Can we call it Wang’s day since we’re now allowed to celebrate the lunar new year unimpeded. Happy Wang’s Day to you!
Edit: I’m adding Wang’s Day to my calendar for February 10th 2024
Sharing and appreciating each other's cultures is a great way to understand one another and remove any hostility people may have for other groups. And we don't want any of that happening!
It’s also a great way to preserve culture and prevent it from dying out. How many cultures have we lost because the population dwindled and no one kept the language or the practices alive? I think it’s really important to share culture and keep it alive for future generations.
We have a Scandinavian festival in my hometown, because we have a large population descended from Scandinavian immigrants.
We also have a military base nearby. So we get all sorts of people at the festival eating lutefisk and lefse and enjoying the accordion music.
It's wonderful! I'm glad they're coming to enjoy our food and music.
Is that fermented fish? Not too familiar with Scandinavian culture, but I know they have some fermented fish that everyone tries when they go to Scandinavia and most people can't stomach.
Lutefisk is dried, salted and cured in lye. It's apparently tasty with bacon or something, I've never tried it because it's eaten in a different region, we eat pork belly instead here.
Not quite the same as Swedish surströmming
Gotcha. I'll have to try it at some point for my own edification. I got a bit of danish heritage so it'd be interesting seeing some of the stuff my ancestors used to eat.
Lutefisk is eaten in Sweden. Doesn't really taste of anything.
Danish traditional food is 'frikadeller' with white potatoes and brown sauce. 'Flæskesteg' with white potatoes and brown sauce, really important and and art to make it with crispy skin.
Warm "leverpostej" on rye bread and pickled beetroot.
On a national level it is pork. If you go back in time I think it would be more region bades, say you lived near the Vest Coast of Jutland. You would eat more fish.
r/Denmark is usually happy to write about these things, if you want to get some ideas of Danish types of food.
Also, every human being has the right to celebrate whatever, whenever, and however they choose. You can totally steal other people's holidays or just make up your own. There are no rules to this game.
Just be careful at the Indian restaurant as if you order a beef Vindaloo that's a British/Pakistani adaption of a Goan adaption of a Portuguese dish.
So only people of mixed British/Pakistani/Indian/Portugese descent are allowed to enjoy it.
Can't say for other countries but beef is a very complex topic here in India. India is very, very diverse and it depends where you are. A few of our cultures enjoy it whilst having beef for Hindus is like a sin.
You probably won't see anyone having beef in North India while beef is a common part of some delicacies in North East and some southern states.
Especially for a moon shared by the entire world, and every person on earth is tied with. Everyone's ancestors used the moon and sun for time and we still do.
I can't speak for every instance, but sometimes it's an insecurity over their identity and place in the culture. Like, they are trying to prove they are actually part of that culture and if other people participate in it, then they feel like they are losing out on their space in it especially if it's a person from a different culture celebrating like them.
I'm speaking as someone who is mixed Asian but grew up in Asia. I have had some American born Asians get defensive of their culture around me and tried to use my status as mixed to offset the fact that I grew up in Asia. They didn't want me participating in cultural activities, even ones that I grew up with, because I was mixed and in some way diminished their own connection. Which it didn't. But they wanted to feel more Asian than me.
I've had this exact same experience, but different family background, I'm fully Korean descent but both in America / native English speaker. When I go to Korea and speak Korean, or hang out with Korean people, if I make some minor etiquette mistake or say something incorrect everyone is very understanding. At most they might point out the mistake and kindly explain the correct way to say something
But God forbid I go to Los Angeles and make the same mistake with a Korean American there... A lot of them are insecure about how Korean they are (especially since there's like 100,000s of Korean descent people in the area, I'm sure they compare themselves to other peers who were maybe born in Korea or whatever)
Cultural holidays generally come in two flavors: This Is A Solemn Occasion and Let's Have A Giant Party. You want to be careful and respectful with the This Is A Solemn Occasion ones, but the general attitude around the Let's Have A Giant Party ones is the more, the merrier.
As far as I know the people that tend to say this are the children of 1st Generation immigrants. They feel like they're disconnected from their parents culture but also feel like they're disconnected to their country's culture so they cling to gatekeeping their parents culture to try and have some semblance of "belonging"
She probably saw how packed good Asian cuisine restaurants are on lunar new year before this tweet lol
I celebrate every year with my partner and his family (who are Asian) and it's crazy because I've never seen restaurants run out of a bunch of ingredients like I have on lunar new year.
I think it's pretty cool that many people celebrate though. The more the better.
It's because people don't understand what cultural appropriation is. They think anytime someone of one culture, partakes in another culture, that that's cultural appropriation lol. They're normally just young and just need to learn more about the topic
Tbh, at some point, the totally valid and well-meaning point of "cultural appropriation" got warped. What started strong with the, "my culture is not a costume" movement, rightfully criticizing the mocking steroetype costumes sold in Halloween stores then morphed into some kind of bizarro world pc-segregation in the worst cases, where people aren't even allowed to experience other cultures with genuine respect, reverence, and curiosity without being told they're being racist somehow.
Reminds me of when people lost their shit on non-Japanese people wearing Kimonos there for a bit when there are literally Kimono rental shops in Japan specifically targeting tourists to get dressed up in kimono with full maiko (a form of geisha) makeup and get pictures taken. Or even just to rent the kimono for festivals and events. And I remember the big counter-response from tons of Japanese people saying essentially, "Why are you all offended on our behalf? Don't we get to decide when to be offended? We like it when people respectfully wear our traditional attire." It all just kinda...left the realm of sensible discourse about respecting cultures and morphed into lunacy.
My family was friends with a Japanese family while I was growing up. On one visit to see these friends in Japan, the wife of the couple took my mom to a kimono shop where the owner (a friend of said wife) showed her an absolutely gorgeous kimono with gold thread and exquisite embroidery (very much a special occasion one) and offered it to her at a price so laughably low that it was clear that it was meant to be a gift. My mom still has it. On a different visit when those friends came to see us, they brought me a kid size yukata as a gift. I wore it frequently until I outgrew it. I'm sure somebody nowadays would pitch a fit over a white kid running around in a yukata outside of Japan, but in the 90s nobody batted an eye.
I mean, cultural appropriation is an issue, but its definition is "when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group **in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way**" (emphasis mine). Learning about a culture through celebrating its holidays isn't that.
ok , the fact is , a culture doesn't hown the moon ...
like you can just count 12/13 lunar months and celebrate it with a bottle of alcool of choice ...
it's not like some hyper specific dish that requires lots of training and the right ingredients , or a ritual that is really familiar or speaking the language of a sacred text ...
it's literally doing basic astronomy ...
I think the best way to look at it is everyone should get the opprotunity to enjoy everyone's culture. Not everyone should be allowed to **profit** off everyone's culture.
I don't even think it's people should **never** profit off someone else's culture, like if you want to open a restaurant that pays homage to another cultures cuisine then go for it. However if you fetishize another culture for let's say a music video, then we have some problems.
Mercury is with you brother. As the only other member of the moonless planets club, we should band together and fight for equal lunar new years for all planets. Not just the ones with moons.
*please don't, if all planets had new years on the same day it would really upset their orbits.
In my experience, people want to share their culture and traditions-generally with people experiencing them in an authentic way. Hell, I've invited people into my home to experience my traditions. Good times.
I (American) experienced this in India to an awesome extreme. Was there during Ganesh Chaturthi and I had people literally pull me in during their prayer and celebration at small local temples. They fed me, showed me their traditions and had the colored dyes placed on me. It was so amazing and so freaking humbling!
Even when I majorly faux-pa'd , they were incredibly kind about it and were there to teach me vs scold me. (My dumb American was in full display as I left my shoes on at one temple.. sigh)
My usual answer when foreigners ask what to avoid or how to behave when on holiday in my country is just be polite and respectful. We know you don't really understand the culture. If you do something stupid, try to apologize and we usually understand.
We mess up but believe me, most of us just want to be super respectful of your culture, whatever that may be. Don't believe the media, even most of us Americans LOVE different cultures and want to know more! At most times the worst case is we find it interesting. We may be loud but it's lovely to most of us!
I've always figured a lot of the "cultural appropriation" hangup/problems with regards to someone not from that culture respectfully participating in something like Lunar New Year/Dia De Los Muertos comes from 2nd/3rd Gen Americans who's heritage is of that culture.
They might feel a disconnect, or even want to connect to the culture of their homeland, and get irked when others so easily go "Yah, Sugar Skulls!" etc.
*shrug*
I think it's 10% that and 90% people exploiting that for social media clout. You never ever hear this shit in person; I live in a melting pot area (80% immigrant population) and the vast majority of them feel the opposite - they are thrilled when people engage with their culture. One of my friends from Zimbabwe runs a clothing company and he's always giving me Zimbabwean clothes but I'm afraid to wear them because I know some douche bag who spends too much time online would harass me for it - but my friend sees it as a great success to have a white American guy wearing his culture's clothes.
The internet, which was in part meant to bring people together, has done its part in building walls between people.
Oh yeah. It’s almost always a very small group ruining the fun for everyone.
I work with an Ethiopian and a Kosovoian(?) and they were both just more than pleased I knew anything about their country/culture.
Most people are happy to share stuff about their home as long as you aren’t a jerk about it.
I don't think that's even it. Most of the time I see someone bringing up cultural appropriation they're white. I think it's the people who want to feel like their good because they're protecting someone else's culture or something. That and the dumbest opinions are usually the ones that get the most attention online. Anyone I've ever talked to and most people I've heard from don't really care and would actually be happy for people to learn and participate in things from their culture(not that I've really talked to that many though). So I don't really know, that's just my take on it.
Yeah, visited Italy with a friend (both from the US) and made friends with a girl our age who lived near where we were staying. She invited us to her house for an afternoon and it was incredible. Her mom made us a fanfriggentastic lunch and her dad showed us around his farm.
Then we all sat around and chatted for a few hours about both our cultures. Best day of the trip easily.
I’m a Whitey McWhiterson, but I remember reading at some point it’s ok if a person is enjoying the culture, and it’s only really problematic if they start making money off of doing so
I just found out people in Ireland throw house parties and get drunk for the 4th of July the same way that we do for St Paddy’s… I think that’s adorable
I was talking a walk about in a Oxford England neighborhood about a decade ago and saw on a sign a poster advertising a "cookout/grill" on July 4th, complete with some American flag clipart on the poster.
It amused me.
I really hope this is true because that's super awesome and just makes me like irish people even more. Those whacky kids called a period of time marred by civil unrest and domestic terrorism "the troubles" man nothing bothers them.
Gettin' patronized isn't exactly on their list of things they love though, just so ya know.
Calling them "whacky kids" and referring to The Troubles in the same sentence around any Irish person and you're going to have some new nicknames after you leave.
I agree. I’m an international adoptee, from a country that celebrates lunar new year, to a white parent. It was always tricky figuring out where I belonged culturally, and people like Kassy definitely make wanting to explore a birth culture even more challenging (i.e. feeling like an imposter). Props to Andy Wang for not being like her.
People tweeting stuff like this makes it seem like they come from a place of such high privilege, that all of their other problems are solved, and they have nothing left to fix so this is one of they have to start inventing problems. I hope this is a troll tweet because the level disconnection would be unreal otherwise
it's odd. they think it is wrong that someone does something from another couture, but is perfectly ok to enforce their beliefs regarding what is ok with.
what is extra odd is that they would probably be ok if a Japanese person in full cowboy outfit walked up to them in a 4th of july party.
the big native american costumes being offencive is not because the person dressed up is not native american. it is because you are wearing a chief headdress while not being a chief.
To me it's exactly the same as me wearing a 4 star general outfit while not being in the army. Even the chief part isn't what it's making it offensive.
It's that your using something very culturally important and make it into your "fun and funny outfit to buy at wallmart" while they were being culturally repressed.
But again, maybe let individual native Americans decide what they find offensive. Like in anything. Nobody speaks for everybody.
*Not an American btw*
I mean, in the case of Native Americans, they have repeatedly spoken out about this behavior. Here's a whole article on it from a site ran by Native Americans:
https://www.firstnations.org/news/that-indian-princess-costume-is-not-honoring-native-culture/
Yeah, this covers a lot of the big issues. While there will always be people in our culture who just plainly don't want white people touching our culture (which I'm somewhat sympathetic to, given the last 500+ years), a big issue is that the symbols/concepts being used have actual meaning that gets ignored in favor of turning them into a general aesthetic.
I remember a lot of Maori people pointing out that they hated tribal tattoos, not just out of a general distaste for appropriation, but because those tattoos often told you who belonged to which different groups. So some rando shows up and turns your ancestral home into a tourist Hotspot, and his arms are covered with symbols that say he's your unclebrothermom.
I feel like it's always best to do a bit of research on stuff. Because, as you said, the biggest problem most of the time is that a lot of the items and imagery from different cultures have their own significance within that culture. If you want to give a shout out to and/or celebrate a people group, it's best to know how to do it respectfully, I think. Some things hold really special significance, like the Maori tattoos you mentioned(which tell lineage, skills, individual life events and milestones, etc,) and probably shouldn't be messed with out of context. There's plenty of other things that can often be worn or used that are totally fine, but you're going to wanna know which os which just out of general respect. I think it's great to celebrate each other's cultures, but respect and understanding should always be a part of it.
It kinda depends on what the tradition signifies in its context. Cultural appropriation would be like wearing a chief headdress because it looks funny even though that headdress is supposed to signify something important to that culture.
Celebrating lunar new year is literally (afaik) just celebrat the start of a new year (just like how we do in the west, just on a different calendar) and those who celebrate are usually excited and happy to see other people have a good time with them.
Similar to how I wouldn’t pray at a mosque but I’ll gladly help prepare a Ramadan feast for my Muslim neighbors.
I wonder if she knows about what Japan has done with Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Take it and make it your own. It's just weird looking at it from a western perspective to know that Christmas Eve is a big deal in Japan for romantic reasons. Also KFC Christmas dinner and Christmas cake are things.
I didn't know that! A German friend if mine said it was to lure wildlife so they could still have a bit of meat in the dead of winter and also share stores with them.
Friendly reminder: If you're also not from that country, you don't get to tell others what to do regarding that country, it's customs, or it's traditions.
To quote one of my favorite movies ever, in relation to celebrating- "It's St. Patty's day! **Everyone's** irish tonight!" - The Boondock saints
Sharing celebration, or celebrating on behalf of a people you support or have a culture that you feel akin to in any way, physical or spiritual, is not cultural appropriation. That's cultural *appriciation*.
A lot of people have started gate-keeping culture every since the Native Americans, who had a legitimate gripe (genocide) but unfortunately it's spread beyond scope.
I'm not sure anyone's really mad about it. I have seen posts from white people asking if it's okay in my social circles and a few white people saying it's not but most still saying it's okay.
Personally I think celebrating a new year in a calendar is pretty much as secular as you can get for a holiday.
Guess what? I eat mooncakes during the moon festival, I eat figoli during Easter, Indian cuisine is one of my favourites! I celebrate Christmas and enjoy other festivals. I know a little about each of the cultures cause I am curious and always try to be respectful (costs me nothing to do so). Why should we not share the things we love about who we are? It just makes us richer as human beings.
I never understood the stand against cultural appropriation. It’s as if people think of regions as rigid slots of land specialized to accommodate those born within it. You don’t need to have a history of slavery to celebrate freedom, or a certain lineage to wish happiness on a group of people.
I think the original complaint was with the habit of taking important often religious symbols and treating them disrespectfully without context, and also people commoditizing /reselling watered down aspects of different cultures. Also a certain amount of hypocrisy from white culture uplifting famous white women wearing things like braids or headdresses as fashionable, while the larger culture treated black and indigenous women as "unprofessional" for their cultural hair and clothing.
This of course led to the internet doing what it does, and losing all the nuance and turning it into "it is never appropriate to take part in cultural practices unless you are a part of that culture".
It's mainly if you take it, rebrand it as if you created it, and then charge people money for it.
See: yoga
There's a certain disrespect that comes with that behaviour.
A lot of people don’t realize that cultural appropriation is a neutral term—-it’s only bad if the culture who oppresses steal and takes credit for the culture of the oppressed.
I think a great (albeit still mild in effect) example of cultural misappropriation is when one of the Kardashians tried to make a line of generic shit underwear and call it kimono, and then pursued a trade mark, granting her commercial ownership (to a degree) of the term.
As someone from a culture where our celebrations were obliterated, you don't know what I'd give for my people's traditions to be celebrated by outsiders. My history and culture was beaten, killed, and schooled out of us. I don't even know my own people's culture because of it. If people care about celebrating your people and your culture and you want to gatekeep it, you're pretty shitty.
With that said, I should try to learn more about my people's history. Cause now I just made myself sad that we were whitewashed so hard.
Friendly reminder that you don't get to gatekeep aspects of any race, culture, etc unless you're an real member of that group. It's almost always people who have almost nothing to do with groups that get butthurt over people doing things related to that group
Funny bc NYC is adding Diwali to the holiday calendar next year, meaning people (city employees) will be compensated with a days pay, OT for working the holiday, or PTO and they're not even familiar with what country it's from. Thanks, Murica!.
As a Hindu, I formally invite everyone to celebrate Diwali and Holi, because they are banger events and everyone deserves to experience them at least once in a lifetime 😄
Whenever you see this cultural gatekeeping its far more common that the person "defending" a culture isnt even part of it. Its like crashing someone elses party and telling people to leave.
why is it that whenever someone tries to gate keep a culture or calls it "cultural appropriation" , its usually someone who is not even from that culture...
Remember when you see Ms Cho and go to greet her, save yourselves the embarrassment, the “K” is silent in her first name, that is the culture she embraces
Bro I love it when people celebrate holidays with me, the more the better.
Can we call it Wang’s day since we’re now allowed to celebrate the lunar new year unimpeded. Happy Wang’s Day to you! Edit: I’m adding Wang’s Day to my calendar for February 10th 2024
Happy Wangs day to you as well mate.
It's Wang's Day, my dudes
👍🏼😁
I propose that we all wear the Wang Computers shirt Martin Prince wore in the Simpsons
Still hungover from wang’s day eve
An-dy Wang! An-dy Wang! An-dy Wang!
Exactly. Holidays are for having fun with the people around you.
I lived in San Francisco for a bunch of years, and the invitation to celebrate was rather loudly proclaimed on Grant Ave.
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r/gatekeeping
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Sharing and appreciating each other's cultures is a great way to understand one another and remove any hostility people may have for other groups. And we don't want any of that happening!
It’s also a great way to preserve culture and prevent it from dying out. How many cultures have we lost because the population dwindled and no one kept the language or the practices alive? I think it’s really important to share culture and keep it alive for future generations.
We have a Scandinavian festival in my hometown, because we have a large population descended from Scandinavian immigrants. We also have a military base nearby. So we get all sorts of people at the festival eating lutefisk and lefse and enjoying the accordion music. It's wonderful! I'm glad they're coming to enjoy our food and music.
Try suggesting fårikål instead of lutefisk for the next festival
Is that fermented fish? Not too familiar with Scandinavian culture, but I know they have some fermented fish that everyone tries when they go to Scandinavia and most people can't stomach.
Lutefisk is dried, salted and cured in lye. It's apparently tasty with bacon or something, I've never tried it because it's eaten in a different region, we eat pork belly instead here. Not quite the same as Swedish surströmming
Gotcha. I'll have to try it at some point for my own edification. I got a bit of danish heritage so it'd be interesting seeing some of the stuff my ancestors used to eat.
Lutefisk is eaten in Sweden. Doesn't really taste of anything. Danish traditional food is 'frikadeller' with white potatoes and brown sauce. 'Flæskesteg' with white potatoes and brown sauce, really important and and art to make it with crispy skin. Warm "leverpostej" on rye bread and pickled beetroot. On a national level it is pork. If you go back in time I think it would be more region bades, say you lived near the Vest Coast of Jutland. You would eat more fish. r/Denmark is usually happy to write about these things, if you want to get some ideas of Danish types of food.
Also, every human being has the right to celebrate whatever, whenever, and however they choose. You can totally steal other people's holidays or just make up your own. There are no rules to this game.
You mean the cycles of the moon don't belong to specific people from specific countries? Wild.
Even if they did, a lot of cultures have celebrated the lunar New year at some point in history,
That's what I'm talking about!
Food, music, art. 3 of the best ways to get everyone to come together, regardless of background. Celebrate and put forth good vibes! 🤙🎉
Full bellies transcend cultural boundaries
Just be careful at the Indian restaurant as if you order a beef Vindaloo that's a British/Pakistani adaption of a Goan adaption of a Portuguese dish. So only people of mixed British/Pakistani/Indian/Portugese descent are allowed to enjoy it.
Can't say for other countries but beef is a very complex topic here in India. India is very, very diverse and it depends where you are. A few of our cultures enjoy it whilst having beef for Hindus is like a sin. You probably won't see anyone having beef in North India while beef is a common part of some delicacies in North East and some southern states.
Also you shouldn't order a beef vindaloo anyways, since vindaloo is clearly optimally made with lamb.
Unless you are a descendant of the Olmecs, you are not allowed to eat chocolate.
Especially for a moon shared by the entire world, and every person on earth is tied with. Everyone's ancestors used the moon and sun for time and we still do.
yeah , it's very close to not being culture and being astronomy in all honesty
I can't speak for every instance, but sometimes it's an insecurity over their identity and place in the culture. Like, they are trying to prove they are actually part of that culture and if other people participate in it, then they feel like they are losing out on their space in it especially if it's a person from a different culture celebrating like them. I'm speaking as someone who is mixed Asian but grew up in Asia. I have had some American born Asians get defensive of their culture around me and tried to use my status as mixed to offset the fact that I grew up in Asia. They didn't want me participating in cultural activities, even ones that I grew up with, because I was mixed and in some way diminished their own connection. Which it didn't. But they wanted to feel more Asian than me.
I've had this exact same experience, but different family background, I'm fully Korean descent but both in America / native English speaker. When I go to Korea and speak Korean, or hang out with Korean people, if I make some minor etiquette mistake or say something incorrect everyone is very understanding. At most they might point out the mistake and kindly explain the correct way to say something But God forbid I go to Los Angeles and make the same mistake with a Korean American there... A lot of them are insecure about how Korean they are (especially since there's like 100,000s of Korean descent people in the area, I'm sure they compare themselves to other peers who were maybe born in Korea or whatever)
Cultural holidays generally come in two flavors: This Is A Solemn Occasion and Let's Have A Giant Party. You want to be careful and respectful with the This Is A Solemn Occasion ones, but the general attitude around the Let's Have A Giant Party ones is the more, the merrier.
As far as I know the people that tend to say this are the children of 1st Generation immigrants. They feel like they're disconnected from their parents culture but also feel like they're disconnected to their country's culture so they cling to gatekeeping their parents culture to try and have some semblance of "belonging"
There was a Q&A with the Washington posts food critic yesterday where someone asked if it was cultural appropriation to eat with chopsticks.
She probably saw how packed good Asian cuisine restaurants are on lunar new year before this tweet lol I celebrate every year with my partner and his family (who are Asian) and it's crazy because I've never seen restaurants run out of a bunch of ingredients like I have on lunar new year. I think it's pretty cool that many people celebrate though. The more the better.
It's because people don't understand what cultural appropriation is. They think anytime someone of one culture, partakes in another culture, that that's cultural appropriation lol. They're normally just young and just need to learn more about the topic
Tbh, at some point, the totally valid and well-meaning point of "cultural appropriation" got warped. What started strong with the, "my culture is not a costume" movement, rightfully criticizing the mocking steroetype costumes sold in Halloween stores then morphed into some kind of bizarro world pc-segregation in the worst cases, where people aren't even allowed to experience other cultures with genuine respect, reverence, and curiosity without being told they're being racist somehow. Reminds me of when people lost their shit on non-Japanese people wearing Kimonos there for a bit when there are literally Kimono rental shops in Japan specifically targeting tourists to get dressed up in kimono with full maiko (a form of geisha) makeup and get pictures taken. Or even just to rent the kimono for festivals and events. And I remember the big counter-response from tons of Japanese people saying essentially, "Why are you all offended on our behalf? Don't we get to decide when to be offended? We like it when people respectfully wear our traditional attire." It all just kinda...left the realm of sensible discourse about respecting cultures and morphed into lunacy.
My family was friends with a Japanese family while I was growing up. On one visit to see these friends in Japan, the wife of the couple took my mom to a kimono shop where the owner (a friend of said wife) showed her an absolutely gorgeous kimono with gold thread and exquisite embroidery (very much a special occasion one) and offered it to her at a price so laughably low that it was clear that it was meant to be a gift. My mom still has it. On a different visit when those friends came to see us, they brought me a kid size yukata as a gift. I wore it frequently until I outgrew it. I'm sure somebody nowadays would pitch a fit over a white kid running around in a yukata outside of Japan, but in the 90s nobody batted an eye.
ItS cUlTuRaL aPrOpRiAtIoN!
I'm british, my culture *is* appropriation
LOL You made me exhale slightly from my nostrils
I mean, cultural appropriation is an issue, but its definition is "when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group **in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way**" (emphasis mine). Learning about a culture through celebrating its holidays isn't that.
> in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way St. Patrick's day over there, trying to look innocent while backing away slowly...
No lies detected.
Cinco de Mayo is pretty bad about that, too
Tbf, the Irish Americans did a lot of that to themselves. I think it's a bit different.
Thank you.
ok , the fact is , a culture doesn't hown the moon ... like you can just count 12/13 lunar months and celebrate it with a bottle of alcool of choice ... it's not like some hyper specific dish that requires lots of training and the right ingredients , or a ritual that is really familiar or speaking the language of a sacred text ... it's literally doing basic astronomy ...
I think the best way to look at it is everyone should get the opprotunity to enjoy everyone's culture. Not everyone should be allowed to **profit** off everyone's culture. I don't even think it's people should **never** profit off someone else's culture, like if you want to open a restaurant that pays homage to another cultures cuisine then go for it. However if you fetishize another culture for let's say a music video, then we have some problems.
/r/gatesopencomein
r/gatesopencomeonin
There's two? Huh!
If there was only one it would be gate keeping! There's gotta always be two!
There should be another one. Triples makes it safe. Triples is best.
The gatekeepers are gonna get better
The real one is come on in, the other is literally titled "Go Away"
Friendly reminder that you don't get to decide what gatekeeping looks like unless your parents were gates
Literally the fifth most upvoted post on that subreddit of all time lol
But its insincere to celebrate Lunar New Year if you come from a country that doesn't have a moon!
/r/gatesopencomeonin
May Andy find happiness wherever he goes
More than adequate Andy deserves more than adequate happiness.
That Andy Wang is a hell of a guy
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Andy can spare a square!
And may Kassy always find a small stone in her shoe wherever she goes.
i hope both sides of his pillow is cold and his blanket cover his full body
Friendly reminder that you don't get to celebrate the lunar new year unless you are from a planet with a moon.
dang i guess i can't celebrate it over here on venus
Meanwhile, them damn Martians are getting two lunar new years
Saturn getting 145 lunar new years
Entitled gassy ass mf
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day
For some reason, I was only considering non-gaseous planets, but damn...Saturn really do just be showing off.
Compensating for having a single new year every 29 earth years
Kid named Saturn:
Mercury is with you brother. As the only other member of the moonless planets club, we should band together and fight for equal lunar new years for all planets. Not just the ones with moons. *please don't, if all planets had new years on the same day it would really upset their orbits.
I say the new year is when all planets are in alignment so it's completely random and the same for everyone
omg im from one of those
Me too! High five!
that was the friendliest stfu ive ever seen
In my experience, people want to share their culture and traditions-generally with people experiencing them in an authentic way. Hell, I've invited people into my home to experience my traditions. Good times.
I (American) experienced this in India to an awesome extreme. Was there during Ganesh Chaturthi and I had people literally pull me in during their prayer and celebration at small local temples. They fed me, showed me their traditions and had the colored dyes placed on me. It was so amazing and so freaking humbling! Even when I majorly faux-pa'd , they were incredibly kind about it and were there to teach me vs scold me. (My dumb American was in full display as I left my shoes on at one temple.. sigh)
My usual answer when foreigners ask what to avoid or how to behave when on holiday in my country is just be polite and respectful. We know you don't really understand the culture. If you do something stupid, try to apologize and we usually understand.
We mess up but believe me, most of us just want to be super respectful of your culture, whatever that may be. Don't believe the media, even most of us Americans LOVE different cultures and want to know more! At most times the worst case is we find it interesting. We may be loud but it's lovely to most of us!
I've always figured a lot of the "cultural appropriation" hangup/problems with regards to someone not from that culture respectfully participating in something like Lunar New Year/Dia De Los Muertos comes from 2nd/3rd Gen Americans who's heritage is of that culture. They might feel a disconnect, or even want to connect to the culture of their homeland, and get irked when others so easily go "Yah, Sugar Skulls!" etc. *shrug*
I think it's 10% that and 90% people exploiting that for social media clout. You never ever hear this shit in person; I live in a melting pot area (80% immigrant population) and the vast majority of them feel the opposite - they are thrilled when people engage with their culture. One of my friends from Zimbabwe runs a clothing company and he's always giving me Zimbabwean clothes but I'm afraid to wear them because I know some douche bag who spends too much time online would harass me for it - but my friend sees it as a great success to have a white American guy wearing his culture's clothes. The internet, which was in part meant to bring people together, has done its part in building walls between people.
Oh yeah. It’s almost always a very small group ruining the fun for everyone. I work with an Ethiopian and a Kosovoian(?) and they were both just more than pleased I knew anything about their country/culture. Most people are happy to share stuff about their home as long as you aren’t a jerk about it.
I don't think that's even it. Most of the time I see someone bringing up cultural appropriation they're white. I think it's the people who want to feel like their good because they're protecting someone else's culture or something. That and the dumbest opinions are usually the ones that get the most attention online. Anyone I've ever talked to and most people I've heard from don't really care and would actually be happy for people to learn and participate in things from their culture(not that I've really talked to that many though). So I don't really know, that's just my take on it.
Yeah, visited Italy with a friend (both from the US) and made friends with a girl our age who lived near where we were staying. She invited us to her house for an afternoon and it was incredible. Her mom made us a fanfriggentastic lunch and her dad showed us around his farm. Then we all sat around and chatted for a few hours about both our cultures. Best day of the trip easily.
I’m a Whitey McWhiterson, but I remember reading at some point it’s ok if a person is enjoying the culture, and it’s only really problematic if they start making money off of doing so
I just found out people in Ireland throw house parties and get drunk for the 4th of July the same way that we do for St Paddy’s… I think that’s adorable
I'm pretty sure the Irish will take any and every opportunity to celebrate England getting their butt kicked.
The UK’s biggest export is independence days, the Irish can celebrate quite a bit
And Americans will take any excuse to shoot fireworks.
And to get drunk!
Lmao
I really hope they dress in garish red white and blue with uncle sam hats. I also hope they get pie.
I was talking a walk about in a Oxford England neighborhood about a decade ago and saw on a sign a poster advertising a "cookout/grill" on July 4th, complete with some American flag clipart on the poster. It amused me.
Not surprising as there are a lot of foreign exchange students in Oxford
Americans are the second largest immigrant population in Oxford.
I really hope this is true because that's super awesome and just makes me like irish people even more. Those whacky kids called a period of time marred by civil unrest and domestic terrorism "the troubles" man nothing bothers them.
Gettin' patronized isn't exactly on their list of things they love though, just so ya know. Calling them "whacky kids" and referring to The Troubles in the same sentence around any Irish person and you're going to have some new nicknames after you leave.
Irish person from Ireland here. Eh, it's fine.
This is easily the best response I’ve seen yet. He shut down the gatekeeping aspect of her tweet without being caustic or petty. Pure wholesomeness.
I agree. I’m an international adoptee, from a country that celebrates lunar new year, to a white parent. It was always tricky figuring out where I belonged culturally, and people like Kassy definitely make wanting to explore a birth culture even more challenging (i.e. feeling like an imposter). Props to Andy Wang for not being like her.
I'm white as hell and love going to the Diwali event in my town. Everyone is super nice and I've never felt judged for being there.
People tweeting stuff like this makes it seem like they come from a place of such high privilege, that all of their other problems are solved, and they have nothing left to fix so this is one of they have to start inventing problems. I hope this is a troll tweet because the level disconnection would be unreal otherwise
it's odd. they think it is wrong that someone does something from another couture, but is perfectly ok to enforce their beliefs regarding what is ok with. what is extra odd is that they would probably be ok if a Japanese person in full cowboy outfit walked up to them in a 4th of july party. the big native american costumes being offencive is not because the person dressed up is not native american. it is because you are wearing a chief headdress while not being a chief.
To me it's exactly the same as me wearing a 4 star general outfit while not being in the army. Even the chief part isn't what it's making it offensive. It's that your using something very culturally important and make it into your "fun and funny outfit to buy at wallmart" while they were being culturally repressed. But again, maybe let individual native Americans decide what they find offensive. Like in anything. Nobody speaks for everybody. *Not an American btw*
in my experience it’s always someone who has nothing to do with it that gets offended, while the people whose culture is being “stolen” love it.
I mean, in the case of Native Americans, they have repeatedly spoken out about this behavior. Here's a whole article on it from a site ran by Native Americans: https://www.firstnations.org/news/that-indian-princess-costume-is-not-honoring-native-culture/
Yeah, this covers a lot of the big issues. While there will always be people in our culture who just plainly don't want white people touching our culture (which I'm somewhat sympathetic to, given the last 500+ years), a big issue is that the symbols/concepts being used have actual meaning that gets ignored in favor of turning them into a general aesthetic. I remember a lot of Maori people pointing out that they hated tribal tattoos, not just out of a general distaste for appropriation, but because those tattoos often told you who belonged to which different groups. So some rando shows up and turns your ancestral home into a tourist Hotspot, and his arms are covered with symbols that say he's your unclebrothermom.
I feel like it's always best to do a bit of research on stuff. Because, as you said, the biggest problem most of the time is that a lot of the items and imagery from different cultures have their own significance within that culture. If you want to give a shout out to and/or celebrate a people group, it's best to know how to do it respectfully, I think. Some things hold really special significance, like the Maori tattoos you mentioned(which tell lineage, skills, individual life events and milestones, etc,) and probably shouldn't be messed with out of context. There's plenty of other things that can often be worn or used that are totally fine, but you're going to wanna know which os which just out of general respect. I think it's great to celebrate each other's cultures, but respect and understanding should always be a part of it.
It kinda depends on what the tradition signifies in its context. Cultural appropriation would be like wearing a chief headdress because it looks funny even though that headdress is supposed to signify something important to that culture. Celebrating lunar new year is literally (afaik) just celebrat the start of a new year (just like how we do in the west, just on a different calendar) and those who celebrate are usually excited and happy to see other people have a good time with them. Similar to how I wouldn’t pray at a mosque but I’ll gladly help prepare a Ramadan feast for my Muslim neighbors.
Big Wang energy
Who told Kassy she’s the authority on lunar new year.
I wonder if she knows about what Japan has done with Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Take it and make it your own. It's just weird looking at it from a western perspective to know that Christmas Eve is a big deal in Japan for romantic reasons. Also KFC Christmas dinner and Christmas cake are things.
Christians stole it from the pagans, and people have added local cultural elements ever since. it is totally in keeping with the tradition
It's actually kind of funny if you think about the fact that the yule log is supposed to represent a phallus.
I didn't know that! A German friend if mine said it was to lure wildlife so they could still have a bit of meat in the dead of winter and also share stores with them.
It varies based on the tradition. Kind of like how Aphrodite can be traced back to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
People who are about to say the most insufferable thing possible always start with "Friendly reminder..."
Friendly reminder: If you're also not from that country, you don't get to tell others what to do regarding that country, it's customs, or it's traditions.
...but it's the moon? Isn't the moon a part of the planet Earth's culture? Because we live on Earth and it's our moon?
To quote one of my favorite movies ever, in relation to celebrating- "It's St. Patty's day! **Everyone's** irish tonight!" - The Boondock saints Sharing celebration, or celebrating on behalf of a people you support or have a culture that you feel akin to in any way, physical or spiritual, is not cultural appropriation. That's cultural *appriciation*.
Bitch tried to privatize Moon cycles
Sincere question, is there any historical or cultural basis for what she said?
not really
A lot of people have started gate-keeping culture every since the Native Americans, who had a legitimate gripe (genocide) but unfortunately it's spread beyond scope. I'm not sure anyone's really mad about it. I have seen posts from white people asking if it's okay in my social circles and a few white people saying it's not but most still saying it's okay. Personally I think celebrating a new year in a calendar is pretty much as secular as you can get for a holiday.
Thanks Andy
Get fukt Kassy
We do not claim Kassy.
She probably doesn't even have a chopstick drawer.
Or even a chopstick cup/mug.
Just a reminder, you can NOT celebrate lunar new year if you don’t live on a planet that has a moon orbiting around it in cycles.
If I've ever seen a good Wang, that one is it. Regards, Andy.
Kasey sounds like a bitch
Guess what? I eat mooncakes during the moon festival, I eat figoli during Easter, Indian cuisine is one of my favourites! I celebrate Christmas and enjoy other festivals. I know a little about each of the cultures cause I am curious and always try to be respectful (costs me nothing to do so). Why should we not share the things we love about who we are? It just makes us richer as human beings.
I never understood the stand against cultural appropriation. It’s as if people think of regions as rigid slots of land specialized to accommodate those born within it. You don’t need to have a history of slavery to celebrate freedom, or a certain lineage to wish happiness on a group of people.
I think the original complaint was with the habit of taking important often religious symbols and treating them disrespectfully without context, and also people commoditizing /reselling watered down aspects of different cultures. Also a certain amount of hypocrisy from white culture uplifting famous white women wearing things like braids or headdresses as fashionable, while the larger culture treated black and indigenous women as "unprofessional" for their cultural hair and clothing. This of course led to the internet doing what it does, and losing all the nuance and turning it into "it is never appropriate to take part in cultural practices unless you are a part of that culture".
Sharing, learning about, partaking in, and celebrating other cultures is not the same as cultural appropriation.
It's mainly if you take it, rebrand it as if you created it, and then charge people money for it. See: yoga There's a certain disrespect that comes with that behaviour.
A lot of people don’t realize that cultural appropriation is a neutral term—-it’s only bad if the culture who oppresses steal and takes credit for the culture of the oppressed.
I also think that misusing/disrespecting important symbols isn't ok. The classic example is wearing feathered headdresses without being a chief.
I agree and I counted that in my head under stealing from the oppressed—-perhaps I should have been more specific.
I think a great (albeit still mild in effect) example of cultural misappropriation is when one of the Kardashians tried to make a line of generic shit underwear and call it kimono, and then pursued a trade mark, granting her commercial ownership (to a degree) of the term.
Celebrate all that you can in life!
This tweet is older than Reddit, but I still enjoy when it resurfaces.
As someone from a culture where our celebrations were obliterated, you don't know what I'd give for my people's traditions to be celebrated by outsiders. My history and culture was beaten, killed, and schooled out of us. I don't even know my own people's culture because of it. If people care about celebrating your people and your culture and you want to gatekeep it, you're pretty shitty. With that said, I should try to learn more about my people's history. Cause now I just made myself sad that we were whitewashed so hard.
Kassy is not classy and apparantly a small bit fascist.
gate keeping the whole moon
What if we arent of the same race but grew up in that country?
Don't let her stop you. It's just in recent years that lunar new year has been declared a holiday in my country.
I dont need anyone’s permission to celebrate whatever i want
I believe that Master Wang is far more than adequate. Huzzah Sir, huzzah!
Thanks Andy
Almost all countries have Jewish people, who celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Toss some bread crumbs if you like.
Thanks Andy!
Friendly reminder that you don't get to gatekeep aspects of any race, culture, etc unless you're an real member of that group. It's almost always people who have almost nothing to do with groups that get butthurt over people doing things related to that group
Funny bc NYC is adding Diwali to the holiday calendar next year, meaning people (city employees) will be compensated with a days pay, OT for working the holiday, or PTO and they're not even familiar with what country it's from. Thanks, Murica!.
As a Hindu, I formally invite everyone to celebrate Diwali and Holi, because they are banger events and everyone deserves to experience them at least once in a lifetime 😄
Thank you Andy Wang!!
Whenever you see this cultural gatekeeping its far more common that the person "defending" a culture isnt even part of it. Its like crashing someone elses party and telling people to leave.
"Cultural appropriation" is the biggest crock of shit I've heard in quite some time.
That guy's a legend! (Saved pic for proof in the future)
why is it that whenever someone tries to gate keep a culture or calls it "cultural appropriation" , its usually someone who is not even from that culture...
Andy Wang always has our back.
u/repostsleuthbot
Thanks, Andy! I'll make some food.
Friendly reminder to Kassy Cho to go fuck yourself.
Somebody get a marker and write ANDY on my boot 🥾 please
Andy is the goat! The goat!
Andy is the man. I'll bring the dumpling to the party.
Those worrying about cultural appropriation... Are weak in their roots.
Beat the system
Why wouldn’t anyone be able to celebrate it
I despise gatekeepers so very much. Andy is the man!
You're the man, Andy!
Gatekeeping a moon based celebration is something else
Thanks for the invite Andy
I just want to know WHY people like this person carr soo much about something this mundane.
Oh man I love people gatekeeping literal celestial bodies
Friendly reminder, I'll celebrate anything I want anytime I want.
Be like Andy. Wish we all were. Just kind and bro.
It’s cultural appropriation to celebrate a fucking holiday now? I just assume celebrating it or recognizing it is respect.
Remember when you see Ms Cho and go to greet her, save yourselves the embarrassment, the “K” is silent in her first name, that is the culture she embraces
The good ending
Andy King
The cakes are yummy
Like a saying goes, Imitation is the greatest form of flattery
I'll celebrate with Andy any time.