Is “Cultural Appropriation” a Thing?

Is “cultural appropriation” really a thing? Franklin Einspruch says no in his article: “”Cultural appropriation” isn’t real. It’s just culture.”. Here is an excerpt:

As far as we know, every people of the earth in every era produced visual culture, styling and modifying their bodies, adorning themselves, and producing durable objects of representation and abstraction. New culture came about the way new people came about—by mixing. The anti-appropriationists of today sound much like the anti-miscegenationists of the past, taking for granted that racial groups have clear borders and ought not be seen in public to combine. The pro-human approach is to allow such combinations, whether at the personal or cultural level. Not all mixing will work out well, just as not all relationships will work out well. But the successes deliver new kinds of life and new kinds of art, and justify the failures. To oppose “cultural appropriation,” is, in a sense, to oppose life.

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

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