As a refugee (civil war, 1970's) immigrant to Canada, who arrived here in 1977 and grew up in a time when immigrants sank or swam (we didn't have the luxury of the immigrant services they do now), I am SO sick of these people whining and crying about racism and cultural appropriation. In arabic, we say "fadyin al ashghal" - roughly translated to "nothing better to do". It is like the freaking whining injury olympics and frankly as an immigrant, I find it embarrassing; like really embarrassing. Real racism and bigotry is hideous and ugly - making bone broth is just that - bone broth. Countless cultures across the world have variations on this recipe. Is this whiny child going to go after all of them because someone hurt her feelings? If I sound bitter and angry it is because I am. I have experienced real bigotry and racism in my life (especially after 9-11) so you'll excuse me if whining about soup just doesn't cut it. In addition, when the F did twitter become the medium by which all things are decided?
1. How long does something need to exist before it just becomes part of the general zeitgeist? Looking at the pho and jerk sauce in the pictures it reminds me a lot of typical hot pepper sauce. Hot pepper sauce (as we know it now) is thought to originate in Central America, but is now almost exclusively the domain of white men. I hope it doesn't take thousands of years before I would be allowed to make stir fry and not be accused of cultural appropriation (by the way my stir fry is delicious)
2. What would happen if these Twitter mobs were simply ignored by the intended target? I get a weird feeling that if the offender truly believes they aren't doing anything wrong, they aren't going to accomplish anything by "apologizing" than bringing to light the nonsense complaint of the person to the people who actually follow the brand, regardless of the following size of the complainant.
Thanks for this. We need more psychological analysis of the dumpster fire that is twitter politics, particularly from BIPOC who don’t tow the woke party line.
I hope that we can all get to a place where we can be comfortable in our own lives and explore the experiences of others without offending or being offended.
Great article - thank you for this perspective. As a white person I can attest kids can definitely be a$&h*les - your “smelly” food was my “jelly germs” (PB&J sandwiches!).
You are correct that it is about power and not any kind of justice. This behaviour will set us all up for failure if it continues. If no one can learn then no one is safe and they’ll just dig in creating a positive feedback loop that inevitably escalates to violence.
I'm just waiting for the next restauranteur to say "I don't care about you and your criticism." That's where all this is going, just saying "I can't win your game so I won't even try."
I know if someone tried this tactic of canceling in Calgary, if anything the reaction would be to attract even more people to the establishment.
I fail to see what the restaurant owner did wrong in the first place.
As a refugee (civil war, 1970's) immigrant to Canada, who arrived here in 1977 and grew up in a time when immigrants sank or swam (we didn't have the luxury of the immigrant services they do now), I am SO sick of these people whining and crying about racism and cultural appropriation. In arabic, we say "fadyin al ashghal" - roughly translated to "nothing better to do". It is like the freaking whining injury olympics and frankly as an immigrant, I find it embarrassing; like really embarrassing. Real racism and bigotry is hideous and ugly - making bone broth is just that - bone broth. Countless cultures across the world have variations on this recipe. Is this whiny child going to go after all of them because someone hurt her feelings? If I sound bitter and angry it is because I am. I have experienced real bigotry and racism in my life (especially after 9-11) so you'll excuse me if whining about soup just doesn't cut it. In addition, when the F did twitter become the medium by which all things are decided?
Two questions:
1. How long does something need to exist before it just becomes part of the general zeitgeist? Looking at the pho and jerk sauce in the pictures it reminds me a lot of typical hot pepper sauce. Hot pepper sauce (as we know it now) is thought to originate in Central America, but is now almost exclusively the domain of white men. I hope it doesn't take thousands of years before I would be allowed to make stir fry and not be accused of cultural appropriation (by the way my stir fry is delicious)
2. What would happen if these Twitter mobs were simply ignored by the intended target? I get a weird feeling that if the offender truly believes they aren't doing anything wrong, they aren't going to accomplish anything by "apologizing" than bringing to light the nonsense complaint of the person to the people who actually follow the brand, regardless of the following size of the complainant.
Thanks for this. We need more psychological analysis of the dumpster fire that is twitter politics, particularly from BIPOC who don’t tow the woke party line.
The notion of “cultural appropriation” is itself a racist notion.
Great piece!
I hope that we can all get to a place where we can be comfortable in our own lives and explore the experiences of others without offending or being offended.
It feels like we are not there yet.
Great article - thank you for this perspective. As a white person I can attest kids can definitely be a$&h*les - your “smelly” food was my “jelly germs” (PB&J sandwiches!).
You are correct that it is about power and not any kind of justice. This behaviour will set us all up for failure if it continues. If no one can learn then no one is safe and they’ll just dig in creating a positive feedback loop that inevitably escalates to violence.
I'm just waiting for the next restauranteur to say "I don't care about you and your criticism." That's where all this is going, just saying "I can't win your game so I won't even try."
I know if someone tried this tactic of canceling in Calgary, if anything the reaction would be to attract even more people to the establishment.