Authenticity of Approval

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I don't like yoga. Yoga is, in fact, one of the two things that as a middle-aged Portland woman I am supposed to like, the other being naked lady parties.

People are always trying to get me to take yoga with them. Luckily, I'm very busy so I have an excuse, and that allows me to get around the part where they look at me like I just grew an arm out of my face when I say that I don't care for yoga.

They always ask me why I don't like it, and I tell them that I'm not very flexible and they always tell me that if I do yoga I will become more flexible. Like being flexible is some sort of BENEFIT, and not a fucking DRAWBACK. I don't WANT to be "flexible". Flexible is for those people who roll their ankles and accidentally dislocate their shoulders trying to carry their purse. My collagen is firm and tight for a reason, and that reason is to make me strong like an ant, so that I can carry bales of straw that weigh as much as I do and hike 6 miles before breakfast. I am not willowy, I am a small tank and I will NOT do yoga, yoga can go fuck itself while I leg motor on over the Tualatin Mountains for a beer and chili on Sunday morning.

What's all this about naked lady parties, now?

It's a thing that women do that is supposed to be enjoyable, where everyone brings their discarded clothes and some wine, then strip down and start trying other people's clothes on while getting drunk.

I loathe them, it's like my own personal hell.

That is exceedingly less interesting than I was imagining.

Also, i have a feeling this is limited to the PNW.  I have a hard time picturing New Englanders doing this.

Yeah, I could see it being a local thing.

Bitches act so HURT when I decline their invitations, too, but seriously, I hate clothes shopping, I hate trying clothes on, it feels like being sandpapered to death and doing it in a room full of drunk women in their underwear while they pressure me to take home clothes I don't really want is just horrible. Horrible.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I should invent a certification process for it and make a million dollars.

CERTIFIED! Naked Lady Hostess™.

[Kai]

Yoga Alliance.

Alliance against WHOM?   

The unwashed?

No, I think it's the Pilates geeks.  Everyone hates those bastards.   

Yoga, Feng Shooey, and the Tai Chi thugs.  Allied against the people with the huge balls.

As a member of the Tai Chi Independents, I take offense to your implication that I am aligned with such quackery!

[hooplala]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

[Faust]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Also, it's fucking yoga. It's supposed to be for everyone. Even white people.

There are some kind of icky implications when you accuse Americans, in general, of cultural appropriation, too; it implies that Indian and Middle Eastern and Asian and Black and Native and so on Americans aren't really Americans.

[hooplala]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Also, it's fucking yoga. It's supposed to be for everyone. Even white people.

There are some kind of icky implications when you accuse Americans, in general, of cultural appropriation, too; it implies that Indian and Middle Eastern and Asian and Black and Native and so on Americans aren't really Americans.

That's a point I hadn't even considered.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

There is also a huge difference between appropriating a cultural element that is a ceremony for a specific people, and adapting a cultural element that is just a thing for people in general. For example, non-Jews having a Bar Mitzvah because they think it's "neat" would be appropriation, but making matzoh ball soup is not and it would be silly to say it is.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

There is also a huge difference between appropriating a cultural element that is a ceremony for a specific people, and adapting a cultural element that is just a thing for people in general. For example, non-Jews having a Bar Mitzvah because they think it's "neat" would be appropriation, but making matzoh ball soup is not and it would be silly to say it is.

Exactly. Now, I can see some legit Hindus getting a bit ticked off is Random Newage Hippie White Guy passes himself off as a Guru... but Yoga as exercise doesn't really seem all that bad to me.

In the end, I think its a bit like remixing, mashups and collages. Taking inspiration or making use of valuable ideas is great, as long as you don't make claims that go beyond that point.

[Faust]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

There is also a huge difference between appropriating a cultural element that is a ceremony for a specific people, and adapting a cultural element that is just a thing for people in general. For example, non-Jews having a Bar Mitzvah because they think it's "neat" would be appropriation, but making matzoh ball soup is not and it would be silly to say it is.

See that makes sense but the distinction that seems so peculiar to me is that it's cultural appropriation only if the act taken serves no practical value.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

There is also a huge difference between appropriating a cultural element that is a ceremony for a specific people, and adapting a cultural element that is just a thing for people in general. For example, non-Jews having a Bar Mitzvah because they think it's "neat" would be appropriation, but making matzoh ball soup is not and it would be silly to say it is.

See that makes sense but the distinction that seems so peculiar to me is that it's cultural appropriation only if the act taken serves no practical value.

That's the ceremony part.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

There is also a huge difference between appropriating a cultural element that is a ceremony for a specific people, and adapting a cultural element that is just a thing for people in general. For example, non-Jews having a Bar Mitzvah because they think it's "neat" would be appropriation, but making matzoh ball soup is not and it would be silly to say it is.

See that makes sense but the distinction that seems so peculiar to me is that it's cultural appropriation only if the act taken serves no practical value.

For me, I'd say that the cultural appropriation is really about taking something 'sacred' (for lack of a better term) and claiming that thing wholesale. I mean, sweating in a tent with some steam and peyote is good fun for everyone... just don't call it a Authentic Native American Sweat Lodge if you're a non-native and have no clue what the context was in their culture.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

There is also a huge difference between appropriating a cultural element that is a ceremony for a specific people, and adapting a cultural element that is just a thing for people in general. For example, non-Jews having a Bar Mitzvah because they think it's "neat" would be appropriation, but making matzoh ball soup is not and it would be silly to say it is.

See that makes sense but the distinction that seems so peculiar to me is that it's cultural appropriation only if the act taken serves no practical value.

For me, I'd say that the cultural appropriation is really about taking something 'sacred' (for lack of a better term) and claiming that thing wholesale. I mean, sweating in a tent with some steam and peyote is good fun for everyone... just don't call it a Authentic Native American Sweat Lodge if you're a non-native and have no clue what the context was is in their culture.

FTFY

[hooplala]

Cultural appropriation abounds here in Murrica.

Possibly off topic, but cultural appropriation is a concept I struggle with a lot.  On one hand, I totally get it.  Whitey has robbed the world of everything and used it as their own since time immemorial... but on the other hand, I share the same sun as everyone else on this planet.  We stare up at the same moon at night.  When the asteroid hits, we all fly into space together.  How could I possibly not be part of their culture?

[/threadjack]

Ideas spread for a reason

For example penicillin, industrial methods, surgical procedures, transport and traffic flow layout, Electricity supply best practices, refrigeration methods, construction methods and pretty much everything you passively or actively interact with per day, came from or were improved upon by other cultures.

The reason those ideas spread is because they were mostly RIGHT. Yoga is a TOOL not a ceremonial practice. If I wanted the best tool to limber, and reduce stress I would go to Yoga.

There is also a huge difference between appropriating a cultural element that is a ceremony for a specific people, and adapting a cultural element that is just a thing for people in general. For example, non-Jews having a Bar Mitzvah because they think it's "neat" would be appropriation, but making matzoh ball soup is not and it would be silly to say it is.

What if they sincerely think the ceremony has value for a boy/man of that age?  Is that different than if they just thought it was "neat"?

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I don't like yoga. Yoga is, in fact, one of the two things that as a middle-aged Portland woman I am supposed to like, the other being naked lady parties.

People are always trying to get me to take yoga with them. Luckily, I'm very busy so I have an excuse, and that allows me to get around the part where they look at me like I just grew an arm out of my face when I say that I don't care for yoga.

They always ask me why I don't like it, and I tell them that I'm not very flexible and they always tell me that if I do yoga I will become more flexible. Like being flexible is some sort of BENEFIT, and not a fucking DRAWBACK. I don't WANT to be "flexible". Flexible is for those people who roll their ankles and accidentally dislocate their shoulders trying to carry their purse. My collagen is firm and tight for a reason, and that reason is to make me strong like an ant, so that I can carry bales of straw that weigh as much as I do and hike 6 miles before breakfast. I am not willowy, I am a small tank and I will NOT do yoga, yoga can go fuck itself while I leg motor on over the Tualatin Mountains for a beer and chili on Sunday morning.

What's all this about naked lady parties, now?

It's a thing that women do that is supposed to be enjoyable, where everyone brings their discarded clothes and some wine, then strip down and start trying other people's clothes on while getting drunk.

I loathe them, it's like my own personal hell.

That is exceedingly less interesting than I was imagining.

Also, i have a feeling this is limited to the PNW.  I have a hard time picturing New Englanders doing this.

As a New England lady I support this statement 100%

We are terrified of being nude unless there's a shower or fucking involved.