Cultural Appropriation is Nonsensical

Have you ever worn hoop earrings, paid for a henna tattoo on a boardwalk, or prepared a delicious Mexican dish for dinner? If so, and you are not of the original culture that created these, you have culturally appropriated them and are seriously problematic.

At least, that’s what intersectionalists will arbitrarily tell you. 

In an America plagued by child hunger, endless homelessness, and crippling poverty, these bold intersectionalists make it their goal in life to bravely confront and punish those who dare wear a sombrero on Halloween or braid their hair in a certain way. They ensure that cultural appropriators meet their sweet justice, sentencing them to several minutes of agonizing patronization and filling them with consequential regret. 

One example of these cultural appropriators would be Rick Bayless, a globally renowned chef who specializes in Mexican cuisine. Bayless has spent most of his life creating masterpieces of Mexican cuisine and has over a dozen awards to show for it. His work has even helped break stereotypes, showing the world that Mexican cultural food is much more beautiful and vibrant than simply the menu of the local Taco Bell.

Bayless is also white.

This proves extremely problematic to those looking for reasons to be offended. Matt Gross at Medium.com wrote that Bayless defending his career as a white man was “some bullsh*t comments about how no one complained about Julia Child ‘appropriating’ French food, as if that were a fair analog to a present-day white chef presenting supposedly authentic Mexican food… (For the record, it’s not: There was no power imbalance between Julia and French cuisine; it’s only when a greater power appropriates from a lesser one that we get all het up.)”

In other words, it doesn’t matter how deep his love for Mexican cuisine is or how much progress he has made breaking down Mexican stereotypes. Bayless is a white man and should only be expected to make toast sandwiches and French fries to intersectionalists.

It is this nonsensical outlook that creates two critical flaws for both cultural appropriation and the ouroboros of intersectionality as a whole.

The first flaw is the arbitrary application of it. Tomatoes are not native of Italy, yet nobody accuses Italians of culturally appropriating it from the Aztecs and Incans who cultivated it hundreds of years ago. Likewise, nobody seen preparing a bowl of tortellini who isn’t Italian is ever accused of cultural appropriation. Why is this? 

The answer lies in the second flaw: power and privilege.

As touched upon with Bayless, intersectionalists see the world around them as being controlled by a system of power and privilege based on factors which we cannot control, i.e. race and gender. Because Bayless is white, he holds an original sin. There is literally not a single thing he can say nor do to make up for this in the eyes of the ignorant and racist individuals who see him for the color of his skin over the content of his character. 

Today, this concept of judging someone mostly on identity flourishes almost solely in places like college campuses. Professor Anderson argued in “Engaging Controversy with Mindfulness and Empathy” that Leda Fisher’s article last year, “Should White Boys Be Allowed to Talk?”, was valuable from her feeling “attacked as a woman of color,” even though her article grouped every white male from the Atlantic to the Black Sea into one category and both generalized and stereotyped them through statements like “To all the Chrises, Ryans, Olivers, and Seans out there, I encourage you to critically examine where your viewpoints come from.” Assuming entire groups of people hold collective thought purely based on their identity is, by every major dictionary’s definition, racist. And to those who argue it is not racist, but instead racially prejudicial, I implore you to find the difference.

To all my fellow Dickinsonians, I urge you to express yourselves however you see fit. You are your own individual. If you’re Latino but have a love for Japanese cuisine, I say chase your dreams. If you’re white and want to wear hoop earrings, I say wear them with pride. Never give these intersectionalists any amount of power over you and your lifestyle. This world is full of countless cultures with beautiful traditions and customs, and to say you must win the birth lottery to enjoy them is completely unacceptable. Let’s share the best of every culture with each other so that we may expand our understanding of one another and build a better tomorrow.