Cries of cultural appropriation causes Hawaii-themed restaurant to close

[DeleteMyAccount 11,881]

Just now, JustaMonster said:

I guess I just dont understand "Cultural Appropriation" at all. Like I completely get it if its one group of people going around and burning cultural site or banning certain practises of another group. But one group borrowing from another culture is bad? do we really want to go back to a society where people arent allowed to do certain things based of the color of their skin..? I dont understand how tacobell would be appropriating culture in any way. Seems to me that if people like that type of food, which a lot of people do (including me), why should they no be allowed to enjoy is solely based off the color of their skin or where they live?

You don't understand what cultural appropriation is from the looks of it. CA is when a culture is taken and used for the use of others. "Cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture. Cultural appropriation, often framed as culturalmisappropriation, is sometimes portrayed as harmful and is claimed to be a violation of the collective intellectual property rights of the originating culture."

It's like if I started wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing and started a new trend but still didn't understand what I was actually wearing. That's a tame example, but it's usually done without the consideration of the culture in general. This guy just seemed to want to make the Hawaiian esthetic but poorly executed it. And this issue isn't about color of skin. Although it can be if a white or black person creates their own version of something without complete exposure/knowledge of the culture.

This example in the OP is probably just a guy making a cringy Hawaiian restaurant. We have yet to see pictures though. 

[River 127,401]

11 minutes ago, Luc said:

Pizzas were invented by Italian immigrants in NYC iirc, so I don't think the situation is comparable. Maybe Taco Bell would be a better example?

Well it actually invented in Italy at the 10th century, Margarita for exmaple is made by the 3 colors of the flag.

12 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

Fun fact: Pizza was actually introduced and made popular by Italian immigrants in the 19th century in the US. 

Sure but I don't think they wanted it to be a plastic pizza like in Pizza Hut, what Pizza Hut is serving is not pizza, it's a parody on the pizza..

5 minutes ago, Lanius said:

But the difference is that Italians have been accepted as "white" and have all the benefits of being white. While you have other races who were considered second class citizens till less than 50 years ago and still have systematic oppression against them till this day ( housing, School to prison pipeline etc etc). So if something happens against them it's not seen as "bad' l. unlike POC who are just now getting there foot in this country.

This is a great visual explantation.

 

Yes but you are talking about Italians in the US, but the Italians in Italy are offended by this a lot, their food culture is very important and they are very traditional by this and when they see 2 comapnies that monetize from their culture and really destroying it, it's just bad, so this is why I find it the same as the story in the OP.  just the offended culture is not in the US..

 

[Luc 4,776]

3 minutes ago, Lanius said:

But the difference is that Italians have been accepted as "white" and have all the benefits of being white. While you have other races who were considered second class citizens till less than 50 years ago and still have systematic oppression against them till this day ( housing, School to prison pipeline etc etc). So if something happens against them it's not seen as "bad' l. unlike POC who are just now getting there foot in this country.

This is a great visual explantation.

 

I understand the added struggles of being black or otherwise non-white in life in general, but is cultural appropriation really a racial thing? I personally think race and culture are two seperate things where a culture can be enjoyed (and used) by different races. The only way you could make cultural appropriation about white people profiting from non-white people is if you add imperialist history to it, which I don't think fits considering little to no-one alive today contributed to (and thus no-one today is responsible for) the imperialist crimes of white people generations ago.

[Irrelevant 20,293]

28 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. 

I live in China  

Spoiler

Nearly all of the "American" restaurants here suck  The only good one is this American owned BBQ place 

 

[REALITY 80,162]

Just now, Lanius said:

Kinda like giving back to the community. For instance Jay-z Has used black culture to make him a Billonare and over the years he has gave back to the community ( building schools in black neighborhoods, Bailing out BLM supporters etc etc)

See, I think that's different though. Jay-Z is black, so I think you can't really compare the two. He's giving back to the community that he grew up in and appreciates. Did he really "use black culture" when he's apart of it? 

But also, okay, so when you said "give back", that's what I thought you meant. And that just doesn't make any sense to me. Like, I get it, cultural appropriation is an issue, and when necessary, it needs to be dealt with, but at the same time, if you're appreciating and are getting inspired by another culture or society or whatnot, that just doesn't make sense. So, if I were to create a piece of artwork, and I was inspired by numerous cultures with their symbolism and stuff like that, would I be obligated to do something for them because I was inspired by their beautiful culture?

And I suppose that's where it gets fishy because you know, something like the Washington Redskins is clearly offensive to Native American people, and that's clear example of cultural appropriation, but if you're inspired by something and love it, why are you obligated to give something back? For something like the Washington Redskins, that makes sense, because it's offensive to Native Americans and the term "redskin" itself is offensive, and in that sense, they should do something, but if you're inspired by something, why do you have to give something in return?

[Giorno Giovanna 3,178]

36 minutes ago, ReginaGeorge said:

Can we go back in time where people were actually adults and not some kids who cry about everything and when we didn't use words ''cultural appropriation''? World is too much in 2017.

i agree, I hate this fkkking cultural appropriation s*** so much

[JustaMonster 4,909]

6 hours ago, ZacharyMark said:

You don't understand what cultural appropriation is from the looks of it. CA is when a culture is taken and used for the use of others. "Cultural appropriation is the adoption or use of the elements of one culture by members of another culture. Cultural appropriation, often framed as culturalmisappropriation, is sometimes portrayed as harmful and is claimed to be a violation of the collective intellectual property rights of the originating culture."

It's like if I started wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing and started a new trend but still didn't understand what I was actually wearing. That's a tame example, but it's usually done without the consideration of the culture in general. This guy just seemed to want to make the Hawaiian esthetic but poorly executed it. And this issue isn't about color of skin. Although it can be if a white or black person creates their own version of something without complete exposure/knowledge of the culture.

This example in the OP is probably just a guy making a cringy Hawaiian restaurant. We have yet to see pictures though. 

I dont see where it says he did a poor job executing the hawaii inspired theme. It seems to me that he was appropriating their culture because he was white therefore he was oppressing them somehow . They were upset because he used a cartoon? Guess what EVERYWHERE uses cartoons. 

Also I just realized that this article is from the same website that posted that "If you drink milk, you may be a Neo-Nazis racist" 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/17/milk-new-symbol-racism-donald-trumps-america/

[Regina George 59,387]

Just now, ToughHooker said:

i agree, I hate this fkkking cultural appropriation s*** so much

OMG me too! You can't do anything without it being cultural appropriation..

[Giorno Giovanna 3,178]

31 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. 

this, if I went to like... china and saw a german themed bar i would be like

"great, they really must like german styled food and drinks, this german bar is a good alternative for people who can't afford to go to germany, but still want to experience that german flair "

[Phoenix 17,395]

Thats sad

[DeleteMyAccount 11,881]

2 minutes ago, JustaMonster said:

I dont see where it says he did a poor job executing the hawaii inspired theme. It seems to me that he was appropriating their culture because he was white therefore he was oppressing them somehow . They were upset because he used a cartoon? Guess what EVERYWHERE uses cartoons. 

Also I just realized that this article is from the same website that tried to claim that "If you drink milk, you may be a Neo-Nazis racist" WHAT THE ****???????

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/17/milk-new-symbol-racism-donald-trumps-america/

It mentions someone about lays that he used. Regardless, none of us here know what the restaurant looked like. It honestly could've looked like a straight up mess. People need to stay in the middle on these issues because we have zero idea what happened. We only know a couple details. And like the website says, this may be blown up or even fake.

The articles states this: "This week, in the Daily49er, California State University’s college paper staff writer Samantha Diaz wrote how milk has become the new symbol of hate."

Furthermore, the WT was reporting on a college paper.

Also....

"Yes, the Washington Times is generally fake news. I say “generally” because some if not most of its articles start with a small grain of fact, rather than"

"The Washington Times is a real newspaper. Though less reliable and more biased than most, it is not fake news. It’s history of ownership, however, may provide some clues to why (from Wikipedia): Founded on May 17, 1982, by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon, the Times was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the church until 2010, in which Moon and a group of former executives purchased the paper. It is currently owned by diversified conglomerate Operations Holdings, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the church."

Take this with a grain of salt, but this isn't where anyone should be getting their news. It's getting biased and opinionated.

Again, this is where people must stay objective until they understand where they are getting their news. Especially with this case AND the fact that the story was run with limited details. 

[Morphine Prince 109,655]

13 minutes ago, River said:

Sure but I don't think they wanted it to be a plastic pizza like in Pizza Hut, what Pizza Hut is serving is not pizza, it's a parody on the pizza..

What they serve at places like Pizza Hut is American style pizza. They don't claim to be authentic Italian food. 

What happened to pizza is the same thing that happened to tacos. Tacos in Mexico are usually with soft tortilla yet American tacos are hard shelled and look different. Many essentially consider them "fake tacos" lol. 

Which is the same sentiment you are expressing. 

[JustaMonster 4,909]

5 minutes ago, ZacharyMark said:

Again, this is where people must stay objective until they understand where they are getting their news. Especially with this case AND the fact that the story was run with limited details. 

Yes I agree that people should stay in the middle. It just upset me when people are jumping to conclusions  and saying that this is appropriating their culture just because this man was not from there. Even if the restaurant looked bad or something maybe he tried and it just didnt turn out well. He clearly likes the culture if he based the restaurant off of it and was inspired to make it based on childhood memories.

[River 127,401]

2 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

What they serve at places like Pizza Hut is American style pizza. They don't claim to be authentic Italian food. 

What happened to pizza is the same thing that happened to tacos. Tacos in Mexico are usually with soft tortilla yet American tacos are hard shelled and look different. Many essentially consider them "fake tacos" lol. 

Which is the same sentiment you are expressing. 

But when they use the Italian flag for example in advertisements and using the Italian names for the pizza?

I'm trying to understand and not to argue so sorry if my questions looks like that..

[Bette Davis 12,742]

Ridiculous  he isn't some greedy CEO exploiting some farflung culture that he doesn't give a sh*t about for millions of dollars. This man clearly loves and respects the culture enough to dedicate his small business to it.

Also, let's not forget that Hawaiian culture is mostly a fusion of Polynesian, East Asian and American cultures. Like most cultures, it's a melting pot in itself that borrows from many cultures.