Is cultural appropriation always done with malicious intent? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by ReconciliationTime22128@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I hear all this uproar all the time about people who use cultural appropriation, yet sometimes I just don’t see what the problem is. I get that it has been done for malicious intent before and I’m not defending that or suggesting I agree with doing it for such purposes, but is, for example, a chef cooking a certain dish that originates from a land that is not his own, or other examples, really worth the same uproar?

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[-] ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

"Cultural appropriation" as in idk claiming something that had been taking place forever halfway around the world because it's cool, elevated or positive in any way is certainly malicious (profiting from it without even the acknowledgement of it also fits here). If it's just eating tapas while visiting Valencia and saying "moochass grassyass", or celebrating a holiday that's not from the culture you're from and dressing up because everyone from that culture is, then no. At most, it's tone deaf, ignorant or a bit cringy, but there's no malice behind it so we gotta let it slide and see it for what it is: people wanting to share in with other people's experiences. 🤷‍♂️

And there's a lot to hate in the way people behave, but we gotta be cautious about overdoing it.

this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026

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