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How to Appropriate Culture

Post 1

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Reading around the 'papers' today, I came across a discussion of what people often call political correctness. Apparently, it's a big issue these days on college campuses. And I was surprised.

The first article I read - on Fox News, so I won't burden you with a link - was about a confused young woman who was troubled when her professor dogmatically insisted that if she, being white, sang a song by Rihanna (who, I understand, isn't, not that I would know), she was guilty of cultural appropriation.

Hm, I thought. Aloud, I said to Elektra, 'So what does that make it if Whitney Houston sings 'I Will Always Love You''?

'A big hit for both her and Dolly Parton,' she replied.

Dolly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDqqm_gTPjc

Whitney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JWTaaS7LdU

The complainant went on to list other things her professor said, including that expressing her religious views on controversial issues constituted acts of 'microaggression'. I would think that depended on how she said what she said, but agree with her professor that she probably needs to read the Bible more carefully before insisting that she knows what IT says.

Today's Concord Monitor, a quieter paper than the other news channel, has this in an opinion:

'In a segment for the Big Think website this winter, comedian John Cleese said fellow comedians have warned him about performing at college campuses because students are too easily offended (Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Bill Maher are among those who share that view).'

http://www.concordmonitor.com/Opinion/Editorials/Editorial-Two-sides-of-political-correctness-1457890

Cleese had more to say about why this was a problem. 'Political correctness has been taken from being a good idea ("Let’s not be mean"), he said, to a point where any kind of criticism can be labeled as cruel...'

Good point.

But what people aren't doing is asking where this sort of thing comes from. And as a long-time educator, I think I know.

It's second-hand teaching. Some people who didn't quite get the point of the original idea jump on the bandwagon and spread their misunderstandings around. They're peddling second-hand wisdom, and it shows.

We had an example of that when I was in high school. One year, there was a bit of a dust-up at the school assembly when our choir sang Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus' - not, you would think, very controversial even in 1969.

'Some students stood up for the Hallelujah Chorus, and Mrs Smith told them to sit down and stop disturbing,' they complained to our director, Mr Squirrel.

'So?' said Mr Squirrel. 'Why were they protesting?'

'They weren't, ' the choir members patiently explained. 'It's a tradition to stand up for the Hallelujah Chorus. It goes back to George III.' I was proud of my fellow students, they'd been paying attention in junior high. But Mr Squirrel was a different sort of music teacher from Mr Fletcher, who was classically trained. Mr Squirrel was a jazz musician who regularly beat the school's pianos into submission, necessitating far too many calls to the piano tuners, in the opinion of the administration. But Mr Squirrel had a good heart.

'Really? I'll fix those bums!' he announced. On the desk in front of him was the galley proof for our upcoming conference. Next to the Hallelujah Chorus, Mr Squirrel placed a large asterisk. At the bottom of the programme he wrote in triumphant block letters, 'AUDIENCE STAND.'

'There!'

We privately shook our heads indulgently and laughed. Adults, what can you do with them?

I'm hoping that all of those choir members have gone on to teach their grandchildren that it isn't about political correctness. It's about tolerance - even if your music teacher is a bit on the unpolished side.

smiley - dragon


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 2

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

*Oops. For 'conference', read 'concert'.


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 3

Icy North

I refer Mr Gheorgheni to the BBC's light entertainment schedule in the 1970s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoYOraDt1_k

Yes kids, this ran prime time for years - really.


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 4

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - snork...

Personally, I'd say that goes far behind cultural appropriation. It's, er, more like cultural collapse...

It looks like a cross between Lawrence Welk and Monty Python.

Like the time Lawrence mistook the meaning of this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 5

Pierre de la Mer ~ sometimes slightly worried but never panicking ~

You probably know what happened when David Barenboim went to Israel with the Berliner Staatskapelle i 2001 and conducted Wagner. If not here's a reminder:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/08/wagn-a01.html

smiley - pirate


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 6

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Personally, I associate Wagner with 'pain', but then, I tend to agree with Mark Twain, who said of 'Lohengrin' that '...the recollection of that long, dragging, relentless season of suffering is indestructible.'

But it's a good point - enjoy the music if you can, forget about the idiot who composed it. smiley - laugh


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 7

SashaQ - happysad

It is an interesting topic about cultural appropriation and political correctness that I read quite a lot about in a couple of groups I'm in.

In terms of minority groups, it is the case that if someone from the majority group takes the role of someone in the minority group, then that reduces the opportunities for people in the minority group to take their own roles by a higher proportion than if someone in the minority group took the role of someone in the majority group - there are still plenty of opportunities for the people in the majority group to play their own roles. For example non-disabled people playing disabled people in films etc.

In terms of John Cleese, I don't find him funny these days, although I did like some of Fawlty Towers (I last saw him being very self-indulgent on live TV, interrupting the presenters with offtopic remarks, then complaining when they ran out of time to plug his product). This attitude "we mustn’t criticize or offend them" is something to do with it, I think, as it indicates that comedy is about "them" being used to amuse "us", whereas I prefer comedy that is about "us" not taking "ourselves" seriously.

I agree with you about the second-hand ideas, though, that these phrases are fashionable and used often but misunderstandings mean they aren't always used in the way that they were originally defined... Definitely something that I am aware of myself, that I need to try to ensure my understanding is as sound and up to date as possible...


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 8

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Good points all, Sasha, and I agree!

Also about actors not taking on roles that could be better played by someone with the appropriate background. smiley - ok There used to be a lot of stupidity in that line perpetrated by Hollywood, and I'm glad there's less of it these days. (Do not anyone, at this point, think of Johnny Depp...)

Have you ever seen Peter Lorre playing Mr Moto? At least he did it better than the actors who played Charlie Chan. But I worry about the mindset that kept casting Central European actors like Lorre and Paul Muni as Asians - while asking Sessue Hayakawa to play Native Americans, Mexicans, etc. When they tried to make Hayakawa play an Arab sheikh, he rebelled - so they hired an Italian, Rudolph Valentino. smiley - rofl




How to Appropriate Culture

Post 9

FWR

I blame equality and diversity courses, often run by well meaning earnest idiots who have no idea of the real world.
Last one I was on the 'instructor' berated one of my male friends for making apparently offensive comments and for being flippant whilst discussing 'our' attitudes to (insert trendy name here....) gay people.
My mates reply, " interesting point, I'll be sure to mention that to my boyfriend tonight!"
I love the fact you had Mr Squirrel, what a great name.....or is that offensive to woodland creatures who have had their names heartlessly appropriated by human pedagogues? smiley - run


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 10

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - snork Elektra laughed at 'Mr Squirrel' because it's a phonetic anagram of his actual name.

No offence intended to him or the wildlife. smiley - winkeye

But I like your friend's response.


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 11

Prof Animal Chaos.C.E.O..err! C.E.Idiot of H2G2 Fools Guild (Official).... A recipient of S.F.L and S.S.J.A.D.D...plus...S.N.A.F.U.

"what people often call political correctness"

if they're NOT Yorkshire, they're foreigners smiley - biggrinit saves a lot of time smiley - whistle


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 12

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Of course, there are those who have given up on society before they got started...smiley - whistlesmiley - winkeye


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 13

Prof Animal Chaos.C.E.O..err! C.E.Idiot of H2G2 Fools Guild (Official).... A recipient of S.F.L and S.S.J.A.D.D...plus...S.N.A.F.U.


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 14

Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor

One of my most dreaded examples of 'political correctness' is the idea of some politicians to re-write our national anthem in a way that it has both male and female forms of all words. I find that absolutely silly and although it's certainly not the greatest song in the world it just totally ruins the lyrics. smiley - rolleyes


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 15

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl You know, I thought your national anthem was 'Heil Dir im Siegerkranz'. Boy am I out of date...

I wish somebody - preferably a confirmed pacifist - were allowed to rewrite our national anthem, with less explosive lyrics.

Maybe an anthem that conformed to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) rules?

'And the LED's soft glare,
The professionally supervised laser show in air,
Gave proof through the night,
That our environmentally friendly flag was still there...'


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 16

Pierre de la Mer ~ sometimes slightly worried but never panicking ~

re post 6:

Ah, yes, 'Lohengrin', aka "The smiley - frog Opera" smiley - whistle

smiley - pirate


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 17

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Okay, I'll bite. Explain to me why it's the smiley - frog opera. smiley - laugh


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 18

Otus Nycteus

My smiley - 2cents on this topic, for what they're worth...

I thoroughly dislike the term 'cultural appropriation'.

When you create something, a song, a film, a story, whatever, you *give* something to the world. Everyone who hears, sees or reads your creation, will react to it in their own way. In the best case, they like it and give it a place in their own lives. As a creator you have no control over their reactions, nor should you want to. That way propaganda lies.

Claiming that singing a song created by someone from another ethic background is 'cultural appropriation', is just as narrow-minded as demanding that you should only like music made by people with the same ethnicity as yourself (oreos, anyone?); and it springs from the same stagnant well.

It diminishes the gift that was given, and the joy taken from that gift.

'Cultural appropriation' only takes place when there's money involved and creators get ripped off (which, alas, is not a rare thing) or items are stolen, and then it should be called what it is: theft.

To quote George Clinton: "Funk comes in all colors" - and so do jigs, ragas and opera. Just ask Paul Robeson, Jessye Norman or Cassandra Wilson.

PS The entire 19th season of South Park was one long rant against/send-up of the kind of attitude Dmitri describes. Hilarious and heartwrenching in equal measure.

PPS Hi Tav! smiley - smiley


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 19

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Ja and amen, as they say. smiley - laugh

Do you know what mariachi music is? Mexico's 'appropriation' of German oom-pah music. Complete with border ballads influenced by Moritatlieder...now, you can't beat that kind of thing with a stick, as they say where I come from. smiley - winkeye


How to Appropriate Culture

Post 20

Otus Nycteus

smiley - laugh Most American music is one big stew, anyway - you can basically find any culture's roots in there.

Which makes sense, as soup goes. smiley - tongueincheek

smiley - run


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