Does “Cultural Appropriation” Mean “Cultural Aggression”?
Zweig meant his variation of the old adage “Ubi panem, ibi patria” as an expression of the universality of beauty and culture and its power to unite people, regardless of ethnic background, nationality, or social class. His view of culture is certainly an ideal, one that is not acceptable in the modern game of identity politics. Currently, America’s netizen culturati are in a knot over the concept of “cultural appropriation”. The phrase is a semantically null assembly whose sole purpose is to create the illusion of division. The closest encyclopaedic explanation is the notion that there is no such thing as cultural exchange or fluidity in ideas, and any attempt to cross or meld cultures is an act of oppression against a vague and inconsistently chosen minority. Accepting compliments is not a distinguishing trait of the cultural police. More