We are at a time in the world where combating anti black racism is at the front of a lot of people's minds. however, a lot of Kpop fans international, turn a blind eye to some of the racism in Kpop. as Kpop becomes an international industry, we need to start holding Idols to the same standards we would our domestic celebrities
some examples of this are:
Hair (cornrows, box braids, dreads, ect)
I probably see this the most. I get it, it looks cool but, you're not looking at the cultural significance of those hair styles.
this isn't a trend. it's heritage.
"talking black"
I love BTS and this really hurt my feelings. I don't Even want to explain why this is hurtful. this was totally racist but i didn't hear anything about it. I'm not trying to criminalize RM or BTS but I wanted to use this as an example because I've seen other idols do this.
Clothes
this ties in a lot with the hair. I'm mostly talking about durages and Turbans. not cool guys.
I understand that, in most cases, the Idols have very little control over what they wear or the concepts they get.
I'm not trying to demonizing your faves and ults. I'm trying to shed some more light on this.
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I just wonder, how people think the future will be ?
We are going to mix all cultures like crazy in these next decades and it's already started a long time ago.
The bad side of cultural appropriation is
- an ethnic or a country who try to reset a culture making people think it's from their country history
- or when someone wear something traditional clothes to negatively make fun of it,
This is when you can accuse a "cultural appropriation".
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The good side of cultural appropriation is that... it's actually not about "appropriation" but you have to call it : Cosmopolite world, cultural mix : We are on a point of no return, and you can't do anything against it (unless you are racist, nationalist, and want to stay rooted/ethnic/unique one breed).
The world where we all live is just irreversible and you can't live as if you were from the past...
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This "cultural appropriation" which is discussed everywhere nowaday for every sensitive things, just make people divising themselves unconsciously (or not) by their genetics/ethnic/country/politics/religion and are not ashamed to show more pride for some specific genetics/ethnic/country/politics/religion than other : this is extremely toxic and leads inevitably to misconceptions.
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STOP living in the past, the best way to respect all culture is to celebrate each cultures positively and in their individuality.
YES asians people have the right to dye their hair platine like these Swedish people, even if it's not their nature.
(dreads : buddhists and hinduist have dreads, they are generally asians and is more identified as a specific lifestyle from people who spiritually reject superficiality etc. or they are commonly tramps/vagabond 's hairstyle because they can't take care of themselves properly, and this is why people see it as dirty and rebellious)
YES blacks people have the right to get their hair straightened like asians natural hair, even if it's not in their nature.
YES white people have the right to tan their skin even if it's not their nature to have dark skin like africans.
YES everyone can choose how they want to looks like ! ... is that shocking for you to heard that ?
It's not disrespectul, it's about celebrating yourself by taking your own choice, and celebrate it POSITIVELY. And most importantly, to be NOT forced to match to a group of people's beliefs, to an ethnic or a country criterias because of you race/genre/age etc.
We are NOT living in the past, this is not how the future would be.
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Then again, how you will imagine the future ?
I think there is a real problem to exactly identify and describe what and why the cultural appropriation is bad and when and why it's not the right term to use "cultural appropriation", you have to encourage people to celebrate themselves beyond their genre, their genetics, their beauty, don't lock them into boxes from your beliefs.
Most of "cultural appropriation" topics nowadays are just toxic because of these misconceptions and these obsolete values from the past.
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