Another PC case I don't understand - Boston Museum of Fine Arts

[IceJad]

Being Asian or more accurately Han (Chinese) I don't see why trying on cultural wear as racist. Have the Western countries gone over the deep end on sensitivity?

In my country wearing another race's cultural wear is an act of understanding and friendship. It means we look upon your culture with high regards that we want to try it on. I personally have an Indian shirt which I wear during function.

Stereotype? No.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33450391

Following an uproar of criticism on social media, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts cancelled an event that protesters labelled racist and culturally insensitive.

Museum officials announced that they would cancel "Kimono Wednesdays," which was originally scheduled to run until 29 July.

Every week, visitors were encouraged to "channel your inner Camille Monet" by posing in front of Claude Monet's "La Japonaise" while trying on a replica of the kimono Monet's wife, Camille, wears in the painting.

The image Boston MFA put on its Facebook
Protesters quickly labelled this event as racist, saying it propagated racial stereotypes and encouraged cultural appropriation.

 

[Smidlee]

Being Asian or more accurately Han (Chinese) I don't see why trying on cultural wear as racist. Have the Western countries gone over the deep end on sensitivity?

We, in the west, are only tolerant toward people who agrees with us and will not tolerate anyone who disagrees.

 

[MehGuy]

I never viewed culture as sacred.

White people may get the nuances wrong when they imitate other cultures, but let's be honest.. we do the same with ours lol..

 

[mala]

i think it would not be so much a problem as much if not for the history involved here of such things as blackface or whites being hired to play the parts of asians very stereotypicaly in the middle of the last century (ex. mickey roonie) and so forth.

this problem is popping up now in japan as well these days.

 

[iluvatar5150]

The BBC article doesn't really explain, but if you read some of the comments here, the jist is that it's not just about the museum's exhibit, but that the painting itself is guilty of racial insensitivity and cultural appropriation, and that the museum is going along with it.

I'm not saying I'm agreeing with that perspective, just that there seems to be another layer to the onion that involves the context of the painting itself.

 

[Sketcher]

It's Boston. They're way over the deep end.

 

[katautumn]

I can see both sides. Orientalism is a form of cultural appropriation, and what it does is uses white people (subconsciously seen as more desirable) to perform a caricature of another race or culture, essentially erasing any sort of authenticity. Asian-Americans do tend to largely be under represented, and by having white people play Asian roles it further places Asian people in the background. I think as white people we shouldn't be so quick to label minorities' offended feelings as "petty" or "PC" or "stupid", or anything of the sort. We've likely never had to experience racism, so we have no idea what it feels like for someone to use our cultural garments to play dress-up and basically make a mockery of us. It's like when Native Americans are offended when someone uses the hawk feather as a Coachella accessory. For centuries, adorning ones self with feathers was seen as "weird" to outsiders. Native Americans were accused of failing to assimilate. But when Paris Hilton wears them to a music festival, suddenly they become an acceptable, even sought-after, fashion accessory for young white people.

 

[TerranceL]

I can see both sides. Orientalism is a form of cultural appropriation, and what it does is uses white people (subconsciously seen as more desirable) to perform a caricature of another race or culture, essentially erasing any sort of authenticity.

You are so right, we should fix this problem by segregating society so that the cultures never interact that way no first worlders feelings are hurt.

I think as white people we shouldn't be so quick to label minorities' offended feelings as "petty" or "PC" or "stupid", or anything of the sort.

I think you are a racist because you think that people because of their race shouldn't have an opinion on a subject.

We've likely never had to experience racism, so we have no idea what it feels like for someone to use our cultural garments to play dress-up and basically make a mockery of us.

Ah the, racism doesn't happen to whites canard. Cheerful.

It's like when Native Americans are offended when someone uses the hawk feather as a Coachella accessory.

Because no other culture on the face of the planet has ever using birds feathers for head dresses.

For centuries, adorning ones self with feathers was seen as "weird" to outsiders.

This just in, people who don't belong to a culture find parts of that culture weird and odd, more at 11.

Native Americans were accused of failing to assimilate. But when Paris Hilton wears them to a music festival, suddenly they become an acceptable, even sought-after, fashion accessory for young white people.

Those darn white people.

WHEN WILL THEY STOP.

Don't they know their skin is white, they should never dress or use any product that comes from any other culture.

What will you be suggesting next, different races use different water fountains?[/QUOTE]

 

[TerranceL]

Being Asian or more accurately Han (Chinese) I don't see why trying on cultural wear as racist. Have the Western countries gone over the deep end on sensitivity?

In my country wearing another race's cultural wear is an act of understanding and friendship. It means we look upon your culture with high regards that we want to try it on. I personally have an Indian shirt which I wear during function.

This is how adults see it.

This however is not how children in the west see it.

It's a first world problem nothing more. What I find hilarious is that it's usually white people telling other white people they are racist for daring to show any interest in any culture not their own.

 

[Catherineanne]

Did the Japanese Embassy complain?

If not, how do we know this was actually offensive?

 

[Tallguy88]

White girls wear Kimonos frequentky around here for special occasions. Japanese people wear business suits all the time. Cultural exchange is all it is.

Good grief.

 

[TerranceL]

Did the Japanese Embassy complain?

If not, how do we know this was actually offensive?

Because white progressives afflicted with "white savior" complexes are offended for them.

 

[iluvatar5150]

I guess it would be too difficult for some of you guys to read the article and the tumblr page it links to and see that several of the protesters were of asian descent.

 

[zephyrWiccan]

Being Asian or more accurately Han (Chinese) I don't see why trying on cultural wear as racist. Have the Western countries gone over the deep end on sensitivity?

In my country wearing another race's cultural wear is an act of understanding and friendship. It means we look upon your culture with high regards that we want to try it on. I personally have an Indian shirt which I wear during function.

Stereotype? No.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33450391

Following an uproar of criticism on social media, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts cancelled an event that protesters labelled racist and culturally insensitive.

Museum officials announced that they would cancel "Kimono Wednesdays," which was originally scheduled to run until 29 July.

Every week, visitors were encouraged to "channel your inner Camille Monet" by posing in front of Claude Monet's "La Japonaise" while trying on a replica of the kimono Monet's wife, Camille, wears in the painting.

The image Boston MFA put on its Facebook
Protesters quickly labelled this event as racist, saying it propagated racial stereotypes and encouraged cultural appropriation.

I'll let this brave young woman explain it for you:
https://did%3D15db13ca2ea397774512f061aa95aaa5d096fdae%3Bid%3D123158481627%3Bkey%3D-PRz3T8xfgRpwiZho1S6yA%3Bname%3Dhabi-bah

 

[TerranceL]

I guess it would be too difficult for some of you guys to read the article and the tumblr page it links to and see that several of the protesters were of asian descent.

Well if it's on tumblr it must be true.

 

[TerranceL]

I'll let this brave young woman explain it for you:
https://did%3D15db13ca2ea397774512f061aa95aaa5d096fdae%3Bid%3D123158481627%3Bkey%3D-PRz3T8xfgRpwiZho1S6yA%3Bname%3Dhabi-bah

That brave young woman is an idiot.
I will let an actual japanese man explain why the whole issue is idiotic to you.

I realize that this will come as a shock to many of the progressive left here but non-americans aren't the infantile imbeciles you think they are. They don't fall down in shock and start crying when they see someone wearing something from their culture.

The issue of "cultural appropriation" is an american progressive first world problem.

 

[seashale76]

If any form of cultural give and take is wrong, then immigration of any sort is also wrong. Everyone needs to go back to their original countries or those of their forebears and live in a static cultural milieu in order to preserve the sanctity of their respective cultures. No more ethnic cuisine, et cetera. These types of folks and white nationalists have a lot in common.

 

[Cearbhall]

Being Asian or more accurately Han (Chinese) I don't see why trying on cultural wear as racist. Have the Western countries gone over the deep end on sensitivity?

I judge this on a case-by-case basis. In this case, I would say yes.

In my country wearing another race's cultural wear is an act of understanding and friendship. It means we look upon your culture with high regards that we want to try it on.

I saw this exact same back-and-forth when Lady Gaga wore an Indian saree. Some people on the Internet saw the pictures and flipped out, and then a number of people who are Indian explained that they're actually appreciative when foreigners wear their clothing, as they consider it to be a sign of respect. The trigger-happy activists didn't consider that cultures might be different from one another in this regard.

I would say that the root of the problem is when SJWs (or anyone else) take it upon themselves to speak on behalf of other people. There are definitely a lot of self-righteous people who don't know what they're talking about and unfortunately have a voice because of the Internet. Many of them have no interest in taking into account what the article of clothing actually means to the culture. They just parrot what they've read without comprehending the complexity of it and fail to consider that a kimono might have a different level of significance and reverence than a Native American headdress, or whatever else they're thinking of.

So, in a nutshell, people should understand the cultural context of an article of clothing both before purchasing it and before commenting on someone else's decision to wear it.

 

[super animator]

It's your everyday typical SJW bs. What is good news however is people are beginning to wake up more and more to this idiocy and start discussing it.

 

[nightflight]

It's your everyday typical SJW bs. What is good news however is people are beginning to wake up more and more to this idiocy and start discussing it.

You think so?