this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
0 points (50.0% liked)
[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation
6592 readers
1 users here now
Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.
RULES
- Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling
- Encourage conversation in your post
- Avoid controversial topics such as politics or societal debates
- Keep it clean and SFW: No illegal content or anything gross and inappropriate
- No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc.
- Respect privacy: Don’t ask for or share any personal information
Related discussion-focused communities
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Maybe. I just would like to know what a native Hawaiian would think. I know a Native American would likely be offended if they let kids in wearing feathered headdresses. Neither would be universally true, obviously. I'm just speaking in generalities. I guess since it seems offensive to me, I would like an argument for why it isn't.
But isn't it sort of the indigenous version of blackface? I'm honestly asking, I'm not trying to make a connection that isn't there.
Are you indigenous?
Then you have no right to speak for them or decide what is or isn’t offensive to them.
Yes, I agree that it isn’t that simple, and as I said in another comment here, people of a specific culture will have differing opinions and feelings on the matter. That doesn’t mean that non-Hawaiians get to decide what is offensive to Hawaiians, and that is what I am addressing.
There is a difference. OP is asking if indigenous Hawaiians would find it offensive. You have been stating that it isn’t as a matter of fact, even though it’s not for you decide.
But aren't grass skirts ceremonial? Like part of religious ceremonies? I really would love a native Hawaiian to chime in.
Ok, then maybe that shouldn't happen either? I'm just not big on cultural appropriation, especially when it's one culture appropriating another culture they committed genocide against and never apologized for.
But again, the U.S. didn't commit genocide against Germany.
Well no, I think that literally appropriating their culture by wearing their ceremonial clothing is a qualifier for that. That it's appropriating a culture that America committed genocide against is just the icing on the cake.
Britain engaged in a strategy of 'terror bombing', the deliberate murder of German civilians, during WW2, killing over a million people. If a Brit wears a lederhosen, is that offensive? What about a Russian? French folk?
The present is more important than the past. In the past, we've all killed each other in horrific, cruel ways. What matters is the present - Native tribes often still use the national dress they're depicted with (without much concern for accuracy in most cases) in important cultural folkways, and Native Americans in general still suffer from severe discrimination. For that reason, not past genocides (though the past genocides are obviously important to recognize and acknowledge), is tribal 'costume' inappropriate and insensitive.
Indigenous Americans often get pretty offended when white people wear their traditional clothing. I'm not sure why this isn't the same.
If you mean lederhosen, then the second paragraph explains why it's different. If you mean the grass skirts, then I can't comment, as I don't know if there's a ceremonial component to grass skirts that would make wearing one offensive.
I meant grass skirts.
Grass skirts weren't used in Hawaii until the late 19th century and coconut bars never existed. Neither are Hawaiian culture, but both are stereotypes.
Now I'm confused