More Dim Sum

Yesterday marked the first day of Kwanzaa and – never one to miss a non-Western holiday – Big Guy weighed in:

President Obama extended his “warmest wishes” to families across the U.S. celebrating Kwanzaa, a holiday which honors African-American culture. – Washington Post

A culture, I would point out, that non-African Americans are not welcome to celebrate because that would be cultural appropriation which is somehow offensive. Odd, as Kwanzaa itself is a cultural appropriation of 3 other holiday traditions: Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hannukah.

So African Americans are welcome to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hannukah if they wish. Butt non-African Americans celebrating Kwanzaa would be a micro-aggression – a violation of a societally sanctioned safe space. It’s complicated; perhaps this will help:

To appropriate symbols from cultures that are not one’s own is apparently now disrespectful, insensitive and offensive.

At Oberlin College in Ohio, it is food that is problematic. The student dining hall is accused of modifying “traditional” Asian recipes “without respect”. The “undercooked rice and lack of fresh fish” offered in sushi “is disrespectful”. The Banh Mi sandwich, served on ciabatta rather than a baguette, is “uninformed”, a “gross manipulation” of this “traditional” Vietnamese dish. And the General Tso’s chicken dish is prepared with steamed chicken, rather than fried chicken – another disrespectful appropriation.

While that sounds like satire allow me to disabuse you of that notion: these SJW are deadly earnest. Ignorant and ill-informed perhaps, butt earnest:

Because each of those named foods are themselves the result, not the victims, of cultural appropriation.

Sushi has an ancient history in Japan but what many people in Japan and the West now see as good sushi – with its rich slices of tuna and salmon – is the result of Japanese chefs adapting their traditional dish to the tastes of American GIs during post-war occupation.

The Banh Mi is a fusion dish of French baguette – brought to Vietnam through French colonialism in the nineteenth century – and Vietnamese flavours.

And General Tso’s chicken? It dates back, at the earliest, to the 1950s, has nothing to do with the nineteenth century general Tso Tsung-t’ang, and only became famous when it was first served in a New York Chinese restaurant.

Dishes now guilty of “cultural appropriation” would have once been tauted as successful examples of America’s melting pot approach to assimilation; another notion that you need to be disabused of.

The end of assimilation and the beginning of our cultural experiment in “mosaics”

Butt hey, assimilation is so 20th century. As the 21st century emerges we look to become more of a mosaic of separate butt equal parts. All migrants, immigrants, refugees and anyone else who manages to somehow make it to America’s shore are not only entitled to stay, they are entitled to their safe places. And as a member of the privileged tax paying class you are entitiled to maintain those safe places and ensure they are stocked with food, clothing and prayer rugs and provided with housing, education and medical care that meets their cultural requirements.

Oh yeah, and they also want separate water fountains. 

For their feet. Somehow this all feels terribly, uh…Progressive.

Even I am amazed at how frequently this graphic “sums” up the situation.