Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation does NOT mean white people cannot enjoy any culture outside of their own. It does NOT mean that people are not allowed to wear certain articles of clothing or participate in ceremonies that come from other cultures. The biggest difference between cultural appropriation and its opposite cultural APPRECIATION is whether or not there is respect and understanding of the culture you are adopting from. Cultural appropriation is when cultural symbols are watered down from their original meaning to the point where there is no longer any respect for the symbol it comes from. This is NOT an attack on white people. It is not some "SJW" term created to punish white people. It's something that is defined by ignorance and a lack of respect. Interestingly enough, because of the existence of ignorance and a lack of respect of other cultural symbols there has been some desire to ignore the problem that cultural appropriation creates. This can all be solved with the understanding that, for example, wearing a bindi does not automatically mean cultural appropriation so long as you know what a bindi is, why it exists and Indian culture, and what it represents when you are wearing it. There is a huge difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, and rather than immediately assuming every cultural mixture is one or the other, it's best to be critical and see if the situation provides respect and honor to the culture in question.