Someone Called This Little Girl’s Tea Party Racist. Then A Japanese Tumblr User Responded Perfectly
This article is not meant to offend others.
My only goal is to inspire more love within society and help people see that their actions and words, though well-intended, could be creating further division. Thank you. Although racism still exists, it’s obvious that we’ve come a long way over the past century as a society. People are truly starting to grasp that we are all one, that the illusion of skin colour or physical differences doesn’t actually separate us, and that’s beautiful. However, it’s clear to me that there’s been somewhat of a politicization regarding our perceived differences, creating a heightened awareness of cultural appropriation, racism, sexism, and pretty much anything else that could separate us. Though I believe that this has helped us become a more compassionate and kinder society as a whole, I can’t help but wonder if we sometimes take our perceptions of “cultural appropriation” and “political correctness” (PC) too far. I’ve witnessed countless examples of someone calling out another person for “being racist” or “contributing to cultural appropriation” when the individual clearly had no intention of doing so. Yet, others feel the need to speak up, dramatizing the situation and creating even more division than the original statement would have in the first place. It seems that we’ve forgotten that intentions are equally as important as actions and words. I’m not suggesting we don’t fight for what we perceive as being “right,” nor am I saying we should just allow racism and disrespectful cultural appropriation to be swept under the rug. But by classifying every single, slightly “non-PC” term as racist, sexist, etc., are we really helping the movement, or are we creating even more separatism by aggressively calling people out? To further explain this topic, I’ll use the example of a story I recently came across that embodies how people can be quick to make a snap judgement and call someone out. A Utah mom posted pictures from a Japanese-themed birthday party she threw her daughter on her blog. She explained how she decorated on a budget and even went to a Japanese grocer to get some traditional cuisine. Here are some photos from the party: The images were then posted on Tumblr, where users started commenting that the mother was contributing to racism and cultural appropriation. If you actually read through the blog, it’s pretty apparent that she was just trying to throw a cute, budget-friendly birthday party for her daughter, and that her intention likely was not to offend anyone. One Japanese user, “cheshireinthemiddle,” actually spoke up, defending the mom who was labelled a racist for celebrating another culture, explaining the difference between “appreciating” a culture versus “appropriating” it to the other user,”ginzers,” who claimed the party was racist. You can read the full thread below or here: Though cultural appropriation is definitely “a thing,” it just may not be “a thing” in this particular scenario. Let’s keep in mind that cultural appropriation is technically defined as “the adoption or use of elements of one culture used by another culture,” which doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. It’s only more recently when we became obsessed with political correctness that the rise of cultural appropriation became so negative. Obviously, if you’re borrowing elements in a disrespectful manner, which really does happen far too often in society and pop culture, there’s reason to speak up. But if someone is simply celebrating another culture with no malintent, then what’s the issue? User “cheshireinthemiddle” brings up an interesting point, explaining that perhaps the actual racist in this scenario was user “ginzers.” Ginzers made a snap judgement about a family, assuming they were racist for simply celebrating another culture. What if the reason we’ve become so sensitive to these topics is because we’re still battling our own belief systems about racism? Part of the issue with all of this arguing about what’s politically correct and what’s not is that it further perpetuates the patriotism/nationalism belief systems.
The political system thrives off of these belief systems because it forces us to identify with a specific culture, religion, nationality, etc., rather than simply recognizing that we’re just human. Appreciating and celebrating these parts of your life isn’t a bad thing; it’s only when we start to identify as being a certain nationality over being a human being that this becomes a problem. For example, yes, I’m Canadian, but more importantly I’m a human being, and my nationality doesn’t separate me from anyone or put me above or below others.
There is no spectrum here; we are all deeply and fundamentally connected, and any sort of separatism is an illusion. This doesn’t mean that I don’t love and celebrate being Canadian, it just means that I don’t hold it over other people’s heads or allow it to separate me from other people from different cultures. To be clear, I’m not saying you shouldn’t stand up for others, nor should you ever try to justify racism, sexism, etc. in any way. Creating more awareness of how our actions affect others in society is not a bad thing, but it has also gotten to the point where people choose to become offended by almost anything these days. However, the next time you’re about to call someone racist, sexist, or anything else, ask yourself whether or not you believe they were intending to come across that way in the first place. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to help them reflect on where their words are coming from, but simply that you don’t need to attack them. Though this entire trend has inspired more connectivity and acceptance, it has also created more division within society, and the elite has further fuelled it. Just look at what happened with the Black Lives Matter movement and the Women’s March; they were largely funded by members of the elite like George Soros and, in part, created more separatism than activism, which is exactly what the elite wants. If we’re too busy fighting with each other, we’ll be too distracted to pay attention to what they’re doing behind the scenes.
The left has convinced society that it’s socially acceptable to literally fight for equality, increasing violence and separatism. We further explain this concept and the elite’s involvement with these two movements in our CE article here. We need to stop taking things so personally and start asking why they trigger us so much in the first place. It’s crucial that instead of arguing with the outside world, we learn to go within and ask ourselves why we’re getting so upset over another person’s words when we know they’re not intending to hurt other people. Only then will we be able to correctly identify when racism, sexism, and negative cultural appropriation are actually occurring. .
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