Cries of cultural appropriation causes Hawaii-themed restaurant to close

[Regina George 59,387]

Just now, Lanius said:

be Careful sis, If we go to far back in time (As in less than 50 years ago) You'll get this

I think we all know what I meant when I said ''back in time''... Soon we'll be prisoners of our culture and people like u are making us prisoners.

[SpookyKid 15,181]

wtf, it's not like he was destroying the culture, he was celebrating it

I swear, in a couple of years you wont be able to fart without it being cultural appropriation

[bujibu 463]

Oh man, I have conflicted feelings about this. Like if you don't like it you can:

A. Protest it or
B. Don't eat there

There's so many tacky restaurants out there that can offend all sorts of sensibilities. If it features overtly racist cartoons and denigrating language/phrases/etc. then of course it should be vocally protested.

Without the full story it's hard to make an accurate judgment, but he did spend a portion of his life there and has an affinity for Hawaii. I wish instead of just shutting him down completely they could've offered a solution that A. Wasn't problematic and B. was something he could work with and still celebrate an area of his life that he has fond memories of. 

It really could've been a great teaching/collaboration opportunity between the two parties but instead it seems extreme PC-ness won the day. 

[REALITY 80,162]

1 minute ago, Lanius said:

But thing is, He's using their culture to profit while people who originated the culture aren't making any revenue and are still discriminated against. 

And I agree with that sentiment, and I do think that this is more "cultural appropriation" than the incident with the guy on Twitter with Kesha, however, from the looks of it, this guy didn't mean any harm to any person from Hawaii, or to any person of color.

And again, I think we would have to see the restaurant and how it functions to get a better view of things.

Also, like how @Luc mentioned, I feel like people wouldn't generally be offended by this. I mean, alright, so I'm Filipino, and if some white guy—or someone else who wasn't Filipino—made a restaurant that served Filipino dishes and had Filipino decorations and stuff like that, unless there was some sort of mockery or offensive stereotype, or anything, I wouldn't be all that offended. 

[shoful 13,304]

If I went to China or something and saw a restuarant called "American Bar" or something and the guy who owned it was obviously Chinese and knew nothing about American culture. I would not give a flying rats ass about what he's doing. I would just laugh at all the people thinking theyre actually getting good American food. 

[SpookyKid 15,181]

This is so stupid I can't  

[Morphine Prince 109,655]

1 minute ago, shoful said:

 I would just laugh at all the people thinking theyre actually getting good American food. 

Me at everyone who thinks McDonald's represents American food. 

[sipthistea 21,099]

Ugh. Such a NONSENSE. 

[JustaMonster 4,909]

7 minutes ago, shoful said:

If I went to China or something and saw a restuarant called "American Bar" or something and the guy who owned it was obviously Chinese and knew nothing about American culture. I would not give a flying rats ass about what he's doing. I would just laugh at all the people thinking theyre actually getting good American food. 

Exactly I dont understand why the f*ck everyone cares so much about what other people are doing... People being offended for other people is the dumbeset ****ing thing. Also if this guy is american since when is Hawaii not part of the US?? What's next "Oh you cant eat Philly Cheese Steaks unless you are from here or else you will be appropriating my Philly culture" Maybe he just enjoyed the culture so much that he wanted to recreate it???

[shoful 13,304]

Just now, JustaMonster said:

Exactly I dont understand why the f*ck everyone cares so much about what other people are doing... People being offended for other people is the dumbeset ****ing thing. Also if this guy is american since when is Hawaii not part of the US?? What's next "Oh you cant eat Philly Cheese Steaks unless you are from here or else you will be appropriating my Philly culture "

Exactly! 

Do you live in Philly too? 

[Lanius 1,055]

7 minutes ago, Luc said:

I think this (ex-) restaurant owner would've had the job of his life if this went through. Does this restaurant really hurt Hawaiians' feelings that much? Make them truly unhappy and depressed? Because only that would compensate for the loss of happiness on the side of the restaurant owner in my opinion.

To answer my own (rhetorical) question, I don't think many people will get genuinely mad when they see a culture being used or taken for inspiration by a white person with no connection to the dark side of American history whatsoever. In the end, the ones screaming 'cultural appropriation!' at everything inspired have a far worse effect on society in many different ways than the ones using an exotic theme or anything alike for a business.

It only becomes offensive when the intent of the owner is to offend or mimic. This owner obviously has no intent to hurt anyone and does this out of love, not laughter, towards Hawaiian culture and tradition.

 

2 minutes ago, M Monstre said:

And I agree with that sentiment, and I do think that this is more "cultural appropriation" than the incident with the guy on Twitter with Kesha, however, from the looks of it, this guy didn't mean any harm to any person from Hawaii, or to any person of color.

And again, I think we would have to see the restaurant and how it functions to get a better view of things.

Also, like how @Luc mentioned, I feel like people wouldn't generally be offended by this. I mean, alright, so I'm Filipino, and if some white guy—or someone else who wasn't Filipino—made a restaurant that served Filipino dishes and had Filipino decorations and stuff like that, unless there was some sort of mockery or offensive stereotype, or anything, I wouldn't be all that offended. 

You have to understand why most POC have problems this. This is basically white washing a culture and making it digestible for the mainstream ( i.e white people) to consume. I seriously doubt half the patroons of that restaurant would go to a TRADITONAL Hawaiian Restaurant . But since they have this nice white package without the "scary' POC they like it.

It's kinda like what those two white women with the burrito shop did by going to Mexico, taking their receipts and occupying a market that they pushed POC out of.

Basically these people are using the culture to profit but aren't giving it back to the culture.

Also, I seriously doubt this man knows the ins and outs of Hawaiian Culture

[littlepotter 76,610]

13 minutes ago, Lanius said:

be Careful sis, If we go to far back in time (As in less than 50 years ago) You'll get this

This  I'll take annoying SJWs over racism and homophobia any day

[JustaMonster 4,909]

Just now, shoful said:

Exactly! 

Do you live in Philly too? 

No, I live kinda close but that was just the quickest example I could think of 

[Morphine Prince 109,655]

1 minute ago, JustaMonster said:

Also if this guy is american since when is Hawaii not part of the US?? What's next "Oh you cant eat Philly Cheese Steaks unless you are from here or else you will be appropriating my Philly culture" Maybe he just enjoyed the culture so much that he wanted to recreate it???

Hawaii is in the US but let's not act like the culture from before it was a state was American. There is a specific Hawaiian culture that predates US colonialism. 

[shoful 13,304]

Just now, JustaMonster said:

No, I live kinda close but that was just the quickest example I could think of 

How close? R u going to the Philly JWT?