#cultural misappropriation

[garochetarkinslicersimlish]

[identitychip]

[teeth-cable]

I saw another blog bring this up but I think this is important to state.

Vivziepop is actively fucking endangering people by using demonic sigils.

Case in point: a while ago someone on the Helluva subreddit wanted to get Stolas' Sigil as an actual tattoo and only like a 1/3 of the comments were like "HOLY FUCK DO NOT FUCKING DO THIS FOR RELIGIOUS AND SAFETY REASONS"

Like I don't care if you don't believe in the supernatural or whatever. You don't FUCK with this shit. Like even if you ignore the potential issues there's the fact Stolas is a patron for neo pagans.

Like I can understand why Vivziepop uses the sigils in the show somewhat but she should NEVER sell merch with that shit.

Like one shes comidifying religious shit on a show that only us 0.1% related to the Ars Goetia and demonology. This effects people who deal with the supernatural and will make their practices be seen from the outside a some sort of quirky fandom thing and not taken seriously.

She is potentially having people open up entry points for demons.

She is not a practicing neo pagan or worshipper of any patron demons and is stealing from them without any fucking respect. She has no right to profit using their iconography. Like it would be like me using the Star of David to market my show about Jesus.

As someone who heard rumors about how the Lore Olympus fandom attacking actual Hellenists for worshiping Apollo because LO Apollo is a horrible person. What the FUCK do you think Vivziepop's cult would do if they found out someone worships Paimon or pagan worshippers in general having issues with how the Ars Goetia is portrayed?

Not surprising to me that Viv is treating actual demonic sigils as an aesthetic. She has done this before with Alastor’s Hatitan voodoo in the pilot.

Another problem I have with Viv not doing research about demonology and religions is she obviously doesn’t care about respecting these religions and spreading harmful misconceptions about them to her fans who knows nothing about them. Fans think voodoo symbols and demon sigils are just designs because of how Viv treats them in her show and merch.

There is an actual reason why these religions don’t let anyone use these symbols. I don’t care if Viv is an atheist, you still have to respect other’s religions and their rules. From what I heard people who are into demonology and these religions hate the show because of how inaccurate it is. The fans would just ignore or harass them because they dare criticize a show misusing their religion.

[bigboobshaunt]

Y'all can we stop using the "inside you there are two wolves" meme?

[vanilla-cigarillos]

Animism - A Breakdown and Brief History

Inspired by a question from an anonymous user on Tumblr, I’d like to make a post discussing animism! I heavily identify with this manner of belief and thinking, so I’d love to share it with you all :)

What Is Animism?

When you first Google “animism”, this is the definition that you’re meant with:

1. the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.

2. the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe. "a village steeped in ancient animism and rituals"

In my own understanding, animism is a very broad term discussing the belief that inanimate objects possess a spiritual essence (soul, spirit, etc.) just as living creatures do. All things — animals, plants, rocks, the weather, etc. — has some form of life (though it may be in ways completely different to our own expression of being alive. 

Animism is largely thought to be “indigenous beliefs”, popularly displayed as so in media about indigenous people. Think the grossly inappropriate Pocahontas animated movie by Disney, where the (wrongfully aged up) Pocahontas describes the spirits of the natural world around them.

History of The Term “Animism”

“Old Animism” Definitions In order to understand where we are now with the understanding of what animism is, we first have to look at where the term originated from. 

The first idea of “animism” (in the old terminology’s sense) was developed by Sir Edward Tylor, an anthropologist who voiced this idea in his 1871 book Primitive Culture. According to Tylor, “animism” often included “an idea of pervading life and will in nature”. Essentially, he believed that animism was the earliest represented form of religion, and fundamentally was viewed as a mistake. He disregarded animism as based on early humanity’s unscientific observations about nature and the reality around them.

Anthropologists grew away from the term “animism” over time, labeling it as too close to now discounted early anthropological theory. Around this time the term began being reclaimed by indigenous people, who in some cases actively chose to identify as “animists” as they felt the word described their sense of beliefs. Thusly, scholars began to recontextualize the term in the rigid academic setting. 

Where Are We Now?

It’s very important to note that animism is NOT anthropomorphism — the two are vastly similar. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to any sort of creature or object that is not human. Think the inanimate objects in Disney movies. 

Animism is a set of genuinely felt beliefs that are tied to a variety of cultures and people. It puts nature and its many creations on the same spiritual platform as other humans, deserving of respect and worship in their own way. 

[bernie-buddy]

If your opinion is "If you're white, do not make anything involving [non-white] culture" then I'm immediately blocking you.

Your irrational anger at *the whites* having any element of different cultures in their work is not my or anyone else's problem.

[6ebe]

Me in the trenches of f1 twitter telling the girlies who rep half the grid to take “akgae” out of their bio

[tokyorandomengrishshirts]

Biking or viking?

“Viking” is Japanglish for buffet. The first buffet-style restaurant that was opened in Japan was named the Imperial Viking, therefore the term Viking was misappropriated. Despite the fact that the word buffet ビュッフェ also exists in katakana (the writing system for borrowed words), as does tabehoidai 食べ放題 (the original Japanese word for “all-you-can-eat”), バイキング viking is used the most often.

Also, the direct romanization of yakiniku… 🙄 Yakiniku is a Korean-style bbq that is really popular here.

[tiodolma]

i don't know why the movie didn't just end right and there with arthur and company taking morgana and mordred to rehab, because that's not something you wear unless it's for... cough, sexy stuff...? XD

Characters within the movie were actually asking if they were going to a comic convention 😂😂😂

Also tbf the thai police tried to arrest morgana but she magic-tased them

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Stop misappropriating the abuse and trauma cults use through purity culture for your stupid fucking shipping discourse? Holy fuck no wonder everyone hates this whole discourse.

Since when is "priests getting shuffled around after raping kids and kids being told they're sinful because they had bodily reactions to being SAd" comparable to "Bobo the clown said my ship was cringe"

I'm not gonna answer this with The Aristocrats, as a I threatened, because I want to make a very serious point to this anon:

Purity culture isn't just religious abuse. It is most widely connected to religious abuse. Including actions in the Catholic Church and all fundamentalist Christianity. It's entire existence is about terrifying and indoctrinating people into being fearful of their own actions and bodies so that they feel certain that moving out from the "umbrella of safety" (to use a fundamentalist term) will result in them being harmed in ways they can't imagine. This is generally happening at the same time as they are being harmed by those who are supposed to be keeping them safe from all those terrible, worldly evils. Like speaking up when you're being abused. Believing you are not responsible for the actions of a rapist, and many, many other things that any person with an ounce of self-worth and good sense (two things not allowed in fundamentalist circles) knows are true in abuse situations.

But the point of the purity culture as identity in the above-mentioned circles is to teach people from birth that they aren't to have their own feelings, ideas, or instincts. They are only to follow the feelings, ideas, and instincts on the approved list in order to stay within the structures they know and feel safe in even as they feel very unsafe.

That being said:

Purity culture can also exist WITHOUT a religious structure while still being about controlling the thoughts, feelings, and actions of everyone within it. In terms of fandom, purity culture is groups of people stating that if you write something uncomfortable or gross or immoral, then YOU must be uncomfortable or gross or immoral and therefore, not worthy of the safety and moral superiority of the group.

Purity culture without religion teaches black and white thinking, encourages thought policing, and shames anyone who steps outside of a very narrow definition of good and bad by turning an entire group of people against them for being "bad".

Just like in religious circles.

Just like in the cult of fundamentalism.

Purity culture is a term taken by fundamentalists and turned into a whole way of life because the goal of fundamentalism is to make people too scared to leave. Purity culture in fandom does the same thing. It uses fear and threats of abandonment/harassment to control the way people act because a group of people decided they didn't like something, so they must try and wipe it out rather than simply ignore it.

I am not mis-using the term because "Bobo the clown said my ship was cringe." My use of the term is intentional and precise because what is happening in fandom spaces now is non-religious purity culture cult thinking. My use of the term does not invalidate or water down the use of it in conversations about religious abuse and trauma. With or without religion, purity culture is a dangerous cult of "us vs them" that is built to demoralize and eradicate those deemed unworthy.

[genericpuff]

i find it funny that one of rachel’s drawings of herself in the afterword that just went up is just fully persephone. is that something she does a lot?

Alright so I've been making it a general rule for myself to like, not harp on Rachel in any way outside of LO as much because frankly the horse is dead now and there's not much left to say outside of what can be analyzed in hindsight. I think despite everything I have to say about her and her work, she still deserves to get away from this nonsense and I don't wanna spend eternity hovering over her shoulder.

But the afterword was posted within the LO series and is clearly meant for readers of LO in the functioning of being an afterword so let's just call it fair game LOL

I will say, on the whole, it does feel very honest and sentimental and I can respect Rachel for taking the time to write out and illustrate her afterword in a way that was personal to both her and her fans. I can understand why she went at it from the angle that she did and I'm not gonna fault her for that.

But there's also something that feels deeply... disingenuous about her approach right from the starting gun. I will say, before I continue, that I'm well aware I am biased towards Rachel as a creator, and I fully acknowledge that I could very well be reading too much into things. This is just my opinion, take it with mountains of salt.

I can get looking back on your own childhood, your past self, whatever, and going "see! it all got better!" because sure! For a lot of creators like Rachel, it must be wild to look back on where they came from and there's a lot of sentimentality on expressing that through an afterword like this where she reflects on where she came from. Though she STILL didn't acknowledge her other comics outside of LO, I can understand if she wants to leave those skeletons in the closet.

But I feel like her drawing herself as a child who's being given an Eisner by her adult self and all that just feels like some gross attempt to disarm any criticism of her because "don't make fun of me, I'm just a sad lonely baby girl!"

She's not a child. Child Rachel didn't grossly misappropriate Greek myth into their own self-indulged vanity project. Child Rachel didn't claim herself a folklorist of a culture's works only to bastardize them completely. Child Rachel didn't create a hostile environment within her fanbase by bullying anyone who she perceived as a threat, sneaking into critical spaces to try and cause trouble, and writing her own clapbacks into her comic. Child Rachel didn't claim to be challenging misogyny and purity culture only to reinforce misogyny and purity culture through her own self-insert baby-virgin-gets-rescued-by-rich-tycoon power fantasy that regularly glorified abuse towards women and the lower class.

30-almost-40-year-old Rachel did though.

At best it comes across as really cringe sentimentality from a Greek-weeb (heh, greeboo) and goes to show how much Rachel inserted herself into Greek myth without ever absorbing its messages or cultural contexts, it was all about her and her feelings as a sad New Zealand girl with dyslexia who thought Persephone's story was about another sad girl being rescued from her "horrible childhood".

At worst it's an active attempt to play on people's heartstrings by drawing herself as a child who people will naturally not want to criticize. I don't want to assume she's doing it intentionally, I really don't want to leave her afterword on a bad foot, as I can definitely understand as both a creator and a person who struggled with learning disabilities in their own childhood how and why she wants to pay homage to her past and where she came from... but let's just say, as someone who's also gotten way too "lost in the sauce" concerning personal self-reflective projects, I think there's a lot to say about how this confirms that Rachel made LO entirely for herself, about herself, without any actual intention to respect the original myths, because she never truly separated them from herself when she was a child. And, in my humble opinion as someone who has Been There with the self-insert OC's and self-reflective angsty plotlines, I can fully attest to the fact that that's not fucking healthy. Even with personal projects, you NEED to learn to get your head out of the sauce, you NEED to learn to objectively separate yourself from the narrative so the story doesn't fall apart under your own hubris and ego, you NEED to learn to draw a line if you want to have any sort of identity as a human being outside of what you make for people. And that's with just normal original stories, this was a story based on Greek myth which doesn't belong to her.

And this goes for a lot of the things she's said and done in the past, so much of her own "sources" even are tethered to things that she read / watched in her childhood and only vaguely remembers, as if she never mentally left her childhood at all, which just... if the point was to highlight her past and the traumas she went through and how they contributed to her present, an Eisner isn't going to validate those experiences. And drawing attention to her past through the lens of her childhood self absolutely 100% does not absolve her of the negative effect her work has had on the modern Greek myth zeitgeist nor the things she's said and done as a 38 year old woman who should absolutely know better.

The community she entered and took from will forever remain changed by her influence and taking, in many ways not for the better. She has the privilege of walking away and never having to think about it again, with all the awards and accolades that were bought for her, the bravado that she built around being a "folklorist" with zero credentials, and the platform she was given over many other creators struggling to even be heard.

That "place" she claims to have now was built entirely on inserting herself into another culture's works and doing nothing but taking, taking, taking, while offering nothing in return but vanity and lip service. That "place" was paid for and brought to you by Webtoons.

[antiendovents]

What makes my blood boil the most about endos is that, not only are they're either faking or misguided systems, not only are they taking REAL system terms, but they're misappropriating actual spiritual practices from closed practices such as Tulpamancy. Tulpamancy is a practice that stems from Tibetan Buddhism and its ONLY obtainable by Siddhas who spent YEARS in their own practice and devotion. I It's a magic that isn't just simply done by any fucking one nor is it appropriate to practice it. It's and its not even called "tulpamancy" or "tulpa" ... it's Tulku. Self proclaimed ""tulpamancers"" who say they have these "headmates" or hear voices from trying to practice are actually experiencing "Nyam"  or happy mediated experiences, nothing more than just abstract thoughts. The whole point of the practice is to accomplish enlightenment, so that you can be an omniscient Buddha capable of liberating beings from suffering. If this isnt racism and cultural appropriation, then idk what is.. but its really disgusting, and im part of a system who's spiritual and part of a closed practice that is, till this very day, gets bastardized, misappropriated and practiced by people outside my culture and so i really feel empathetic, passionate and angry about this topic. (initiated in hoodoo) https://www.reddit.com/r/Tulpas/comments/jnf4tb/tibetan_buddhist_hot_take_on_tulpamancy_tldr_yes/ This article on reddit is from the perspective of someone who's practices tibetan buddism and is in the mental health field. Its a very interesting read and i wish endos can see how harmful this really hurts so many cultures and how a spiritual practice should never be lumped into systems spaces and PLEASE NEVER practice something that's out of your bounds. Not only is it harmful, it's actually dangerous when you're not initiated , dont know what you're doing

! ! ! There's not much for me to say here, anon, you worded this beautifully. It's fucking disgusting that self proclaimed "tuplas" (and often the endos who support them) think this shit is okay. It's not.

[maplewozapi]

Looking at a the asks you answered about indigenous people in fantasy and about indigenous rep by non-indigenous writers, I have a follow up question, if you don't mind- Seeing how common it is for fantasy works to use cultural mish-mashes, especially like medieval Europe-ish or Warring States fantasy Japan, is there a way to respectfully incorporate indigenous cultures into that sort of world (particularly ones near to each other), or should it be avoided entirely, in your opinion?

Surprisingly Peter Pan 2023 did a great job, still it’s weird that native people are just chilling in neverland but I appreciate that they faced their past and hired native people. I think about harry potter’s little grubby hands trying to world build magic lore for the United States AND IM HORRIFIED. Already the four houses and eventual "monsters" in that setting is making my stomach hurt, honestly that is cultural appropriation and commodification at its finest, the worst example. Then I think about ATLAB and the mixing of cultures is kinda crazy like I love the show so much! But at the same time this is kinda crazy! I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with the level of commodification and the melting pot of cultures. If I saw someone cosplaying the "sun warriors" like🧍‍♀️it scares me. We know that culture isn’t a custom 😣🙏 right? Right? At what point do they say "put a headdress in the show" and everyone starts cosplaying, like a Disney Pocahontas/mulan/moana custom situation, ITS CRAZY. I’m saying this because you don’t want to go the avatar or the Harry Potter direction there is some crazy nuances that can only be created and managed by indigenous people.

I can’t recommend their videos enough because they really do get into cultural sensitivity and misappropriation of them.

[huginsmemory]

The Eye of Micheal design and the Zia Sun Symbol

I'm not exactly the best person to talk about this, since I'm not Zia/Tsʾíiyʾamʾé (an Indigenous people group from what is today called New Mexico, for those who don't know) but I'm also Indigenous and this is something that has been really bugging me for a while.

The new eye of Micheal design in Stampede is very clearly heavily based off the Zia Sun symbol, a symbol that is found on the state of New Mexico's flag... and is originally a sacred symbol of the Zia people that has been grossly misappropriated by the state itself and internationally.

ID: Two photos. Left is of the flag of New Mexico, with the Zia Sun symbol in the middle in red on a yellow background. There are four rays emanating from each cardinal direction from a circle in the middle, in such a way it forms what could be a 'square cross'. The rays touch the circle.

Right is a screen cap from episode 10 of tristamp, showing Wolfwoods contract. The symbol of the Eye of Micheal is on it. Instead of four from each cardinal direction, 'north' has three medium length rays, and 'south' has three long rays, while 'east' and 'west' have only one short ray emanating from (but not touching) the centre circle. As a result it looks like a typical Christian cross with a lengthened 'south'.

History

This article provides a really good background on it, but to summarize:

The symbol is an exceptionally significant religious symbol that represents the Zia themselves (along with other specific meanings) and is involved in religious healing and wellness processes; it was originally a secret symbol. However, the symbol was stolen from the nation by an anthropologist who was working with the nation, when he stole a piece of pottery with the symbol on it. The piece of pottery with the sacred symbol was then showcased in a museum, where another anthropologist took the design and submitted it for the flag of New Mexico; thus, it ended up becoming the state flag of New Mexico as we know today.

As a result, the design became legally public property, without the consent of the Zia, who now have no control over how the sacred symbol is used, and it has been grossly misappropriated and exploited by non-Zia, both within state and internationally. The Zia peoples have been lobbying to raise awareness of this issue, to both stop exploitation and frivolous use of the symbol which is considered desecration, and also have requested that those who want to use the symbol to ask for consent and for them to provide funds to the education of their children.

How this applies to tristamp

The Zia Sun symbol is, well, to put it bluntly, basically used as the symbol of the Eye of Micheal, just altered to more represent a typical Christian cross... something which would be considered misappropriation and desecration of the symbol. This ESPECIALLY so as the Eye of Micheal is clearly a Christian cult; misappropriating an Indigenous religious symbol and saying that it represents Christianity and a Christian cult no less, is, as an Indigenous person, EXTREMELY disrespectful, considering the history of Christianity and how it's been used to actively destroy Indigenous religion and culture. Also, as the symbol has been said to represent the Zia people, and is related to religious healing and wellness processes, having the symbol basically be used to represent an Christian cult of assassins who essentially medically experiment and abuse Wolfwood who is Hispanic-coded for their own gain is... Not great.

I overall understand that since as Wolfwood is heavily Hispanic coded, the crew behind stampede likely wanted to tie more of that into his background, and so seeing the Zia Sun symbol thought that would be a good way to nod to a Hispanic background (instead of, I dunno maybe not white washing him), but then failed to do proper research on it.

Going forward

Ok, so what does that practically mean for fans? Well, again... I'm not really the best person to say exactly what, but if this was my own nations sacred symbol, and by going from what I've read on the requests about the Zia Sun symbol then here's a few pointers:

I'd just avoid using the design in fanart. Hell, it's only showed up in tristamp, so there's plenty you can work with without the design, based around just general Christian imagery. I know a lot of people really like giving Wolfwood tattoos of the 'eye of micheal' symbol, since tattoos are hot, but I'd ask to please just use Christian symbols instead. I've seen so much nsfw fanart with essentially the Zia Sun Symbol...

For art you've already posted with the Zia sun symbol; it'd be nice to remove the art and put another version of the art up without the sun symbol.

Also, I know I've seen people talking about getting tattoos of it as a quiet nod to trigun... Please don't. It's more likely that people will recognize it as a Zia sun symbol rather than a Trigun symbol which might be an awkward conversation for you.

I do want to say this: I know most people don't know about this, and honestly I didn't know about the Zia sun symbol issue until a couple months ago when talking with a friend about Trigun. It's fine if you didn't know before! We live and learn and grow, and what matters is that going forward you adjust your behaviours.

TLDR: The 'Eye of Micheal' symbol is very clearly an adjusted Zia sun symbol, a sacred and originally secret symbol of the Zia people that was stolen from them and has been grossly misappropriated and exploited by both the state of New Mexico, and internationally. The Zia people as a result have asked people to not use the symbol without their consent. Within tristamp the use of the Zia sun symbol to represent a murderous Christian cult is extremely disrespectful and would be considered desecration, considering how Christianity has historically (and continues to) help destroy Indigenous culture and religion. As a result, it is suggested that artists avoid using it within fanart out of respect.

[jewish-vents]

I just saw the activists "fatties for palestine" (I'm sorry if that sounds unkind, that's literally their words/slogan), and just like "drag queens for palestine" and "sex workers for palestine," I don't understand what exactly they're doing or advocating for, why are their identities and causes wrapped up in this conflict when they've never cared about ANY other global cause before, why they're co-opting this particular suffering and patting themselves on the back for it while they ban (((zionists))) and aren't actually helping the situation. why are they all so self-centered that they're tying their identities to the region and misappropriating history and culture? I hate when right wing politicians criticize "idpol" but some of this is ridiculous.

.