One Direction star Harry Styles is in trouble with the self-righteous denizens of the interweb after posting a photo of himself in a Native American ceremonial headdress on Instagram.
According to those who know about such things (such things being communist newspeak), Mr. Styles is guilty of practicing “cultural appropriation”. Broadly speaking, cultural appropriation is when a person or persons from one culture adopt elements – such as symbols, concepts, images etc – of another culture. More specifically, when employed by angry, self-hating whites or angry, separatist non-whites, the term is these days used to argue that white people aren’t allowed to find things from non-European cultures aesthetically appealing because RACISM.
A One Direction fan Twitter account, @1Dneews, posted the statement that ‘cultural appropriation is not nice, regardless of context or intent. let’s [sic] leave it at that.’ To really appreciate the absurdity of the charge of cultural appropriation, one only needs to follow it to its logical conclusion.
If, like the enlightened scholars from @1Dneews suggest, cultural appropriation is bad regardless of context or intent, then why stop at condemning Mr. Styles for merely posing in a headdress? Surely my esteemed editor, Mr. Kassam, being as he is of Indian extraction, should be forbade from speaking English and trade in his Western suits for a sarong or sherwani? (Editor’s Note: But I like your white-man dress!)
In fact, given the modern suit is in effect a British invention, shouldn’t every world leader and businessman, from Barcelona to Bangkok, relinquish their Anglo wardrobe for the native dress of their ancestors?
Well, you self-proclaimed protectors of non-white cultural integrity, what do you say?
Are you willing to tell Didier Drogba he can’t play football because the game wasn’t invented in the Ivory Coast? How about never eating any cuisine that didn’t originate in your ethnic homeland, or giving up your morning coffee habit? Sorry, no fireworks on Bonfire Night – the Chinese invented those, you see. And while we’re at it we may as well demolish every castle left standing in Europe, given our ancestors got the idea from the Muslims.
The truth is if it wasn’t for cultural appropriation, civilisation would not have progressed a step, and our society would be a far more boring place. The idea that cultural appropriation is objectively undesirable or morally wrong is so ludicrous and demonstrably false that only the most hateful racialist or thoughtless liberal drone could be convinced otherwise.
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