This column will get probably me into trouble. The subject has already cost several professional journalists their jobs.

            The subject is cultural appropriation. A better term might be cultural looting. One culture (specifically, white North Americans) adopts and abuses elements of another culture (in this case, the indigenous peoples who were here l0,000 years before us). White children beat tom-toms or parade in feathered headdresses. Cities name their sports teams Redskins or Indians.

            Appropriation means taking something that rightfully belongs to someone else. The principle is widely recognized in copyright or patent infringement cases. My words belong to me. You cannot “appropriate” them without my permission.

            Now appropriation has made its way into social taboos.

            Hal Niedzviecki, editor-in-chief of the Writers’ Union magazine, resigned after writing an editorial that said, in part, “I don’t believe in cultural appropriation. In my opinion, anyone, anywhere, should be encouraged to imagine other peoples, other cultures, other identities…

            Perhaps, Niedzviecki suggested, there should be an annual award for “the best book by an author who writes about people who aren’t even remotely like her or him.”

            He got dumped on.

            Jonathan Kay, editor of Canada’s literary magazine The Walrus, defended Niedzviecki. He too fell victim to political correctness.

Loss of identity

            I can understand why groups might feel upset when outsiders fail to appreciate the significance of their symbols and rituals. I consider myself both religious and Christian. But I won’t wear a cross. The cross has been appropriated by too many people who neither understand nor follow the example of Jesus.

            I resent that loss.

            When former United Church moderator David Giuliano was minister in Marathon, on the north shore of Lake Superior, his congregation thought it would be a friendly gesture to include a sweetgrass purifying ritual in a Christian worship service.

            Giuliano asked a local First Nation chief about getting some sweetgrass.

            “Sure,” said the chief. “And would you mind if we used your chalice for a bread-and-wine ceremony?”

            The congregation re-thought their plans.

            Symbols matter. Values matter. Especially if you’ve been humiliated for generations by a dominant culture.

            But you don’t defend them by closing doors. Should only Catholics write about the Pope? Only Irish about the Great Famine? Only Jews about the Holocaust?

Creating cages

            As novelist Lionel Shriver said, in an impassioned speech to the Writers’ Festival at the University of Brisbane, “If we embrace narrow group-based identities too fiercely, we cling to the very cages in which others would seek to trap us. We pigeonhole ourselves.”

            She added, “I’m hoping that crime writers don’t all have personal experience of committing murder.”

            Under the taboos of cultural appropriation, Shakespeare should not have written Macbeth. He wasn’t Scottish. Or Hamlet. He wasn’t Danish either.

            Bizet should not have written Carmen.

            You and I would have to give up pizza and sushi, yoga and tai chi. To say nothing of tobacco and coffee.

            Whenever cultures interact, cultural appropriation is inevitable.

            Without cultural appropriation, I would not have an English language in which to write these words. English shamelessly stole vocabulary and grammar from Norse, Danish, German, French, and Latin sources. My computer runs on zeros that once belonged to the Arabs. My religious faith started with a nomadic Hebrew tribe -- who, incidentally, formulated rigid laws to restrict their own cultural appropriations.

Experiencing another’s reality

            Indeed, I would argue that cultural appropriation is necessary to heal the divisions of a wounded world. You cannot “love your neighbour as yourself” – a core message of both the Old and New Testaments – if you are not allowed to try to get inside your neighbour’s mind. To understand what he feels, what she thinks, what they value.

            This is the great gift of fiction. Vicariously, we enter into another’s experience.

            And so it seems to me that the critics of cultural appropriation are barking up the wrong flagpole. Rather than asking whether an author belongs to the right culture, they should be asking whether an author’s text advances the right vision. Whether it moves beyond clichés and stereotypes to understanding and respect.

            Did a pet Indian named Tonto enhance the self-esteem of American native people? Unlikely. Did Grey Owl – actually an English imposter, Archibald Belaney – foster respect for indigenous values? Somewhat.

            The ultimate goal is empathy, regardless of who delivers it.

            “Before you judge a man,” runs a common adage, “walk a mile in his moccasins.” Although often attributed to indigenous sources, it actually comes from a poem by Mary T. Lathrap, a white Scots-Irish Presbyterian from Michigan.

            Yet another instance of cultural appropriation.

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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.

            To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

Dale Perkins lives in Victoria, seat of the provincial government. We still don’t know who will form the government. Dale had some cautioning words: “Your item was fun to read ... lots of great allusions to our experience growing up on Saturday afternoon movies.  And the situation is precarious as you indicate, and many of us might indulge in fantasies about ‘deus ex machina’ heroics happening to make it ‘all beta’.

            “Portraying Andrew Weaver and his two fellow Green mates as holding such influence is just another fantasy.  If Clark & Co secure another MLA seat (totalling 44) [through recounts or absentee ballots: JT] she could give Weaver the finger and carry on in her inimitable fashion. Andrew and his two mates would disappear as a significant factor, leaving him bereft of any real influence on matters political for another four years. Unfortunately, for the rest of us, we would be deprived of having a tangible expression of where Weaver's/Green's real political intentions rest.

            “However, we did have a momentary flight of fancy, and Weaver had his moment in the sun.”

Tom Watson liked the “cliffhanger" analogy: “Nightly, lately, we turn the news off when we go to bed, wondering whether the guys with the white hats will ride in to save things from the villain. Next morning, we wake up to find that not to be the case; rather, the villain has just pulled the roots out a little further.”

George Brigham told of an even closer outcome: “As you may have heard, here in the UK we have a general election next month, but we also had elections on 4 May for county and city administrations. In one ward near me we had the closest possible cliff-hanger. After several recounts, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates had exactly the same number of votes. Eventually the LibDem won after the two candidates drew straws. I'm not sure if the winner got the longest or the shortest straw!”

Robert Caughell: "They say that BC politics is different; we will have to see how things play out, see how/what this affects federal politics.”

            I had, in passing, blamed several electoral trends on side-effects of Donald Trump. Robert wrote, “As for Trump, I see him quitting before he is impeached for his off-the-cuff twitter remarks/tirades.”

Don Snazrude got at some root causes: “It seems to me that you are trying to say that the rich always control. Since the days of Jesus it was so, and before.  Is greed the root cause of our times as well as throughout a good part of history? The root of all evil is the ‘love of money’. It affects me as well at times -- I get so fed up with my own consumerism that I say how can I help? Then it occurs to me, like you, that I must stop and think -- buy for those in need.  Am I not my brother’s and sister’s keeper?”

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TECHNICAL STUFF

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PROMOTION STUFF…

            Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca

            Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

            Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>

            I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com

            Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.

            Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net