Is it offensive? “Simply believing that it could be offensive doesn’t make it offensive, for example if we are thinking about Aztec design, if we had chosen that as a theme for spirit week, it would have been an opportunity for people to learn about that culture” - Ariya Momeny, senior “Academically performing another person’s culture is not correct, unless it is done accurately … Things that could seem harmless can be exaggerated in a way that is offensive” - Clare Kemmerer, senior
Clare Kemmerer
“You have no right to be offended on behalf of someone else, especially if that other group of people is fine with it” - Ariya Momeny, senior
Is it politically correct? “A lot of those people who are for political correctness hold this belief that if anything offends them, then it’s wrong and it should be [deleted] … I think that that is what is great in this democratic society—you can be offended because people have different ideas that will be offensive to some people.” - Ariya Momeny, senior Ariya Momeny
“I don’t really like the term political correctness because that implies, it’s about [a politician] being correct while it should be about being a decent human being who respects other people.” - Ace Straight, sophomore
Here’s a Scenario: what do you think? Dreadlocks were used by the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica to protest white beauty standards. The hairstyle was brought to the US by white hippies who liked the hairstyle. This raises questions. Should white Americans wear dreadlocks or is it cultural appropriation? Is it offensive? On the other hand, others will ask, who has the right to dictate what hairstyle one can and cannot wear? Does the fact that this hairstyle was used to free people from “Western oppression” make it offensive for white Americans to wear dreadlocks?
culture 21