Time to get rid of the idea of cultural appropriation and other Marxist identity claptrap

When the pandemic is over, it’s possible that a few things that once seemed important to some people might leave with it. This could include some of the more arcane elements of what constituted the “Woke” culture. For example, some people used to fret about what they called “cultural appropriation,” castigating people from Western white cultures who adopted practices from other cultures. Justin Bieber was slated for wearing his hair in blond dreadlocks, and university students were derided for holding costume parties themed on countries such as Mexico or Japan.

It’s nonsense, or course. When we take on board things done by other cultures, more often than not it’s cultural appreciation rather than appropriation. The walls of my house feature paintings done by a Western artist in the Chinese style, but this is a tribute to Chinese culture rather than the theft of it. I love Chinese cuisine, and I don’t mind in the slightest if some of it is prepared by non-Chinese chefs. Indeed, I sometimes cook in that style myself, as I do in the style of many countries. When I dress, as I often do, in clothes that echo the fashions of Eastern countries, it is because I admire that style.

At the heart of this absurd idea lies the notion that we should all live in boxes with labels on them. Western Europeans are supposed to live like stereotypical Europeans, without enriching their culture with outside influences. It would be a duller and poorer world if we did this. We’ve always taken outside ideas and influences, usually because we admire them. When the Pope and his predecessor wore sombreros on visiting Mexico, they were honouring Mexican culture, not mocking it.

It is identity politics gone mad to define us and limit us to one narrow culture. People are too complex, too diverse, and too multi-faceted to be confined like this. We express our own independent ideas, rather than simply giving expression to what someone else thinks is our class interest. We need to be treated as individuals, not dealt with merely as members of the groups that others want to define us by.

There are people who prefer to dismiss our ideas as the mere expression of our group interest and identity. It saves them from having to listen to those ideas, or to consider them, or to argue with them. They claim that people in one box have nothing to say about those in other boxes, and no value to draw from them into their own lives. Fortunately, people are bigger than this, and the idea that they should be limited in this way will almost certainly have a short shelf life when the current pandemic is over.

Thanks very much, but we’ve had quite enough confinement of late, and when it’s ended, we’re not about to let a few obsessives continue to confine us culturally or intellectually.

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