that author appears to take some sort of offence that the act of belly dancing is being 'copied', and arguing why this is wrong based on nothing more than "I'm Arab".

[BrokenQuill92]

Maybe it's just me but if some asked me not to do something because it offended them culturally and it doesn't put me in a bind of any sort I don't see why I shouldn't

[Rampant.A.I.]

I wonder why it's OK for the author to adopt an American cultural identity, while still maintaining their Arab heritage should be left untouched.

I'm not saying there's anything particularly unique about American cultural heritage, other than being a melting pot of different cultural identities.

And at the risk of sounding True 'Merican: Why come here if you don't like cultures blending?

It's irritating to hear people left their home country to escape oppression and significant danger, only to whine and cry about their culture being "taken away" by Americans.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Maybe it's just me but if some asked me not to do something because it offended them culturally and it doesn't put me in a bind of any sort I don't see why I shouldn't

That's fair enough.

I'm a liberal egalitarian so I believe that everyone should have fair and equal access to everything from the get go, be it economical, social, and yes, cultural (note, equality of opportunity, not of outcome).

The issue is when we start ring fencing things because someone is 'offended'. Nobody has a right not to be offended. If they did, then we'd have ass holes all over the world murdering people because someone 'offended' them.

To conclude with my thoughts to the OP, this Randa Jarrar woman is advocating the exact same thing she appears to want to eradicate (racism, xenophobia, etc) through writing a blatantly racist article that seeks to protect her imagined cultural heritage. And she's either too stupid to realise it, or she knows it and is just ignoring it.

[Kayenneh]

The issue is when people begin trying to erect barriers against one another using culture as the excuse. It creates otherism to such an extent that we begin to see the exact thing we want to avoid; ghettoisation, segregation, racism, xenophobia, etc.

The issue is when we start ring fencing things because someone is 'offended'. Nobody has a right not to be offended. If they did, when we'd have ass holes all over the world murdering people because someone 'offended' them.

To conclude with my thoughts to the OP, this Randa Jarrar woman is advocating the exact same thing she appears to want to eradicate (racism, xenophobia, etc) through writing a blatantly racist article that seeks to protect her imagined cultural heritage. And she's either too stupid to realise it, or she knows it and is just ignoring it.

^This!

The traditions of others aren't hobbies for middle America. Like i said, your emulating another culture isn't a problem but doing with out some knowledge of you're doing is wrong. I'm sure how many ways I have to say it.

In that case, stay out of the sauna! You non-Finns have a way of perverting the culture of taking a decent bath in the sauna. There's supposed to be heat, 60-70oC isn't the proper temperature, 80-100oC is the correct way. And why do you need attendants to throw water on the stove, that's something you do yourself. And were are the vihta, the smell and ritual of sauna bathing isn't complete without one. Oh, and take your swimsuits, towels, bathrobes, whatever off, in the sauna you're naked, even if it's a mixed bath! And why the warning signs that children can't bathe unattended? Finnish children take baths on their own as soon as they're old enough to understand that the stove is hot, don't fuck around! And why is it that no one outside of Finland seem to be able to build a proper sauna, how the benches should be arranged, proper ventilation, a good stove etc? You took the Finnish cultural heritage and perverted it! I can't stand outlanders enjoying the sauna, when they're doing everything wrong! [/sarcasm]

Maybe it's just me but if some asked me not to do something because it offended them culturally and it doesn't put me in a bind of any sort I don't see why I shouldn't

“It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so fucking what."

-Stephen Fry