Speaking about “owning” culture, I have to mention the story I was told when I was very little about the warm fuzzies. It can be a long story, but the main idea is that everyone had plenty of warm fuzzies and everyone shared their warm fuzzies until one day people started becoming possessive of their warm fuzzies, so they became obsolete and no one was appreciated anymore.
Think of each person’s culture as a warm fuzzy and when culture is shared and appreciated, the people are more or less content. However, when people ridicule others’ cultures, or become possessive of their own cultures, then no one learns anything and as long as culture is something to possess, it will never be understood or appreciated to its full potential. In spite of, or because of, the fact that the “warm fuzzy” analogy is rather juvenile, simplistic, and idealistic it somewhat works.
No excuse good enough can be made for the editor, businessman, author, director, or singer who ridicules or exploits an indigenous peoples’ culture; however, to try to patent a culture and “own” it is very selfish: once again, the ethical dilemma. There are laws in our country against slander, yet there are also rights of free speech. Where does one end and the other begin?
I completely understand why indigenous people would want to “own” their culture. Too many of the things depicted about indigenous people are inaccurate or biased. Old – time western flicks rarely showed the Native American in the correct light, but I honestly don’t know enough about Native Americans to know what would have been the right depiction: my textbooks rarely went in depth when it came to Native Americans. Now, whether that was because they were ignorant or too lazy to find out, I do not know.
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