AGAR: Let’s put an end to ridiculous ‘cultural appropriation’ notion

It is an invented complaint that defies the course of human history

Published Oct 17, 2024  •  Last updated 2 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Simu Liu at the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' London premiere. Photo by Getty Images /Bang Showbiz

Can we be done with the ridiculous notion of “cultural appropriation” and the damage that it does?

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Canadian actor Simu Liu called out the bubble tea company Bobba on Dragon’s Den. He said, “There’s also the issue of cultural appropriation. There’s an issue of taking something that’s very distinctly Asian in its identity and ‘making it better,’ which I have an issue with.”

Does he have an issue that the little balls in bubble tea are made of tapioca, which is not Asian? Tapioca is from the West Indies and South America. Did “his culture” appropriate someone else’s culture when they first made the product?

Liu says that he is all about helping minorities.

So why is he involved in what the left likes to call “othering?”

Othering is an us and them mechanism. It tears apart as opposed to bringing people together.

Proof of what I am saying that his use of the insult of cultural appropriation is dangerous is that he has had to follow up by asking people not to attack the folks at the Bobba company.

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Yahoo News reports, “After a clip of Liu criticizing a boba company for cultural appropriation went viral, some fans have taken it upon themselves to send death threats.”

To his credit, Liu has called for a stop to such threats, but then doubles down on his original error by saying,  “I think we’re starting to lose the plot of what, ultimately, the positive energy of what this is, which is let’s educate people — let’s make the world a better place, let’s make people aware that certain things aren’t OK from a cultural perspective.”

How about we educate people that the whole notion of cultural appropriation is an invented complaint that defies the course of human history?

We learn, copy and change due to our exposure to one another. That is what multiculturalism is supposed to do if it is a strength. Otherwise, we will all have to live in self-imposed enclaves of cultural and racial ghettos, ignorant of the wonder of others, and the joy of discovery and growth.

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I hope if Liu walks the walk of his talk, that if he enjoys Italian food he scrupulously investigates whether the owner of the restaurant is Italian.

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Oh, by the way, perhaps we should all have Italian food with no tomato, garlic or peppers, which of course did not originate in Italy.

To be blunt, why would we care that Italian food has adapted and evolved due to exposure to the rest of the world? It’s really good food, which adapted despite the Lius of the world poking their activist noses into the kitchen.

None of what we appreciate of the world today, whether it be art, food, language, business or culture, is what it is today without putting the experiences and products of the world in a mortar and rearranging them with the pestle of experience and new knowledge, to bring out a meal that tastes better than what we had before.

Liu, and the producers of Dragon’s Den who chose to air that portion of the pre-recorded proceedings, may have thought they were helping minorities.

They have not.

They have spread ignorance and, while I am sure it was not their goal, hate and possibly violence.

Maybe next week’s episode will do better.

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