What exactly is cultural appropriation?

Herma_Mora

So I was following this Tumblr art blog that used the term "spirit Pokemon". The artist got called out about "cultural appropriation" of Native Americans, and it ended up falling flat because haha the artist was actually Native American. Whoops.

This made me wonder. What the hell is cultural appropriation anyways? Is it the idea that you can't incorporate ideas from another culture if you don't belong to the race that "owns" said culture? Because that doesn't sound too good.

You know who shares that view? The KKK. I'm not kidding:

It is a simple fact that whenever [minorities/PoCs] try to integrate themselves into White society; that society is damaged immensely, perhaps even destroyed altogether.

Can someone please explain this idea to me?

Kraken

The freshest example of cultural appropriation to me is when westerners apply a misunderstanding to Daoist principles and symbols (i.e; the Taijitu is a symbol of the duality of good and evil), or Dharmic concepts (folks tell me that kamma is actually more similar to Newton's Third Law than a social contract with the universe).

And I'm Chinese. I get very annoyed. 

To me, I say that only pieces of culture that are inalienable and that foreigners have no right to touch are those that are explicitly sacred and possess transcendent significance. But if you're going to use something of ours, try and understand why we made it so, and what we're trying to say with it. Don't slap your own generalizations and interpretations on it willy-nilly.

Herma_Mora

So it's more like using it inaccurately than using it at all?

InsanityAddict

It's all in the eye of the beholder, really. Do some research, use common sense when depicting cultures in your works, don't rely on Hollywood's Cliff Notes version, and above all, care only about the opinions of the representatives of X culture in your vicinity, not the Tumblr folks who appropriate struggles for them. It's hilariously outrageous to treat the opinion of an SJW you've never met as a spokesperson for X community simply because they're louder without even informing about what the people closer to you think.

Herma_Mora

care only about the opinions of the representatives of X culture in your vicinity, not the Tumblr folks who appropriate struggles for them.

This seems reasonable to me.

It's like Johnny Depp and Tonto. Whose opinion are you going to care about more: actual Native American elders or the college-aged hipster who probably has a white guilt complex?

InsanityAddict

Is this cultural appropriation?

glennmagusharvey

Is this cultural appropriation?

Bee

This is cultural appropriation.