(no subject)

[metaphorge]

Many people often seem to become upset when memes they personally hold important or identify with are replicated in what they feel to be an inexact fashion.

Agree, disagree, commentary?

(I feel the wikipedia article on "cultural appropriation" has good things to say on and examples of this subject.)

Comments

Just some 5 minute thoughts...

[ineffabelle]

Agreed and this applies to so many axes of human life.

I'm sure Plains Native Americans get annoyed seeing "dream catchers" all over the place.

I think there's more chance for upset when the meme(s) in question seem "essential" to the identity of the original holder. Because there is more chance for misrepresentation and miscommunication.

Re: Just some 5 minute thoughts...

[prettydark.livejournal.com]

Just to let you know, the dreamcatcher comes from the Ojibwe or Anicinabe peoples, which are Algonquian/woodlands tribes (not plains), for the most part.

Re: Just some 5 minute thoughts...

[ineffabelle]

Ahh, that kind of shows how cultural distortion can happen.
I was utterly clueless about the actual connection to the dreamcatchers and I still knew of their existence, severed from any actual historical truth.

Re: Just some 5 minute thoughts...

[ineffabelle]

thanks for the correction on that, btw!

Re: Just some 5 minute thoughts...

[lysana.livejournal.com]

Huh. Since I have some ancestry from that neck of the woods, if you'll pardon the pun, I feel a bit better about the one hanging over my bed. I mostly claimed it for free because the color scheme matters in my primary tradition.