Cultural Appropriation, and why we should do more of it.

During a process called growing up, I appropriated all manner of lessons, traditions and hand signals, culture of all kinds, into my brain. I didn't just learn from my parents but from everyone I could catch a glimpse of. I learned from my grandparents, I learned from the TV, I learned from summer camp and from many other sources.

Then, later in life, the world started to tell me that cultural appropriation is wrong. But without cultural appropriation, I would still have the brain of a baby.

_{Finding images on mobile sucks}

In 2009 I moved to Colombia and immediately started appropriating their culture. The first thing I tried to do was change every bit of my culture (English) that came out of my mouth and replace it with the local culture (Spanish). Even with many years of Spanish classes, it took me a long time to satisfactorily replace English with Spanish, although I have been given much credit throughout the years for trying.

I quickly got a job as well, and one thing that my boss emphasized to me was that under no circumstances was I to appropriate the Colombian culture around time; though time is relative in Colombian culture I was to treat it as absolute, if I wanted to work at this place I would have to keep my US culture regarding punctuality. I was instructed to appropriate the language and the food but not the time!

_{Some sort of Hybrid Creature}

At one point in my life I read the Bible. I then checked my moral compass against what I had read in the book. My very favorite book is Proverbs, I read it quite often even today. You might say that I have appropriated many of the lessons from Proverbs into my life. I am not Jewish nor a descendant of the King Solomon, but I have appropriated the lessons he wrote for his children.

I also walk around with a machete tied around my waist. I find that I need a machete at least a dozen times a day, so I just hang it there in the morning. I learned this from the Colombians, when in Colombia, do as the Colombians do. But when I go to Bogotá, I leave my machete behind, respecting the Colombian law that no machetes be carried in the city.

_{Machete with Flip-flops, only before coffee}

Relativism or Absolutism: The Moral of the Story

Within philosophical discussions you can sometimes hear mention to moral relativism and moral absolutism. These are different ways of viewing morality. I'll give you an example.

An absolutist would say that murder is wrong but killing is okay (provided some definitions). A relativist would say that this justification of killing but not murder is proof that taking life is relative, sometimes okay and sometimes not. This is a deep philosophical discussion that has gone on among humans for thousands of years.

_{Relative Absolutes}

So here I am, a Spanish speaking, Proverbs following punctual machete carrier, who uses his American wiles to post all about these appropriated adventures on the Steem blockchain, when somebody says, 'Cultural Appropriation in Wrong!'

Now, those who want us to stop appropriating the cultures of others are generally moral relativists, meaning there is most likely some set of circumstances in which it is okay to appropriate, such as language in a new country. In fact, just being in a new country might be all the excuse I need to appropriate whatever I want.

But as an absolutist I don't actually think it is wrong, in fact I think cultural appropriation is required, maybe even hardwired.

_{Is this Appropriation?}

Life has been appropriating culture since life first appeared on the scene! The mitochondria in each one of our cells is a living history to how important appropriation has been for our species, and every other multi-cellular organism on the planet.

The important concept is to appropriate the best stuff, only the stuff that will help survive better in this strange world. We humans have a lot more KPIs nowadays than just survival, such as efficiency, enjoyment and productivity, so be sure that you are appropriating habits and traditions that improve whichever Key Performance Indicators are important to you!

_{You can Change!}

We change our culture all the time, for all sorts of reasons. Those that have recently adopted the 'stop cultural appropriation' meme just changed their culture to one that doesn't want any more change. But the no change party has never maintained victory for very long, and for good reason.

Change is our Super Power as Humans!

Love and Light to All!