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Piwin -> RE: Cultural appropriation (Jul. 23 2020 4:43:04)
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Here's the Council of Europe's glossary entry on "Gipsy":
"The term “Roma/Gypsies” was used for many years by the Council of Europe, before the decision was taken to no longer use it in official texts in 2005 (a decision reflected in the first version of the Glossary in December 2006), in particular at the request of International Roma associations who find it to be an alien term, linked with negative, paternalistic stereotypes which still pursue them in Europe. Consequently, in the majority of European states, it is recommended that the word “Gypsy” or its equivalent no longer be used, as it is felt to be pejorative and insulting by most of the people concerned (although it is true that it may depend significantly on the context in which it is used).
However, in some countries, the term “Gypsies” or its national equivalent has no negative connotations, is accepted by the people concerned and may occasionally be more appropriate. This is true of France (where the word “Tsiganes” has the advantage of encompassing in one term the Roma, Gypsies/Gitans and Sinti/Manush), the United Kingdom, Portugal (Ciganos), Spain (Gitanos), Hungary (Cigány) and in Russia and the former Soviet republics (Tsyganye). In some countries, NGOs established by Roma, Sinti and Kale use the word Gypsy or its equivalent (Tsigane, Zingari, etc) in the name of their organisation. Nonetheless, in each of these countries, the word “Roma” is accepted when used to designate the Roma community as a whole, especially in the international bodies."
I was curious to see the United Kingdom listed there. It suggests that in the UK they do not consider that there is a negative connotation to the word "Gypsy".
Of course, this is just the position of one international organisation. For "gitanos", they use "Kale", which makes sense to me. Obviously in an everyday context in Spain I'd just go with "gitanos", but I can see the merits of "Kale" in international English.
On a more comical note, they also use the term "anti-gypyism". To explain why they use that and not "romaphobia", they write: "Fearing that careless journalists may start giving us “Romaniaphobia” instead, we prefer to use the term “anti-Gypsyism” at the Council of Europe."
[:D]
As for cultural appropriation, I deleted my previous post because it seemed a bit too antagonistic. In a nutshell though, I am strongly opposed to that concept, because when it is applied to individuals, all of its merits seem to break down and it becomes in fact quite dangerous. For a multicultural mongrel like myself, it's really a matter of cultural survival to stand against how this concept is often used against individuals. That is why I would go much further than Bill, and I will in fact "do whatever I want with others' culture", whether I have the right to or not. As it stands, the discussion about cultural appropriation leaves no room for the many people like me who don't fit in the nice little boxes society lays out for us. It's a concept for the monocultural, or at least those raised in a monocultural setting. As such, my own choice has been to do like the fictional character Coleman Silk, and "take the future in his own hands rather than leave it to an unenlightened society to determine his fate". As sensitive as modern society is trying to be on certain issues, it has a massive blindspot for people in the interstitial spaces between categories, whether those are cultural, racial, religious, national, etc. and in some ways this cultural appropriation business seems to be a step backwards more than anything. I have plenty of respect for my fellow human beings and their cultures, and it's precisely because I respect them that every now and then I tell them to shove it, which I often end up doing on issues like this one. None of this precludes the possibility that there might a much more enlightened discussion going on in the halls of academia. But the everyday virtue-signalers, purity testers and overall just xenophobic bores that have been having a go at me ever since I was born and who use this concept to try and dictate what my fate should be...yeah, they can shove it. [8D]
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