Cries of cultural appropriation causes Hawaii-themed restaurant to close

[sarahb 17,188]

44 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

Honestly if ANY restaurant were to close down because of CA it would be Outback

Didn't the owner say he'd never been to Australia? I could be wrong but nnnnn

I mean most people probably wouldn't care because (as far as I can see on their website anyway) nothing Aboriginal is mentioned, so I think most Australians would find it stupid at worst, and amusing at best. 

Never been to Australia? Time for me to start up an authentic Canadian restaurant

[Katie14 4,828]

2 minutes ago, ZacharyMark said:

Food is food. Unless there's a symbolic reason for eating a certain food in a certain way then there shouldn't be a problem. 

if I wore a sari that would be offensive?

I feel like it would only be offensive if you wore it as a fashion statement and ignored the cultural significance of it. It would be like wearing a hijab as a cool head scarf instead of wearing it for religious reasons. However, someone could wear a sari and not understand the culture behind, but in no way mean to cause harm. And that's where this gets tricky. Because then there's the example of fraternities having "Mexican" parties where students wore stereotypical Mexican outfits. That would surely be cultural appropriation. At the end of the day, I think people just need to use common sense. Sometimes "SJW"(don't like that term...) may takes things way out of context, but sometimes they may be right. 

And these things may differ from case to case. There is no blanket statement that can cover all cases of cultural appropriation. Like I said in an earlier post, this article is very vague and we don't know the complete details of what happened. All we can assume is that the restaurant owner MAY have poorly decorated or themed his Hawaiian restaurant that ended up receiving backlash. But, he may not have meant to cause harm. In that case, this isn't really cultural appropriation but more so just an example of a business owner needing to educate himself about his business. Again, CA is tricky. I suggest you just stay objective to what you see. Sometimes it's messy and sometimes people make too big of a deal out of it. A simple suggestion to the restaurant may have settled this rather than making a huge deal out of it. However, the article doesn't really tell us, so stay objective.

There are many foods, food preparation styles, and food rules that are symbolic. Im Jewish and eating matzo on Passover is symbolic because we are honoring the fact that the Israelites had to flee quickly and didn't have time to wait for their bread to rise. I would never be offended if one of my non Jewish friends ate matzo because they like the taste and have no idea about the cultural/religious history of it. I really am not understanding the difference between what people wear on their bodies and what they put inside.

With the sari example, yes there is a cultural/religious meaning behind it. However, saris are also fashion statements. They are specifically made to look beautiful and have a meaning behind them at the same time.

If a non Jewish person wore a yamacha without knowing the meaning of it and just wore it because they thought it looked nice, I would not be offended by that. After all, its a piece of cloth that goes on your head. Just because someone isn't Jewish doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to wear a yamacha. 

None of this makes sense to me and i feel like i dont even know how to get my point across 

[River 127,395]

53 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

Yeah even natives in other countries have their cultures taken and made mainstream. 

In my family's country (Honduras) they make Mayan imagery seem as if it was Honduran culture when in reality most people have no real connection to this culture and it's just used for tourism purposes. 

It's more accepted because the ancient Mayans are dead... but it's the same concept. 

Mexico also comes to mind but the history is a bit different. 

My husband was in Mexico for a few days and he bought for me the painted skull and it's Aztec culture from the touristic market, so I understand what you say.

Now I live in Costa Rica, so far for 4 months and it's kinda difficult for me to recognize the culture because it's heavily based on Christianity and the development process and the US tourism made it looks like they embraced the Americanization and the US culture.. for example it's full of US fast food chains here and you can see more people there and less in the Costa Rican food restaurants.. I hope I'm wrong, I'll travel more and learn more in the future (still settling down..) but at the jungle area (like Manuel Antonio) the jungle and nature culture is still there and visible, you will not find US chains at all! and all the tourism is around the jungle and the nature, mainly the animals.

[SMILE2NE1 3,566]

American over-PC will be the death of many things. So disgusting and sad.

[Buddy 5,686]

5 hours 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 am for affirmative action but there are so many things wrong with this video, lol

[Morphine Prince 109,655]

35 minutes ago, River said:

My husband was in Mexico for a few days and he bought for me the painted skull and it's Aztec culture from the touristic market, so I understand what you say.

Now I live in Costa Rica, so far for 4 months and it's kinda difficult for me to recognize the culture because it's heavily based on Christianity and the development process and the US tourism made it looks like they embraced the Americanization and the US culture.. for example it's full of US fast food chains here and you can see more people there and less in the Costa Rican food restaurants.. I hope I'm wrong, I'll travel more and learn more in the future (still settling down..) but at the jungle area (like Manuel Antonio) the jungle and nature culture is still there and visible, you will not find US chains at all! and all the tourism is around the jungle and the nature, mainly the animals.

Yeah my father lived in Costa Rica some time and he loved it. But it is more developed than the other Central American countries. 

I want to visit CR so bad. 

[Lanius 1,055]

1 minute ago, Buddy said:

I am for affirmative action but there are so many things wrong with this video, lol

like what? Break it down for me

[River 127,395]

Just now, Morphine Prince said:

Yeah my father lived in Costa Rica some time and he loved it. But it is more developed than the other Central American countries. 

I want to visit CR so bad. 

Yeah it's like in between, like the road is messy and broken but there's a beautiful building or commercial center next to it, it's like living in 2 worlds..

So come, we live in next to San Jose and have a guests room and we have here 3 swimming pools in the condo so if you plan a vacation in the future PM me

[MonsterAura 548]

I'm from Sweden, and I better not see any of you hoes making meatballs or I will lose my sh*t

[PartySick 172,502]

Ludicrous. The adult thing to do here would've been to reach out to the owner, provide some tips and information, educate him properly on their culture, and the guy that honestly loves that culture enough to open a business centered around it would've adopted their ideas into his business plan.

5 hours ago, Chrastapher said:

So using this logic should every Chipotle and Taco Bell be closed down too 

Chipoltle, Taco Bell, Little Ceasers, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Olive Garden, Panda Express, etc etc. However, McDonald's, Burger King, Arby's, Chick-Fil-A, KFC, Popeye's, Wendy's, and the like should be safe as they embrace and profit off of the evil American white culture

Spoiler

I'm sorry but I just have to laugh at this stuff as it's ridiculous 

When did social justice go from fighting for equality and unity to "Stick it to the white, straight, Christian men of the world! They're evil! They're incapable of empathy or tolerance!"  At this point, SJW "culture" has just become what it claims to stand against. Only they think it's justifiable to hate or generalize people if they're part of a majority.

And I'm not trying to invalidate anyone's opinion here, I'm just saying this whole thing seems childish and ridiculous to me  Beyond this one restaurant closing, that is. Idk, maybe growing up in rural Florida makes me less prone to be offended and outraged any time someone breathes. I'm called racist and homophobic terms on a weekly basis and shrug them off 'cause they're meaningless comments from ignorant people and I know they represent only themselves as individuals. So the idea that someone could be SO upset about what food someone serves at a restaurant or what hair style an artist has in a music video, so upset that they want nothing more than to see those people fail completely and be stripped of everything...it's so alien to me.

People have forgotten how to lift others up together. They've forgotten that enlightenment and patience is the way forward. Now they're just consumed with trying to knock everyone else down to the same level. It's sad honestly.

And I totally understand that we all have our lines in the sand and when someone crosses it, we become angry or upset. I just hardly see those emotions put to use in productive ways anymore 

 

[Eighteen 5,430]

idk i'm from hawaii and am hawaiian and this doesn't offend me at all. people need to calm the **** down. if it's tacky, don't be a patron

[LordEnigma 11,313]

7 hours 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.

Yeah let's go back to when black people were slaves, women couldn't vote, and gays were punished to death.

We sure have downgraded at the turn of the century.

[JupiterDrive 2,788]

This cultural appropriation thing is so stupid people are such sissys

[PartySick 172,502]

17 minutes ago, Alexander Levi said:

Yeah let's go back to when black people were slaves, women couldn't vote, and gays were punished to death.

We sure have downgraded at the turn of the century.

Why take it to such an extreme?

I'm pretty sure @ReginaGeorge meant a time before social justice meant tear someone else down and the fight for equality was exchanged for the fight of getting even

So about the mid to late 2000's, maybe early 2010's 

Then we can nip this thing in the bud and have all this offense and anger put to productive rather than destructive use

[Lanius 1,055]

31 minutes ago, hahahahahahahah said:

idk i'm from hawaii and am hawaiian and this doesn't offend me at all. people need to calm the **** down. if it's tacky, don't be a patron

Are you a nativan Hawaiian or a white one? Because of the people against it are natives