Outstanding move

But I suppose in a general sense we could say that a refusal to accept a culture you are taking from is part of the idea of cultural appropriation. The distinction being that one can accept a culture without adopting it. There needs to be a certain level of familiarity and mutual respect between two cultures in order to really classify something as a blending of cultures vs a hostile acquisition of culture. Experience exist of course where a culture is put upon a people such as with colonialism or forced missionary work. In these cases the people taking on the elements aren’t taking as being forced to adhere to those elements is by definition an intent to have those elements used by the other culture.

Technology is in general an exception to the rule as in the sciences and most philosophies- technology belongs to all human kind. Ideas belong to all human kind. The specific expression of an idea may be “culturally protected,” such as may be the case of ceremonial clothing. One can’t reasonably say “you shouldn’t wear a robe because your culture didn’t event robes and this culture uses robes for ceremony...” but a specific kind of robe with cultural meaning to them but that is just “cool” to you is an example of such a case. To a certain religion their holy symbols may be sacred- marketing them because they look “cool” but without context or knowledge or involvement in that sub culture can be exploitive.

We can find grounds for the ideas of “cultural appropriation” in intellectual property laws. They aren’t a perfect analog but the fundamental ideas are there. One can’t trademark a word which is in wide spread common use and isn’t a specific invention and or representation of their “brand” for instance. However a novel and/or unique phrase or word that pertains to said brand can be “claimed” against infringement.

Likewise many ideas have “concurrent generation.” That is to say that something like a wheel is a simple and logical thing which likely any society would come up with on their own even if never exposed to the idea elsewhere. So you can’t patent the basic wheel. You can patent a specific artistic or functional variation of the wheel- but only said specific mechanism. For instance one can’t claim an exclusive patent for all wheels for automobiles. They may Pattent a certain novel mounting mechanism or a specific design- but any version even if it achieves the same result but through different means is it’s own instance of the idea.

So the basic principals surrounding cultural appropriation exist in law and many moralities and philosophies as a basic concept protecting novel thought while allowing “fair use” of that which is either not inherently harmful to the holder of the rights or is prudent under the fact that a concept may evolve in separate places without knowledge of the previous development. Where it can be shown that such an emergence was in fact influenced by exposure to (“ripping off”) an existing idea or work, then most systems hold the subsequent work as illegitimate and infringing upon the rights of an originator.

I think your analogy to patents fits well with appropriation of culture because it deals with ideas which are more abstract than objects of a culture. Considering that you addressed appropriation in this example " To a certain religion their holy symbols may be sacred- marketing them because they look “cool” but without context or knowledge or involvement in that sub culture can be [exploitative]. " Would something similar apply with using pieces of a culture in a more celebratory context? Like following celebrations that aren't for lack of a better word "native" to your culture? (I'm assuming that people are only part of one culture, which isn't accurate, but lets assume that for the question.)

#gatekeeping

i guess

Keeping things simple we will assume the “one culture per person idea.” I think that celebration of others events also depends. By and large Christians in America don’t seem to mind the idea of others participating in Christmas traditions. In fact- much discussion of late has revolved around people being upset that they couldn’t share the holiday far and wide. Wether it’s financially motivated or not- Carnival in Rio and other places seems to welcome any who wish to come along. And while these holidays in general to most people are Allowed to be played “fast and loose,” there are others which most people of that culture don’t mind “sharing” but would ask you to “stay inside the lines” a little closer- like Ramadan or Hanukkah which don’t quite have the level of commercialization or plasticity in cultural consciousness as Christmas does.

So when we discuss the idea of holidays- like with so many things concerning the ideas of “cultural appropriation” it becomes about respect and understanding of a culture, participation in a culture versus occupation of it.

For this I use a road trip metaphor. If a stranger is taking a road trip and you overhear- they might invite you along, or you might ask if you may go- but to say “that sounds neat! I’m coming too!” Is a bit odd and rude isn’t it? The closer you are and the better you know this group taking the road trip- the more room you have to assume that you’d be welcomed. That doesn’t mean that you could never go with a stranger unless they reached out to you first- it means that before you do you should probably say “hi,” and get to know them and their ways a little better. You and your friends might have “unwritten rules” about what a copilot does or who gets which seat or who controls the radio, wether you can vape or smoke in the car, eat in the car, take your shoes off etc. it’s better to get to know someone a little so you know how to respect each other on said road trip, what to expect etc.

But let’s say one way or another you’ve gotten on the road trip. Ok. Well- it’s their road trip right? So say the whole point of their trip is to get to the worlds biggest pumpkin as fast as possible. But that’s not how you road trip. You want to stop at every gas station. You don’t want to see a giant pumpkin and so whenever they say “we will be late to the pumpkin..” you say “who gives a shit about a pumpkin?” Taken far enough you even decide that you’re going to drive. Well that’s just not cool. And it’s not ok to say “well I wouldn’t mind if they did that to me. I like spontaneity in my road trips...” because respect isn’t treating people the way you’d like to be treated- it’s treating others in a way they’d like to be treated. (Obviously there are limits to that but as a general rule.)

Thank you for your responses. I enjoyed the effort and thought you put into them while answering my questions. I like your approach to topics such as these.

Respect IS a two way street- and by and large most people of most cultures try to make some accommodation and show respect for those trying to embrace their culture through patience and understanding that a person getting familiar with their culture will make “faux pas” that most adults wouldn’t. Where cultural diffusion occurs is after you and they have gone on enough road trips together and established a rapport to the point where you start to “rub off” on each other. Where through time and religion of their traditions these have become traditions to you as well, and vice versa.

But there is a certain element of time to this. A tradition that has been going on for 100 years- it only takes 30 years of change for the “new” way to have been around 1/3 as long as the original tradition- which itself wasn’t exactly a tradition until it gained history and traction so perhaps hasn’t been a “tradition” in culture for more than maybe 50 years. A tradition of 1,000 years takes 300 years of modification to reach the sale 1/3 point.

@cryoenthusiest- I’ve enjoyed this as well. I like the way you do things too.