what's appropriate?

  Something I hear about occasionally is cultural appropriation. It's a bad thing you know, insensitive. You aren't supposed to imitate someone's cultural heritage. Funny how I was told imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Oscar Wilde is credited with that observation. George Bernard Shaw added, it is the sincerest form of learning. But whatever the case truly is, you're not supposed to do that these days. 

 This was brought to mind recently as I browsed through my Facebook page. I have been seeing a lot of people embracing their perceived cultural heritage. What I mean is what they identify themselves as being, what cultural group they identify with. I've seen lots of native Americans lately. I see them dressed in native American clothing, doing their dances or whatever, embracing their heritage. It isn't cultural appropriation if they truly have native American blood, but it is still an appropriation. It appears to me they are simply trying to be identified with a lifestyle, a culture, that no longer exists. More of that lifestyle is myth and legend than reality these days. 

 The same applies with others, like those that enjoy cosplay events, dressed as Vikings or whatever. I have Scandinavian ancestry but I'm certainly no Viking. My second great grandfather was a 'round the world whaler, but I'm not. I'm an American kid born in mid twentieth century America, the son of a WW2 veteran, a common working man enjoying a middle-class existence. That is who I am. Whatever my ancestors where, I am not. I do not enjoy, nor am I entitled to anything those ancestors had or were. That was then, this is now. I'm not a puritan, explorer, cowboy, seafarer, adventurer, settler of a foreign land, no Davy Crocket or George Patton, none of that. Most likely had a bit of all that in my ancestry somewhere, but not today. 

 I have worked on the family tree quite a bit. I have made discoveries about their lives and deaths. I make no claim to any of that. It seems to me a good number of people today want to be compensated for the losses of yesterday. That is what they are embracing. I should have this or that because of that past. Those folks wanting to claim whatever the perception of the past presents. Whether they feel they were conquered or kidnapped they should be compensated for that today. The claim is strengthened by dressing the part. And that is why you aren't allowed to appropriate any of that. You are not entitled to anything associated with that. They are the victims, not you! 

 Cultural appropriation is theft. That is what is being taught these days. No longer is imitation a form of flattery, it is theft, a mockery, and an insult. It's funny though how each "culture" is so readily defined today. All native Americans lived on the great plains, hunted buffalo, did war dances and wore heavily beaded outfits. That's the perception, isn't it? It isn't the reality of that time in history, however. If you are black in America, your ancestors were slaves. That is the general thought but nowhere near the truth. All the white people in America come from Europe, owned slaves and stole the land from the Indians. That's the narrative today. If you are Irish, you drink too much and like to fight. If you are Italian, you probably belong to the mob. Stereotypical caricatures each and every one. But not if you claim that caricature, then it is your cultural heritage. Yeah, that's how that all works. You have to make the appropriate appropriation. That's the key in all of that.