Is there any seriously bad idea that cannot find a fanatic following on campuses these days? Alerted by an Instapundit blogpost from Ed Driscoll, I see that the latest protests seem to be against something the protesters call “cultural appropriation.” Cultural appropriation apparently means any partaking of a culture of which your genetic ancestors were not a part. So the American novelist Lionel Shriver is told she “shouldn’t write about minorities” and shouldn’t practice belly dancing. So the popular musician Katy Perry “got it in the neck” for dressing like a geisha. Students at Oberlin College got sushi banned from college dining facilities.
All of which strikes me as crazy, and not just because the same people denouncing “cultural appropriation” seem to regard the non-white casting of the Broadway musical “Hamilton” as just fine. On that, I’m with them. Appreciating the theater almost inevitably involves a willing suspension of disbelief, and why shouldn’t we be able to appreciate an actor playing Alexander Hamilton who in some respects doesn’t look like Alexander Hamilton? And why shouldn’t those of us who lack genetic ancestry that is Japanese or Thai not be able to enjoy sushi or pad thai?
The idea that cultures can only be appreciated by those with the same genetic ancestry is of course profoundly reactionary. And not just because it discriminates on the basis of race and ethnicity. But also because one of the pleasures of life, and one of the things that enriches civilized life, is partaking of multiple cultural traditions. Are Americans of European descent to be barred — or shamed — from performing music composed by Americans of African descent, and vice versa?
I’m with Lionel Shriver on this. Americans should feel free to do all the “cultural appropriation” they like.
