I remember seeing a video of some Australian food truck owner who combined pastry wraps with meaty taco filling and called it a tacro, and that was a bridge too far as protestors charged him with cultural appropriation. They tried to guilt him about the Spanish-American War, and he was all, "I was born on another continent and only moved here five years ago."
I was undecided but walked away thinking that tacro looked fuckin delicious.
They tried to guilt him about the Spanish-American War, and he was all, “I was born on another continent and only moved here five years ago.”
At some point people are too far removed from a historical wrong to hold them accountable for it. It makes no sense to hang some grievance from the Spanish-American War on this dude as an individual, especially when all he's doing is making some taco hybrid. Deciding who gets to participate in what culture isn't going to right those historical wrongs. To do that, you'd need something like reparations, or affirmative action, or you'd at least need to start tearing down all the racism built into our institutions.
For example, which is more useful: convincing someone that a white rapper is appropriating black culture, or convincing someone that cash bail fucks over black people at a disproportionately high rate? There's a parallel here with the use of other culture war battlegrounds to distract from material politics.
I remember seeing a video of some Australian food truck owner who combined pastry wraps with meaty taco filling and called it a tacro, and that was a bridge too far as protestors charged him with cultural appropriation. They tried to guilt him about the Spanish-American War, and he was all, "I was born on another continent and only moved here five years ago."
I was undecided but walked away thinking that tacro looked fuckin delicious.
At some point people are too far removed from a historical wrong to hold them accountable for it. It makes no sense to hang some grievance from the Spanish-American War on this dude as an individual, especially when all he's doing is making some taco hybrid. Deciding who gets to participate in what culture isn't going to right those historical wrongs. To do that, you'd need something like reparations, or affirmative action, or you'd at least need to start tearing down all the racism built into our institutions.
For example, which is more useful: convincing someone that a white rapper is appropriating black culture, or convincing someone that cash bail fucks over black people at a disproportionately high rate? There's a parallel here with the use of other culture war battlegrounds to distract from material politics.