Let’s Talk About Cultural Appropriation & Misinformation

khalheyokha:

Don’t worry. It’s not what you think it is. I actually want to talk about how these things affect you. Yeah you! Well, not all of you…but my white followers. Because it does affect you. (Hey, imagine that. Your actions affect you!) [Not in the same ways it affects origin cultures. I mean, it doesn’t endanger your well-being and the survival of your living culture. But still…]

Some of you have mentioned to me before that you don’t mean any disrespect to other cultures by adopting their practices, that you’re actually trying to honor/connect with the culture. Hehe.

But really. I can’t count, on both my hands, the number of times that cultural appropriation and the affects of the mass information spread through the internet and in Pagan/Wiccan books has actually ruined someone’s chances of a cultural exchange with me, someone in my family, or someone in my community. 

Do you know how often New Agers come rollin’ into powwows talking about totems and smudging? You don’t have to guess, because I’ll just tell you. A lot. It happens a lot. And it’s sad, because those people might actually want to learn about our culture, but the fact that they have these preconceived ideas about our practices and think that they already know what the fuck is going on means that that’s probably not going to happen. 

Let’s face it, if someone thinks the world is flat, I’m not going to try to teach them geography. ‘Cause it ain’t gonna do them or me any damn good. 

If you really want to learn about a culture, you’re going to have a better chance of it without buying into this mass misinformation thing that’s going on. It’s hard to find good information when every Pagan/Wiccan tumblr you stumble onto wants to teach you how to smudge, make dreamcatchers, and find your totem. 

I know it feels like these posts and books are the best way to learn, because the information is readily available and you don’t have to snuggle up to and earn the trust of a culture to read them. But, in truth, posts and books like that are only making it harder for people who genuinely want to learn to keep a mind open enough to be taught by people who can actually teach them.

*Tagged where it needs to be seen.

(Source: khal-winchester)

It turns out Harry Reid was right - - Mitt Romney paid zero taxes for 15 years…thanks to a 1996 loophole which let him “rent” non-profit status from the Mormon Church.

theuppitynegras:

communism-kills:

Bloomberg News reports:

“The (strategy) allows individuals to defer capital gains taxes on any profit from the sale of the assets, and receive a small upfront charitable deduction and a stream of yearly cash payments. Like an individual retirement account, the trust allows money to grow tax deferred, while like an annuity it also pays Romney a steady income. After the funder’s death, the trust’s remaining assets go to a designated charity.

In this instance, Romney used the tax-exempt status of a charity — the Mormon Church, according to a 2007 filing — to defer taxes for more than 15 years. At the same time he is benefitting, the trust will probably leave the church with less than what current law requires.

In 1997, Congress cracked down on the popular tax shelter that allowed rich people to take advantage of the exempt status of charities without actually giving away much money.  Individuals who had already set up these vehicles were allowed to keep them.  That included Mitt Romney, then the chief executive officer of Bain Capital, who had just established such an arrangement in June 1996.”

-

#liars     #crooks     #mitt romney

wait till this hits the late night talk shows

I see the black men on my dashboard (& beyond) who’re defending black womanhood today

darkjez:

They’re queer. 

I’m quite hard pressed to find a cis/het black man who wants to stand up for black women

which is what I been sayin for some time now.

…been sayin this for quite. some. time.

So looks like I have to write a post on what decolonization means.

superhusbandslove:

akoaykayumanggi:

lakawaiikoala:

akoaykayumanggi:

Because there are people that think it it has to do with discarding every one of our cultural influences when we were colonized completely, in favor of our indigenous and pre-colonial roots. Yaaaa ok, that is not what our decolonization process means at all like what we are doing is erasing that part of our history like it never existed. We were colonized. It happened. We got some cultural influences from said colonizer. Those cultural influences are a part of our cultures now no doubt about it.

What our decolonization means simply is that we are getting rid of colonial mentality, such as the mentality of foreign western and white features = beauty than our indigenous selves. White skin, blue eyes, and pointer noses = beauty and what everyone should strive to be than ones natural features of being a person of color, having dark brown to black eyes, dark hair, and more flatter noses.

It means embracing our indigenous and pre-colonial cultures that were oppressed and reclaiming them while also acknowleding our cultural influences we got from our colonizers and learning how to embrace both, not simply embracing one over the other.

It’s about learning your languages that you didn’t get to learn because you were forced to forgrt or not learn because of parents not teaching it to you so you can fit in with Western soceity. It’s about learning your history to those who don’t know, both pre-colonial and colonial. It’s about the acceptance that yes you were colonized but you are reclaiming your heritage and getting rid of all those negative and harmful colonial mentalities that make the colonizer the hero, the standard of beauty, and that makes it like you should be ashamed of yourself and people, your cultures, your physical features, that you and your people are “ugly”, or “barbaric” compared to ones colonizers.

That is what our decolonization is, as well as a few other points that I most likely missed.

BEAUTIFUL

THANK YOU LIGAYA

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

NOW SOMEONE LINK THIS TO THE ANNOYING PEOPLE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS.

*bows* Why thank you, thank you. Now where did that comment on saying the Philippirates were taking things to far on our comments and thoughts on looking more into our pre-colonial history and cultures? I want to post what I wrote here on there.

Y E S