Hello
Gentle Reader
The
term Cultural Appropriation has been flying around the world in recent memory.
The term is of course once again attributed to the political far-left—the same
far-left who push for political correctness and censorship. Their next method
of attack is the idea of: Cultural Appropriation, which is a term used to
demonize artists, writers, musicians, and cultural figures, which employ
different cultures or attributes from that of their own cultural background,
upbringing, language, ethnicity, creed or ancestral heritage. The politically
radical left believes and states that when a writer or musician or artist, or
dancer, or other cultural figure uses other elements from another culture, they
are knowingly entering a dominance hierarchy, against the minority culture,
which belittles, humiliates and degrades their traditions, cultural tropes and practices.
The politically radical left has deemed this: Cultural Appropriation; and use
these terms to fight (not debate) and offensively ridicule (again not debate or
discuss) artists, writers, dancers, musicians and other cultural figures; who
now feel they are limited in their themes and topics they can write about,
because they are afraid they will be accused of cultural appropriation. This is
essentially the promotion and induction of censorship.
In
today’s world imagination is falling to the wayside in favour of authenticity.
Back in the day a good story was appreciated, because it entertained, was
emotionally riveting, eye opening, and explorative in its contents. Now days in
order for a book to meet these same standards of the joy of reading; its
writers must meet a certain set of checklists to ensure their work cannot be
considered a product of cultural appropriation. For men this may look like the
following:
(i)
Is
the main character of the same sex as yours? (Does the character choose to
identify by said pronoun?) – If not the
characters sex needs to be changed. [In
fact do not use the term sex, us the term gender.]
(ii)
Is the setting realistic or fantastical?
(a)
If
realistic: do you live there personally? If not: do you have experience living
there? – If you’re setting is different than
both where you live personally and having experience living in, please change
them; as these descriptions and depictions maybe offensive to some readers.
(b)
If
fantastical: does the imagined landscape borrow, steal, or procure unlawfully
any cultural traditions, practices, rituals, religious iconography,
mythological components, clothing, textile, or industry? If so, this needs to
be changed, as you have just committed cultural appropriation. Does your
setting take use cultural landscapes or architecture? If yes, you have committed cultural appropriation.
(iii)
Is
the storyline and events within the story conclusive to your own history and a
reflection of your cultural upbringing? If
not you are required to change this as the events cannot be depicted with
emotional authenticity.
(iv)
Are
female characters presented in the text? F
yes, you need to remove them as you are not able to write about a female as you
have no authentic background, in which to depict their character.
The
list could go on. Though it seems extreme—and it is—it still is considered an
adequate description of what the hell is going on and what is being called
cultural appropriation. Today’s world is not demanding imagination; it is not
demanding flights of fancy and fantasy, its demanding for bland cement authenticity,
by those who apparently lack imagination themselves.
In
a recent article for The Guardian,
Morgan Jones asks the question of how free should, a writer be when it comes to
imagining and depicting a life, which is completely radical and different from
the writers own. In it, Morgan Jones, defends his recent novel: “The Good Sister,”
which is about a Egyptian teenage girl signing up to join ISIS—the English
author finds himself pondering if he will face some ethical tribunal, with
regards to his depiction of a imagined individual, who is extremely different
from him in both gender and cultural identity as well as experience. Mr. Jones
predicts he will face numerous inquiries and questions with regards to his
subject matter, character, and theme from readers, credits, and of course the
politically motivated far left. In his article, Morgan Jones provides an
understanding to both sides, but obviously will move way from cultural
appropriation, which he views (though not literally stated) as a bit of moral ineptitude
with a high dosage of impertinence. He reminds all readers, that all writers
have sought inspiration and stories far beyond their own limited experiences in
order to gain inspiration from the experiences and stories of others. But writers
(or artists and other compatriots) are not there to use this new found
inspiration, and discovered experiences to promote colonialism or manipulate a minority’s
culture to further their own gain, be it financial or political; the goal is to
tell great stories and to entertain. Without that ability to ‘steal,’
experiences, memories, and even cultural identities, writers and other artistic
professions, will become homogeneous and uninspired.
At
a speech at the Brisbane Writers Festival, Lionel Shiver took the opportunity to
discuss the claims and crimes of cultural appropriation. It should be noted,
Shiver, has been accused by some politically charged critics and readers, for
being a white privileged author who has utilized and exploited other cultures (specifically
African-American and Latino). Shiver, took the opportunity to shoot back. She claims
that it’s a writer’s job to try on others hats and slip into their shoes, and
build empathetic and culturally assured bridges. One noted audience member,
social activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied, took issue with the direction of the
speech and opted to leave the speech, and pen a counter article, where she
accused Lion Shiver of justifying cultural appropriation practices under the
guise of fiction. Shiver, however, has not backed down, and will not back down,
and that should be applauded. Her fight is against the blatant call for authors
to be self-censoring, is unyielding, undying, and completely appropriate.
In
another piece with The Guardian, the
newspaper interviewed several writers about cultural appropriation and their
thoughts on the matter. Hari Kunzru stated for the series that if writers are unable
to look beyond their own culture, gender and identity, fiction would be
impossible. Kamila Shamsie, deplores the idea that writers are confined to the
idea that they are only able to write fiction based on their own experiences. She
uses Peter Hobb’s novel “In the Orchard, the Swallows,” as her basis of how
writers looking beyond and outside of themselves, as a great potential for them
to seek new narratives, new voices, and new characters, while learning and
growing as both a writer and a human being. She does not believe people or
writers should not be limited in their imagination, based on the ideals of
political correctness; but does believe when exploring new cultural frontiers
one should do their research and become in essence an anthropologist to
understand all facets of the culture and traditions one is writing about. Al
Kennedy points out the beauty of fiction when faced with accusations of
cultural appropriation; that fiction does not steal it creates. Fiction seeks
the consent of both writer and reader, to become someone else. Someone of a
different gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, cultural heritage, or nation; it’s
the ability to become and empathize and in a sense learn more about something
that you may not have given a second thought to. Maggie Gee, offers perhaps the
best advice on the debate, and encourages writers to shrug off such criticism;
but does note it should be taken slightly seriously. The beauty of the entire
world of being a writer is the ability to explore and to discover, and in
return publish and display their version of reality to the public.
The
debate and argument of cultural appropriation today is as about has become old
and absurd. Its asinine to think people will take such issue with matters of
place, culture, and identity in today’s world. It is frightening to think that
groups of people (be it minority or majority) believe they have the right to
decide and lay claim and property on cultural items such as novels and films,
while disregarding other work as mere cultural appropriation, because they find
the depiction—or worst—the thought that the book or film has been envisioned by
someone outside of that cultural hemisphere or environment. The idea that
authenticity outweighs imagination is ludicrous. I certainly am not interested
in reading carbon copy novels by writers, detailing their lives and their
experiences, where the character is a mere clone of themselves, because they
are now being forced to respect the cultural boundaries of others, because these
others resent the idea of appreciation and instead call it appropriation. It’s
disgusting. The world is a bright, beautiful and big place, filled with so many
untold stories and unique lives; they should be explored, they should be
discovered, and they should be documented; and no it’s not cultural appropriation
its appreciation. The goal should always be to show that the human race despite
border, ethnicity, cultural environment, landscape, or religious practices or history,
is a rich spectrum of texture and experiences that should be displayed. Fiction
and artistic medium, has the ability to remove these borders and boundaries,
and allow the world to gain appreciation and empathy for one another. At this
point in human history, it’s about time people began to understand that it’s
the human race which transcends these petty squabbles. This idea of cultural appropriation
and political correctness, are blatant attempts at forcing writers, artists,
musicians, dancers, and other cultural figures to censor themselves, because a
very small group of people who have very large lungs will cry foul. I am sorry:
being offended is not the same as being moral or righteous; its repugnant, and frankly
the equivalent of being morally impotent.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
For Further Reading Gentle Reader, Please See the Following Articles from The Guardian, mentioned in the above blog post:
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