White woman accused of appropriating Maori culture with her chin tattoo: 'It's not acceptable' (enemy, racist)

[saltine]

Originally Posted by Mr. In-Between

If any of y'all want to walk up to the nearest Maori and call him a snowflake, be my guest. I'll just stand a safe distance away and film it for youtube. Be a millionaire!

Are you insinuating they are violent people? You all never fail to disappoint.

[Floorist]

Originally Posted by AFP

I side with the Maori this woman is an idiot she isn't a member if their group she didn't earn that tattoo by random people stealing their symbols it serves to degrade the symbols that represent their cultural identity. There are certain symbols that are a part of my culture that aren't for outsiders to degrade. They can expect criticism as this woman should expect criticism by taking a symbol that doesn't belong to her. What a dumb ass.

Yes you are.

[DonaldJTrump]

Maori people should stop wearing white people clothing and using white people technology, its appropriating whiteey

[shiftymh]

Originally Posted by DonaldJTrump

Maori people should stop wearing white people clothing and using white people technology, its appropriating whiteey

They can also stop using western medicine and go back to snorting ground up rhino penis or whatever their local witch doctors recommend to cure illness.

[AFP]

Originally Posted by DonaldJTrump

Maori people should stop wearing white people clothing and using white people technology, its appropriating whiteey

Okay what is white people clothing and white people technology? Last I checked the whitees living in Appalachia and the rust belt don't contribute much to technological advancements.

[desertdetroiter]

Originally Posted by turkey-head

I'm offended when people culturally appropriate electricity and automobiles. Only people of European descent may use those.

Europeans didn’t create electricity, nature did.

And what automobiles did YOU create? None.

So you’re appropriating just as much as anyone else driving a car.

[Drewjdeg]

Originally Posted by desertdetroiter

Europeans didn’t create electricity, nature did.

And what automobiles did YOU create? None.

So you’re appropriating just as much as anyone else driving a car.

And the Arabs invented algebra. Can't have those fancy algorithms in modern cars without algebra haha.

[greatblueheron]

Originally Posted by EddieB.Good

So she's using a symbol that has a specific cultural meaning and significance in a way that has nothing to do with the culture it's coming from... And you don't think that's cultural appropriation? Why wouldn't you?

It's one thing if you don't agree with it, but that's a pretty concrete example of what cultural appropriation is.

I can understand the Maori point about this....

[jazzcat22]

But---does it make it a difference that she is married to a man who is Maori? Isn't that a little different than just "stealing" someone else's culture? In this case, it is sharing/celebrating her husband's culture? (He has full face tattoos and has said he is okay with what his wife has done.)

Was it cultural misappropriation that the Royal wedding had such an African-American flavor, with the minister/choir, etc. (I think the cellist was black but what and how he played was beyond race)? Yes, I know Meghan is 50% black, but she was marrying into a uber-white family. Most of the guests were white. Should they have been allowed to listen to a black choir, which has deep spiritual roots and whose purpose isn't to entertain rich white folks? Or maybe is it just more positive than negative when someone wants to explore/share/celebrate another culture in our ethnocentric zenophobic world?

I'd be concerned if people were stealing other cultures, like stealing irreplaceable objects of religious and historical value. If there was a patent on these tattoos and only 100 people a year were allowed to get them, then of course it would be outrageous for a nonMaori to get one. But it's not a zero-sum game. Millions of white people could get them and still all the Maoris who wanted them could have them too....and it wouldn't have to lose the cultural significance because they would know they came by them honestly. The tattoos originated not to differentiate themselves from whites but because they developed a culture where these markings meant something to them---and they still can!

Also---she can't undermine the sacredness of the symbols because the symbols themselves have no power. It's what precedes them---the genetic inheritance, the culture, and any rituals that must be done to earn it. She can have "Superwoman" tattooed across her chest, but that won't get her superpowers. It won't even enable her to fly! So a true Maori knows they earned the tattoo. This woman acquired the tattoo by just having the money to purchase one and the ability to convince a tattoo artist to do it.

I think she is hurting herself more than Maori people because the time may come when she regrets the tattoo (when she gets divorced from her husband or her skin starts sagging and it doesn't look as good)!

[r small]

Louis Armstrong had a great line regarding white musicians playing jazz. Upon meeting white trombone player Jack Teagarden for the first time Armstrong said: "You're an ofay [white person]. I'm a spade. Let's blow".