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Cultural Appropriation – Honoring or Mocking?

Brad dives into the hot topic of Cultural Appropriation! Is it honoring or mocking and how can you tell the difference?

Today on Brad Stine has issues we need to discuss cultural appropriation so I might use props to jazz it up a bit..Wait, I’m white, can I use the word jazz..Man, I have issues!! 

Cultural Appropriation - Honoring or Mocking?One of the amazing purposes of Brad Stine Has Issues is seeking clarity and understanding of both sides of an issue, but in a comedic way, so Americans can laugh again. Thus, it’s important that I give equal respect to your opinion even though, clearly my opinion is better.

So, I’ve noticed one of the overly used and meaningless phrases in the new America is when someone is offended by something and believes the remedy is simply stating, “We need a national discussion on this issue.”

I claim it’s meaningless because it sounds good – but it not only accomplishes nothing, but is impossible to utilize. Why? Because, in order to have a discussion, you have to presume both parties are seeking the truth. And equally important, they are listening to each other! Notice I didn’t say agreeing with each other, only listening to try to discern where each other is coming from. 

Unfortunately, Progressives have poisoned this well, because they never give Conservatives equal respect of their point of view. They  just presume it is evil! 

They commit the philosophical fallacy known as the straw man, which works like this: I set up a caricature of what you believe, and then tear it down – which is easy to do since I didn’t believe it in the first place. For example, they say, “Conservatives hate poor people, so when Conservatives say they believe in hard work and self reliance, it’s really a dog whistle to the fact that they are using the poor to get rich.”

Forget for a moment this discredited Marxist philosophy of bourgeoisie/proletariat conflict.  To cut to the chase – first, you have to be rich to be able to exploit the poor and I don’t fit that category. I was very poor growing up. But you know what, I never realized it. You know why? Because I was usually unconscious from hunger, but that’s another story. The point is, if you caricature people you disagree with as evil before you get out of the gate, how can you have a rational conversation? 

Seriously, tell me how exactly am I to have a helpful conversation with someone who always acts like I just killed their cat? (Which by the way would be doing them a favor!!) That’s why I’m confounded by the concept of Cultural Appropriation – or what I thought it meant was appreciating each other’s cultural contribution.

Now remember, I am a Christian, so I am not allowed the luxury so many Americans have of refusing to try and understand the other side. It sucks, but that’s my cross. So, I looked into it and technically Cultural Appropriation means taking another culture’s identity, religious elements, or wardrobe and using it to make money or trivializing it. But look, there is a difference between mocking or belittling another culture and trying to honor it! 

That’s where we seem to diverge: one man’s honor is interpreted as another’s demeaning. 

For example, some have suggested that the use of Native Americans as a logo is offensive because it belittles them by reducing them to a cartoon. Now, if that was the intent, then I can understand their feelings. But here is what you might want to consider: Whenever I saw the logos of the Cleveland Indians or Atlanta Braves, I saw a warrior. Notice – even though the team was owned by a white guy, they didn’t choose a white guy…or gal, to represent their team’s pride and fortitude.

There has never been, to my knowledge, a team named the Cleveland Caucasians or the Toledo Ted Turner’s! Think about that, they chose Indians as a race or warrior spirit to bring pride to their team as overcomers and powerful conquerors!! So is it possible that there was no ill intent, but actually they thought of it as honorable? 

Just asking, since you wanted a national conversation. This is what conversations actually look like!  You’re allowed to ask questions, and even be ignorant or uninformed, without being attacked as a racist!! 

Now, if you still consider those logos as demeaning, or suspect, or are used to belittle others, then you have a right to believe that; and even tell the world that’s how you see it. That’s what a discussion looks like. 

I can only say that if a team ever wants to name themselves the Birmingham Brad Stines… I am all over it!! 

I would be proud that of all the inferior titles they could have chosen, they landed on me!!! 

Now, for those who are unable to listen to this perspective without going into an uncontrollable rage because of your hair-trigger warning, I know what your response will be. You’ll say that I have never experienced something sacred nor dear to me being mocked and ridiculed, so I have no say in this.

Really?? We have already established that I am a Christian, which mans I unapologetically announce to the world that Jesus is God in the flesh. Well, guess what you have never noticed, or cared about?! My faith is demeaned regularly on film and TV by using the sacred name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, as a curse word! You can’t use the n-word in public, because it is demeaning to black Americans, and rightfully so. But, to Progressives, you can demean God Almighty and insult Christians throughout the world daily by mocking and trivializing someone we hold sacred! 

So, if you actually care about cultural appropriation, then I expect you to be at the front lines of every film and TV show that has the audacity and insensitivity to use that culturally appropriated name. 

Now we get to see if you actually care about others culture, or just yours? Welcome to the wonderful world of accountability. Maybe we could have a national conversation about it? 

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