Cultural Appropriation?

A female student of color assaults a white male for appropriating her culture... dreadlocks.

The white student is wearing a hairstyle with roots in ancient Greece, India (he is Caucasian after all), the Nordic (Viking) countries, and the Jewish Nazarites.

The black girl is apparently upset that he is wearing a hairstyle that was appropriated by Rastafarians followed by black Americans in the 70's.

So the key question is how much of this girls culture has been appropriated from others?  How much of her culture is African?  Very little I would guess.  Glass houses and all...

REASON

Dreadlocks have varied origins, it is a hairstyle worn by some African tribes, it also has independent origins in cultures as far ranging as Europe and Asia.  

Is a white male guilty of racism for wearing dreadlocks?  Is a black female guilty of racism for attacking him over it?  Or is it just stupidity?  

 

Brooklyn the New Paris?

Photo: Jim Henderson

My sister used to live in Brooklyn, across the street from Sunset Park.  I remember visiting once and waking up to find all the cars on the park side of the street with slashed tires, fortunately I was on the house side of the street.  That was before she moved to the Upper East Side, just down and across the street from the Permanent Mission of St Kitts and Nevis.  I thought the Upper East Side was way cool.  Imagine my surprise to read that Brooklyn is the new Paris.

Now the wannabe city is Brooklyn...  Ballard is the Brooklyn of Seattle. Glasgow and Melbourne both claim Brooklyn cool. And Oakland, California, has been called the Brooklyn of San Francisco...  There's even a Brooklyn of Paris: the once-gritty suburb of Pantin. Its derelict, graffiti-covered warehouses have been taken over by galleries and artists, turning it into the hippest place in the City of Light. MSN

I haven't been to New York in four years, haven't been to Brooklyn for even longer.  Last time I was there we climbed up on the roof to spectacular views of the Harbor and World Trade Center.

Photo: GK Tramrunner229

 So... is Brooklyn "the new epicenter of cool" ?
 

Throwing Culture out with the Religious Bathwater

Johansen Viggo

Montgomery Co. ed board strips religious holiday references from new calendar

The 7-1 decision by the Montgomery County's Board of Education on Tuesday came after Muslim leaders in the community asked that equal recognition be given to the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha.

Muslim leaders say they're not pleased with the result. They didn't want religious labels removed from the other holidays, just for Muslim students to be treated equally and to have their own holiday recognized. Huffpo

Like it or not, the United States is a Western Nation and as a Western Nation is part of Western Civilization.  Christianity is a defining, if not root, element of Western Civilization.  Everything from Santa Claus to the Easter Bunny are not just religious but cultural holidays.  In fact, the majority of Christian celebrations in the West are covered in the trappings of European pagan holidays that pre-date all other religions with the possible, but doubtful, exception of Judaism.  Christmas and for the most part Easter are celebrated by people of all religions and people of no religion.

The seven idiots on the Montgomery County Board of Education would be well served by taking a lesson from their Muslim petitioners and standing up for their cultural heritage.

The Selfie

Robert Cornelius

The photo above is presumed to be the first "Selfie" taken in 1839 by Robert Cornelius.  With the advent of the Kodak box camera, Selfies moved from the realm of the professional to the amateur.

Unknown

It wasn't until the advent of the internet and the camera phone that things really started to go downhill.

Child Pornography

A sixteen year old girl in Virginia takes a nude selfie of herself and shares it with her friends on Twitter.  Someone notifies a school resource officer who talks to the girl, her parents, and then notifies the authorities.  The authorities then charge the girl with one felony count of possession, reproduction, distribution, solicitation, and facilitation of child pornography.  The minimum sentence associated with the charge is five years.  Had any of her friends retweeted the image, they would also be guilty.

CBS News 

Rare but increasing

Involvement of the authorities is a rare but increasing phenomena.  Two teens in Los Angeles have been charged after swapping nude photos, two teens in Florida have also been charged.  In the worst case among the many I stumbled across browsing news stories was that of the State of Tennessee stamping out a "child pornography ring"... 24 teens who were swapping nude selfies amongst themselves.

Misapplication of the Law?

Laws that were written and implemented to protect children from adult predators are being used to prosecute, some say persecute, the children themselves.  Not confined solely to the United States there have been similar cases in Canada and Australia, as far as Europe goes I found one case in Malta (although that was a case of reposting by a third party).  

Of Questionable Taste

Other selfie phenomena that have manifested in our digital age are funeral selfies, including selfies with the deceased, homeless selfies in which one intentionally captures a homeless person in the background, and accident selfies in which one captures oneself in the aftermath of tragedy. One woman even captured a selfie with a man attempting to commit suicide off the Brooklyn Bridge.

J.N.L

You're all a bunch of Microracists

Microaggression, Microassaults, Microinsults, and Microinvalidation

 

Would you ask an Asian student: "Can you help me with this calculus problem? I just can't figure it out." (You're a racist: Implies Asians are good at math.)

Is your office decorated in Danish Modern? (You're a racist: One’s racial identity can be minimized or made insignificant through the sheer exclusion of decorations.)

Would you make this statement? “I believe the most qualified person should get the job.” (You're a racist: Implies minorities receive an unfair benefit.)

Do you believe we are all human beings and skin color is unimportant? (You're a racist: You deny  the racial and experiential reality of people of color.) 

Would you correct spelling and grammar errors on a submitted college paper? (You're a racist: Creating a hostile campus climate by "correcting perceived grammatical choices that in actuality reflect ideologies".)

Would you correct the use of capitalization of the word "indigenous" in a term paper? (You're a racist: Disregarding the writer's scholarly advocacy and ignoring other ideological implications.)

Want to have a discussion? (You're a racist: Creating a hostile climate by questioning and allowing classmates to question the epistemological and methodological commitments of other students.)

Wait... It gets better; in the Catch-22 department:

Microaggressive acts can usually be explained away by seemingly nonbiased and valid reasons... but they're still microaggresive acts.   No matter what your thoughts, feelings, or underlying motivations, conservative or liberal... if you're white, you're a racist.

It appears that modern and symbolic racism are most closely associated with political conservatives, who disclaim personal bigotry by strong and rigid adherence to traditional American values (individualism, self-reliance, hard work, etc.), whereas aversive racism is more characteristic of White liberals (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1996, 2000).  Aversive racists, are strongly motivated by egalitarian values as well as antiminority feelings. Their egalitarian values operate on a conscious level, while their antiminority feelings are less conscious and generally covert (DeVos & Banaji, 2005)

Somehow, I can't shake the feeling that this entire concept is racist.

 

Seriously, I can't make this shit up:

Psychology Today 

CFP 

National Review 

Fordham University

UCLA

Religion or Culture?

I have little patience for people who sing from the catalog of Christianity's sins but brook no criticism of Islam.  When defending Islam, their favorite argument is that it's not the religion, its the culture

Sir Charles, OM, QC, OFM, Knight of the Queen's Girdle and all that, (Peace Be upon Him), charges to the rescue any time someone casts aspersions upon the Religion of Peace. (See this thread at Leticia's)

He and fellow Defenders of the Faith have excuses from now to doomsday explaining away the horrors that Islam has spawned:

It's not the religion but the national culture...
... religious conservatism...
... women like being swaddled head to toe when it's 120 degrees outside...
... and they don't like driving anyway...
... but it's only a small stick ....

OK, I added the last three, but I have heard variations of them at other forums...

The Christmas day killing in Texas where a man gunned down his entire family as they were gathered around the Christmas tree spurred my fellow Right Blogistanis to yet another gang attack on Islam, but it actually caused me to back up and reconsider. Mr. Yazdanpanah was obviously mentally distraught and emotionally anguished due to bankruptcy, family problems and a marriage breakup.

The Yazdanpanah's were not Muslim Fundamentalists

This is a man who reportedly enjoyed happy hour cocktails with men and women after work.  Look at family pictures and how the women dress.  This is not a fundamentalist family.  They were celebrating Christmas (albeit secularly), with a Christmas tree for Pete's sake!  Religion probably did not motivate him.  But did his native culture?  And what shaped that culture?  He's Iranian, so I'm waiting for an apologist to suggest Zoroastrianism...

Every time a Muslim man decapitates someone or kills his (always female) family members, a "Religion vs. Culture" argument breaks out. It's a silly argument over a false choice. Religion and Culture, you can't have one without the other. Cultures are informed by their dominant religions, and a religion accepts what is not objectionable from the surrounding culture. 

Grand Ayatollah Imam Shirazi explains it better than I ever could:

So in the case of Islamic religion and its followers, Islam does influence the culture, but culture does not generate the religion; for all the teachings of Islam are generated or inspired by none other than the divine entity. Inherently every aspect of the teachings of Islam is based on a reason and wisdom for the good of mankind - [whether or not the reason happens to be known to him.]

On the other hand if a practice or a particular aspect of culture does not contradict the system that is brought for the good of mankind, i.e. it does not contradict the teachings of Islam, or it is good for mankind, then it is accepted or endorsed by the Islamic religion, since anything which is considered good or is not considered harmful for mankind is declared permissible and therefore accepted and endorsed by Islam. And this is the kind of relationship Islam harbours for faith and culture. (Imam Shirazi)

So why are some practices absolutely prohibited (drinking), while female genital mutilation is AOK?  These are religious judgement passed on cultural practices.

Ducky, Jack and other ably proffer evidence to bolster the "culture, not religion" argument. Places like the United Arab Emirates, though ruled by Sharia, are relatively free from stonings and head chopping. The Emirates are very rich, and they bribe jihadis to leave them alone, and they deal harshly with public fundamentalist outbursts. Ducky has pointed out that various religions in Africa perform female genital mutilation, and the practice pre-dates Islam.

So, we have some evidence that prosperity tamps down a religion's most repugnant rituals, and we find that some practices are shared among various religions.  Neither observation answers the culture or religion question definitively, and that's because the two are inextricably entwined.

All I can offer in response is a different attempt at disaggregation.  What about those non-Muslims living in Muslim-dominated cultures?

* Number of bombings carried out by Christians compared to Muslim-inspired explosions.  A quick glance at the news or some googling will reveal Islam beating Christianity 10-1, or greater.

* Since Pakistan is proud home to over 600 honor killings annually, I'd like to see the Christian/Muslim breakdown of the statistics.  Again, some googling will reveal it is approximately, oh... 100% Muslim and 0% Christian, unless it is a Christian who is on the receiving end of an angry wielder of the Flaming Sword of God.

An additional comparison that would be interesting would be the annual number of per capita Old Testament-style punishments meted out in Israel over the past decade compared to surrounding countries.

So is it really the culture?  

Even an intellectually dishonest redefinition of honor killing (carried out by apologist feminists, no less), cannot snatch first prize in body count from Islam's bloody grasp.  They still outnumber even Catholic Latin American husbands who kill their wives in a fit of jealous rage.

So, I don't condemn Islam or its practitioners; I simply view it with eyes wide open. I appreciate the contribution my fellow Americans of the Islamic faith make to this nation in the fields of industry, medicine, the arts, and defense. I thank God we are spared the darker aspects of their faith here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Maybe culture and national character have something to do with it after all...

Daily Mail
WFAA.com
PEW Survey - Muslim Attitudes
Imam Shirazi - Teachings of Islam

Angry Islam Incompatible with European Liberalism

Europeans are increasingly unwilling to tolerate Muslim intolerance

The liberal media in this country are wringing their hands over increasing European intolerance. They worry that anti-Muslim sentiment is on the rise even in Sweden...

"...home of the Nobel Prize and known as the "conscience of the world" for aiding refugees and pioneering laws for women's equality and gay rights. Yet even here, the Swedish Democrats made it into the Rikstag by tapping into a surge of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment sweeping across many nations in Western Europe, propelling right-wing and nationalist parties to their biggest gains in years." (WaPo)

Are our ink-stained scribblers and enlightened cognoscenti really too dumb to realize that Islam is the greatest threat to Europe's famed and admirable liberalism? Muslims are not known for championing women's equality and gay rights.

A Swede put it simply:

"The Swedish are tired of walking around in their own neighborhoods and feeling like they're in Saudi Arabia," said Ekeroth, an intense 30-year-old and founder of the new Anti-Islamic Fund, which promotes criticism of radical Islam. "It is time for the Swedish to be comfortable again in their own country."

Angry Muslim replaces Ugly American as #1 Threat to Europe

There is disorder in the European house. Europeans were living comfortably and peaceably in the home they had built, settling upon a live-and-let-live liberalism that has kept the peace for 65 years.  Ugly Americans demanding everybody speak English used to be the main disturber of Europe's peaceful repose.

Now, denizens of the Olde Continent are shocked and horrified to see that many Muslims they generously invited in have become a pack of wild animals let loose in the house. The beasts have found high perches upon couch backs and china cabinets and bare their fangs at the customs of their hosts.  
 
Because of these newcomers, Europeans must change their behavior?

How is that right? A people have a right to their culture, and nobody has the right to forcibly change it from the outside. This is especially so when the culture is beneficial to mankind, not a threat to others, and has been decided upon by the people. Europe's culture meets all three criteria.

"It isn't racist to want to preserve your culture," said Leif Johansson, a 64-year-old carpenter. "I'm open to immigration, but these people come without a thought to integration, no interest in learning Swedish or being part of Swedish society."

Precisely. No nation should be compelled to commit national suicide. But what else could the agenda be of a people who move in and angrily demand conformance to their strange and violent politico-religious freak show?

Europe may finally be fed up. I pray they are, and I pray we learn a lesson here before it's too late.

* - This is a repost.  It expands upon my thoughts from yesterday's post