On Sensitivity and Specificity

[Res Ipsa]

I've never had an Asian person suggest that I shouldn't eat Asian food because I'm disrespecting their culture by doing so.

Asian restaurant owners appreciate you being a customer. No matter the imbalance of trade with China, there is a Chinese restaurant in most of small-town USA. People love Chinese food.

I certainly do.

Do they deliver to Antarctica?

[Moksha]

Do they deliver to Antarctica?

Dog Sled Dash.

[Gunnar]

Asian restaurant owners appreciate you being a customer. No matter the imbalance of trade with China, there is a Chinese restaurant in most of small-town USA. People love Chinese food.

I certainly do.

Do they deliver to Antarctica?

Why? Is that where you are now?

Seriously though, I would be amazed if were not true that even those stationed in Antarctica are occasionally served or serve themselves Chinese food.

Incidentally, the best Chinese restaurant I ever ate in was the Canton Restaurant in Copenhagen Denmark. Their sweet and sour fish, in particular, was to die for! I wonder if it still exists.

ETA: I looked it up on the internet. It does still exist! I wish I could go there right now! It is in Vesterbro, a subdivision of Copenhagen (København).

[Gunnar]

Remember when that Utah girl caught a lot of social media grief because she wore a Chinese-style dress to her prom? Asians came to her defense.

That reminds how delighted my small children were at the authentic Korean costumes I brought them as gifts, after my tour in Korea with the Air Force. My oldest daughter excitedly asked her mom, "Oh mommy, do I look like a real Korean girl?" They wanted to wear them everywhere, including church, and everyone thought they were so cute!

[Some Schmo]

Has anyone watched Space Force? It's a silly comedy, but I enjoyed it.

Lisa Kudrow plays Steve Carroll's wife, and for some reason, she's in prison. As I recall, he goes to visit her, and she comes out wearing tight braids in an African American style, and when asked about it, she says, "It's not cultural appropriation if they do it to you."

[Analytics]

Appropriation is a concept that I don't think deserves blanket approaches. Is the world better off for cultural blending? Yeah. Without question the combining of cultural artifacts in novel ways is the very essence of the creative process. Can it be insensitive and marginalize originators while elevating the borrower as some form of creative genius as they stand on someone else's cultural shoulders? Yeah, that's part of it, too. It can venture into tokenism, caricature, and offensive stereotyping just as easily as it evolves into the blues and on into rock and roll. Actually, that's a reasonable example of the good and bad aspects of jt. Either way, civilization is not going to be better off for the militant approach to exclusion one sees bandied around on the outrage internet and as was described in the OP.

It's an issue that deserves more nuanced thinking, respectful consideration, and a plurality of voices...with a healthy dose of the creative Screw you that drives innovation, too. But this is now, and we are us. So.

I like the way Steve Pinker put it:

The claim that ethnic uniformity leads to cultural excellence is as wrong as an idea can be. There’s a reason we refer to unsophisticated things as provincial, parochial, and insular and to sophisticated ones as urbane and cosmopolitan. No one is brilliant enough to dream up anything of value all by himself. Individuals and cultures of genius are aggregators, appropriators, greatest-hit collectors. Vibrant cultures sit in vast catchment areas in which people and innovations flow from far and wide. This explains why Eurasia, rather than Australia, Africa, or the Americas, was the first continent to give birth to expansive civilizations (as documented by Sowell in his Culture trilogy and Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel). It explains why the fountains of culture have always been trading cities on major crossroads and waterways. And it explains why human beings have always been peripatetic, moving to wherever they can make the best lives. Roots are for trees; people have feet.

Pinker, Steven. Enlightenment Now (pp. 450-451). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[honorentheos]

Nicely put.

[Morley]

Culturally, I agree with Picasso: "Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal."

Okay, MeDot, nothing against what you're generally saying, but it's pretty funny that you would mention Picasso as someone who had thoughts about cultural appropriation that we should heed.

Cultural appropriation becomes an acute problem when ideas are stolen (or appropriated) rather than borrowed (with credit given). When that happens, it can become a form of plagiarism. Picasso's pivotal masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, is often given as one of the prime examples of cultural appropriation in the art world. Though influenced by African tribal art, Picasso pretended the new style that he displayed was all his own innovation. His legacy is tainted because of this. If he'd acknowledged the influence, all would have been fine.

So, I had to laugh. Picasso is kind of the poster child for being dickish in this way.

[Gunnar]

Has anyone watched Space Force? It's a silly comedy, but I enjoyed it.

Lisa Kudrow plays Steve Carroll's wife, and for some reason, she's in prison. As I recall, he goes to visit her, and she comes out wearing tight braids in an African American style, and when asked about it, she says, "It's not cultural appropriation if they do it to you."

Thanks for recommending Space Force. I enjoy it too. I love the way it parodies the Trump Administration, and it's not even much of an exaggeration! I have no clue about why General Naird's wife is in prison. Do you? But I have only watched the first 8 episodes so far. Perhaps the answer to that question will be revealed in one of the next episodes. It must be pretty serious, as they mentioned it was 40 year sentence.

[Lem]

Has anyone watched Space Force?

YES! John Malkovich is incredible. Every thought and feeling shows in every part of his body, and his character development throughout season 1 is stellar.