Generally all cults work on selling people a sense of false self esteem based on belonging - that you are special and smart and are being given access to "secret truth"... which is why a lot of folks can buy into it even if it contradicts other established sources.
The kewlness of cultural appropriation just adds an extra bit of greed on top of it- for example, these same people never ask why, if there's this super-awesome wisdom from this culture, why they don't go direct to the source instead of a white person. (And that's not to say there can't be migration of practices, though you'll note that traditional practices base themselves in a sense of community- said "teacher" would have links to the home culture that are alive and continuous, not a mystery guru from 20 years ago...)
In a way, it lets them indulge the movie fantasy where the white person comes into a POC culture, "masters their ways" and then is better than both the POC and the white folks, because apparently the truth/wisdom of the practice was simply waiting from someone white special enough to unlock it's potential.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-10-08 05:33 pm (UTC)The kewlness of cultural appropriation just adds an extra bit of greed on top of it- for example, these same people never ask why, if there's this super-awesome wisdom from this culture, why they don't go direct to the source instead of a white person. (And that's not to say there can't be migration of practices, though you'll note that traditional practices base themselves in a sense of community- said "teacher" would have links to the home culture that are alive and continuous, not a mystery guru from 20 years ago...)
In a way, it lets them indulge the movie fantasy where the white person comes into a POC culture, "masters their ways" and then is better than both the POC and the white folks, because apparently the truth/wisdom of the practice was simply waiting from someone
whitespecial enough to unlock it's potential.