whatfreshhellisthis-deactivated answered:

Put down the Nietzsche and stop being so fucking asinine. People are being physically harmed, what the fuck do you think?

Like really, are you actually so sheltered you cannot see how the appropriation and commodification of- for example- blackness leads directly to violence against black people?

Let me make this very simple, using Miley Cyrus’ example of cultural appropriation:

Miley Cyrus co-opts black female sexuality as a shorthand for “sexually aggressive”.

In order to be as shocking as possible, as aggressive as possible, as deviant as possible, so as to shred the ‘disney innocent’ box she’s been put into, Miley appropriates black female culture and identity.

Are you with me so far?

She appropriates black female culture and identity in the exact same way that she dressed so provocatively and referenced hard drugs; she uses blackness as a shorthand for deviance.

Blackness being a shorthand for deviance is the exact same cultural meme about black women that lead to white people being unable to picture Rue from the Hunger Games as black, because white = innocence, black = deviance.

Cultural appropriation reinforces stereotypes (“Blackness = deviance”) which then inform the way that white people think about black people, and relate to black people, and treat black people. (“Blackness = deviance, therefore a little girl characterised as sweet and innocent can’t be black because black people can’t be sweet and innocent).

This is in spite of the fact that Rue was clearly described as black in the books.

Do you understand yet? By being constantly inundated with the message that “black = deviance” people stop being able to think of blackness and black people as anything other, even in direct contradiction of the facts

And this inability to think of black people as anything other than a caricature informs behaviour.

The cultural assumption of black people’s inherent deviance and the impossibility of black innocence leads to behaviour such as describing Quvenzhané Wallis as a cunt.

People appropriate black culture -> people reinforcing stereotypes about black people -> people unable to think of black people outside of those stereotypes -> black people coming to harm.

Black people dying.

Trayvon Martin dies, because blackness is deviance, because deviance is dangerous, because black men- black children don’t exist, because children are innocent and blackness as innocence is an impossibility- are dangerous.

Miley Cyrus gets to shed her disney image off of the back of blackness. Black people die.