Cultural Appropriation, part N

[ravan]

Which of these sports team names is *not* cultural appropriation?

A. Minnesota Vikings
B. Cleveland Indians
C. Washington Redskins
D. Boston Celtics
E. Golden State Warriors

If you guessed A, D and E, you are biased toward Native Americans. The best answer is E, since multiple cultures and tribes from Europe, America and Asia have warriors, although using "warriors" along with native american caricatures is still offensive.

My point? Just because the culture in question is a so called "white" culture doesn't mean that it's symbols can be misappropriated for trivial purposes that they weren't intended. European culture is not monolithic, and many of us are trying to reclaim the pre-christian cultures from the bland hodgepodge that passes for "western" culture.

By the way, if there's so much equal opportunity borging going on in the sports world, why aren't teams names Samurai, Sikh, and other things?

Comments

[ravan.livejournal.com]

Yes, but the ones complaining most bitterly about cultural appropriation, the Native Americans, blithely ignore the cultural appropriation and repurposing of every other group. Because the Irish and Norse are "white" they are therefore somehow a monolithic group with no heritage that isn't free for the taking by anyone - white, black, red, yellow, blue, green or purple.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.