Impact Spoilers: Accidents & Gifted Titles

The blood was coming from his nose and face. He ended up breaking his nose and front orbital bone.

Rich Swan's wife is Su Yung and was not fired.

Also fuck this "appropriation" shit. It's a phrase, get over it.

Last edited by SennY (Fri-19-Jan-2018 21:16:29)

This is kind of on topic so...

I don't believe in cultural appropriation. I don't think talking about having a spirit animal is disrespectful to certain cultures nor do I think those cultures own that gimmick, so to speak. It literally is a wrestling gimmick for a heel that is meant to piss people off because the dude is clearly not spiritual, from what I understand of the story (which isn't much, I don't watch TNA).

The idea of a spirit guide or animal is a much bigger concept than it's original roots and if someone wants to say they have a spirit animal, or whatever, through a wrestling show, a movie or TV show that has nothing to do with the original culture, or just in real life, then I don't see the issue. There are huge franchises that have taken the idea of "spirit animals" or other such things in the modern world of storytelling. They aren't exactly slapping a native american in the face and saying "Your animal is mine now, bitch!"

I know you were being sarcastic, Paige, but the fact is borrowing from other cultures really DOESN'T mean anything. If I make my hair into cornrows, for example, I have every right too regardless of anything a black person says.

I also find it somewhat hypocritical that liberals seem be of the mindset that as a species they want everyone to share and tolerate cultures yet if you are a minority, and someone who isn't references or uses your cultural thing, it's "appropriation".

The cultural appropriation argument just allows for idiots like the woman on BBC who once claimed that using black emojis if you are not black, or using GIFs with black people, is "digital blackface" it's the same sort of over the top political correctness that isn't necessary.

What is and isn't appropriation is case by case, and application matters. Wearing an "Indian" costume for Halloween is racist. Cowboys & indians, all that shit. If you're (general; not Sen or Rhys specifcially) an atheist, Catholic or what have you, no; you don't have a spirit animal. It's not part of your cultural background, your history, your identity. I never heard any white people say that shit (a lot at that) until quite recently (couple years maybe). Patronuses in Harry Potter could and have been viewed that way by some. Myself, I feel it was handled well enough and depicted differently enough to squeak by. Social media users naming their "spirit animal" in their little profile blurbs is blatant appropriation. When I'm seeing shit like, "my spirit animal is a slice of pizza", that's appropriation by someone who's either blissfully unaware of their privilege, or aware but uncaring anyway. It's kinda like the ignorant cisgender people out there who mock transgender people with shit like, "I identity as a helicopter". Blissful ingorance; casual discrimination.

(More personal stuff on this later)
Privilege comes from being high on the social food chain; from what you're able to say and do without obstruction. Privilege comes from being incidentally immune to the institutionalized discrimination that permeates our society. "Checking" one's privilege is simply to consciously appreciate one's own incidental social standing and using that awareness to be more considerate of those who are unfairly placed lower on the food chain. I'm white, and lucky for it in certain ways, sure. Unfortunate reality of the society I live in is white people are a huge majority and thus, with the magic of ignorance and racism, viewed as some kind of default setting. Other than that, I'm at the bottom. Statistically, I'm at higher risk for everything from having struggles with unemployment to being assaulted. I have less rights; if I were American, I'd have roughly none right now. I can be attacked with words and actions that can't dig in under the majority of people's skin. Indigenous populations have been treated horribly mistreated, misrepresented and ignored from initial colonialization and onward. This "spirit animal" trend is just a highly visible modern example of it.

Appropriation of cultural shit is at its most harmful, I feel, when the minority you're appropriating from have long been systematically mistreated and ignored; indeed, to such a degree that the majority doesn't even grasp (nor care to grasp) just how much weight their casual misuse, neglect, misrepresentation and dumbing down of a given minority's customs/identity has on them - as groups and individuals.

Much of the below is for Sen.

Ehhhh but taking things case by case is hard so fuck it, white girl eating tacos = racist. Totally the same thing, you're sooo right!

Also, I never said anyone was wrong. I only stood by my take. I never expected to change any minds. It was just my piece. Did I get a bit saucy along with the link post? Yup. Was it directed at you, or was it a scoffing, frustrated comment on the state of the issue as I see it?

It was the latter. You, however, came down on me directly and attacked my identity, as well as how I express it. The jab at the nature of my identity and how/why I express it (the makeup bit), however,  was aimed directly at me. Re: silk and all that nonsense you spouted... food is shared across cultures. So are fabrics, and some clothing styles  But if I go out in a burka, that's 100% appropriation, no question. Context is everything. But screw it, "white girl eating pizza = racist" is toootally the same thing! Trying to make my take on appropriation sound silly by vastly overgeneralizing the issue didn't work here.

Back to privilege, but more personal here. I really must re-iterate my lack thereof. Seriously:  Trans. Woman. Queer. Poor. Replete with co-morbid mental illnesses. Learning disabled (sadly, many people seem to dismiss this umbrella term in society, which just layers the issue). I'll just stop there. So yeah... being white has nearly no "default social advantage" here, so to say, in my case.

So you know: I'm not talking out my ass. I'm talked and am acquainted with a number of Mi'kmaq / part Mi'kmaq people in the province who've expressed similar disgust with this form of appropriation. It's fine you're part Apache and don't feel the same way. But there are other perspectives out there too, within and outside native communities. Why does one of those takes become invalid when a white girl (your words) expresses it? I guess because of privilege. I can't think of another reasoning. Well, as I've shown, "privilege" is not really my social experience. I'm not a misguided, overzealous "social justice warrior" fighting for something I know nothing about. I know you didn't say that; I'm just making it known that my stance isn't from one of great privilege or lack of awareness of those around me who it affects.

Happy you got something out of these/those posts. 🙂