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I think It's ridiculous to gatekeep a hairstyle. To me, it's like saying that eating with chopsticks is racist if you're not asian.
Asians don't involve chopsticks in their religions or use them as maps to escape slavery. You also won't break your fingers like you might break your hair when you manipulate your hair strands into tight coils that aren't it's natural texture or anything close
Asians don't involve chopsticks in their religions or use them as maps to escape slavery
that's not quite right tho
edit: chopsticks occupy in the material culture of Japanese religion. In Japan, chopsticks are connected with Shinto folklore and kami worship, as well as funeral rites.
Rastafarianism is a religion with spiritual beliefs about dreadlocks. American slaves braided maps to the underground railroad into their hair. It is quite right.
chopsticks occupy in the material culture of Japanese religion. In Japan, chopsticks are connected with Shinto folklore and kami worship, as well as funeral rites.
Alright, you got me. But I haven't heard any Japanese people getting upset over the disrespect of chopsticks and asking people not to use them. It's also a tool, a utensil, whereas using the hairstyle of a certain culture is really just about vanity
usually because Japanese and many Asian cultures actually appreciate when foreigners embrace their culture...
that and because due to the different style of communication. direct and indirect communication which separates western or Africa cultures from Asian culture
Well, maybe if wearing plastic chopsticks in a bun became a huge trend among people who don't know the significance of the style, they'd be more upset. Oh, and don't forget, they'd also have to be a minority trying to preserve their culture in a white country, not a homogenous group that never sees foreigners do anything that subverts their religious beliefs. You also have to add that not only would they have to be the minority, but people outside of their culture that they're trying to preserve would tell people who used chopsticks offensively that it's okay to do that because it's just like a fork and anyone who gets offended is racist.
And is that a reason for others to be unable to have them? The fact that something holds value to you does not mean that no one else can have it. The value and meaning of dreadlocks to the Rastafari truly belongs to the Rastafari, but not the hairstyle itself. It is merely the idea of what it represents. Disrespecting the meaning of the dreads to the Rastafari would be offensive, but the hairstyle itself is indeed just a hairstyle.
Or that's the way I see it idk, I'm just some guy on the internet, not the appropriation police. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They're allowed to wear braids as a costume and discredit and make a mockery of black culture, sure. But I'm allowed to think they're stupid and ugly
Valid, but how is having dreads wearing a costume and making mockery of black culture?
Because racist people wear them and say they're just a hairstyle.
Eastern Europeans hid western currency in their ponytails and braids when being smuggled out of the Western bloc through the untamed wilderness and the Iron Curtain, in constant danger of being shot by the border guard and being torn apart by their dogs, like some members of my family who fled to Canada long time ago. I don't see them trademarking it.
I'd say It's everyones own business to keep in mind the risks of such things in mind. Op has said, that they've done their research and have made up their mind. That's the only thing that matters.
Yeah I'm sure Western culture is under attack from appropriation and black people use it as a costume.
How is having a hairstyle wearing a costume and appropriation? Shouldn't it be a good thing that people worldwide, now more than ever, appreciate such hairstyles? Now I don't want to come off the wrong way, as I am genuienly confused. Perhaps I'd see it differently if I lived in another part of the world.
So you don't live in America where white women will get braids and still say the N word?
Well, yeah, but I mean isn't the problem just them saying the N-word? If a racist started showing off their new cool hairstyle, that started getting popular thanks to reggae and Bob Marley worldwide, I'd just think they're idiots, and laugh at them. Bozos don't even know how to racist. T'least that's how I see it.
No, wearing braids is part of it. Being disrespectful and ignorant about a culture while wearing something specifically from that culture adds a ton of insult to injury.
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