Roissey and Roosh have made the bigtime. They were named in a Salon article about ways to improve your game: Mind you they were listed on the List of 18 horrible sex tips all men should ignore but hey, it’s publicity, right?
No, because the ambiguity of the narrator is important. Is it someone who hit the ball, someone who was at the game; was it sandlot, or the big leagues. Did it matter? Was it the only one? Is it a pro, looking back, from his present seat on the sidelines?
So the title needs to avoid implying the answer to any of that.
The first sentence might be a problem too. I want the sense of archetype, so “when I was young” might hinder the sense of the universal.
Auggz – seems odd to me to say the spiritual side is racist. It’s like saying you can’t follow a faith from another culture. Sure, if people are doing the “exotic” schtick or some of the more eye-rolling versions of New Age pick-and-mix, that’s questionable, but like you said – how can exercising be racist? Is everyone supposed to be in little cultural boxes?
eli, losing a pet is hard, I know. But you obviously gave him a wonderful home and he knew you cared for him. It was obviously his time.
emilygoddess
10 years ago
Kittehs, the argument is that the “spiritual” dimensions of Yoga tend to be watered down in the West, and people making a profit off something that’s been removed from its religious/cultural context is pretty much the gold standard of cultural appropriation.
BUT. Yoga was introduced and popularized in the West by Indian teachers, making it a practice that was freely shared rather than one that was stolen from a closed culture. So the appropriation argument probably doesn’t fly here, although of course I would defer to actual Desi or Hindu people.
I wonder how much it can be called cultural appropriation if someone’s following a practice that suits them, but not claiming it’s the original? Knowing something’s derived from another culture is different from going all Oooh-exotic-wisdom-of-the-mysterious-East, isn’t it?
I can’t stand that faux-fetishism Buddhism and various cartoonish notions of Asian cultures among some New Agers; it’s what put me off contact with Spiritualists and Reiki practitioners.
That should have been “faux-fetishism of Buddhism”, or maybe fetishism of faux-Buddhism …
emilygoddess
10 years ago
I know a lot of (fairly wealthy, white) people who are into Buddhism, by which I mean the Buddhist-flavored meditation on offer at a million retreats and meditation centers around the Boston area. I don’t think they believe in samsara or reincarnation or the literal Buddha, and they certainly don’t make offerings to him or to any other spirits the way Buddhists across Asia do. They’re treading this blurry line where they’ve borrowed the practice for its personal benefits, and tried to keep some other Buddhist thought with it out of respect for its origins, but it ends up looking watered-down. And of course, it’s for sale…
That’s pretty much what most Buddhism’s like here, too, though plenty of people do seem to have notions of reincarnation (like the dipstick medium who was trying to tell me once that Louis was reincarnated and was standing next to me at the table … make up your bleedin’ mind!).
When I hear someone talking about how an ant gets bad karma for biting a human, I just hope it’s a muddled-up notion. Mind you, it’d get a “nuh-uh” from me whether it’s a confused message or not.
emilygoddess
10 years ago
When I hear someone talking about how an ant gets bad karma for biting a human
Holy anthropocentric worldview, Batman!
emilygoddess
10 years ago
@Auggz, maybe say you do “secular Yoga”? Or maybe tell this person, if they are not Desi or Hindu, that their heart is probably in the right place but they’re not authorized to speak on behalf of the people who are potentially affected by this? Or you could point out, as I did above, that Yoga was freely shared by Indian practitioners.
auggz – jayz, that’s really stupid. “Don’t bend your knees like that, it’s racist!”
emilygoddess – you’re not wrong! I dislike the whole idea of reincarnation anyway, because it is so very anthropocentric (among other reasons), but shit, that was just absurd. Yeah, an animal that really is part of a hivemind getting blamed, essentially, for defending itself against a creature squillions times bigger than it is. If that’s the game, I’m not playing.
hellkell
10 years ago
Iām asking because someone called me racist for doing yoga for exercise
This person is a dipshit, and feel free to just look at them and say, “Wow” next time they say something this thoughtless.
@My condolences to Sam-i-Was, that really sucks. Jedi hugs and sympathy. I recently lost a family member, so I share the pain.
@auggz:
Iām asking because someone called me racist for doing yoga for exercise, even though I hate the commercialized spiritual part. I just do it for being more flexible.
Yeah, well, so’s kyriarchy theory. You just can’t avoid racism these days, apparently, even with things that aren’t racist. It’s kind of watered down the incredibly complex, impactful issue into some buzzword. Gaaah. Yoga is yoga, it’s not… racist. It’s a series of strength exercises and flexibility improving movements. The only “racist” thing would be, to some degree, the assertion that Indians have some higher magical spiritual power, but even that’s just kind of “ignorant” more than anything else.
Next time you see this person who said, do whatever you normally do, and then add “HAhahaha. Hahaha. Oohhahahahahaha” from Fibi, the guy from the internet.
We Hunted The Mammoth
Condolence Sam, and to you eli
Sorry to hear he’s gone Sam.
My condolences, Sam. :{
My condolences, Sam-I-Was.
My sympathies and condolences to eli and Sam.
I’m sorry Sam, and Eli.
Pecunium — I saw that off your WP and was musing the title question. “A First”? (I’ve hit one homerun ever)
I brought some brain bleach in the form of a ridiculously happy dog:
So sorry about your uncle, Sam-I-Was.
Roissey and Roosh have made the bigtime. They were named in a Salon article about ways to improve your game: Mind you they were listed on the List of 18 horrible sex tips all men should ignore but hey, it’s publicity, right?
No, because the ambiguity of the narrator is important. Is it someone who hit the ball, someone who was at the game; was it sandlot, or the big leagues. Did it matter? Was it the only one? Is it a pro, looking back, from his present seat on the sidelines?
So the title needs to avoid implying the answer to any of that.
The first sentence might be a problem too. I want the sense of archetype, so “when I was young” might hinder the sense of the universal.
Auggz – seems odd to me to say the spiritual side is racist. It’s like saying you can’t follow a faith from another culture. Sure, if people are doing the “exotic” schtick or some of the more eye-rolling versions of New Age pick-and-mix, that’s questionable, but like you said – how can exercising be racist? Is everyone supposed to be in little cultural boxes?
Sam-I-Was, so sorry about your uncle.
eli, losing a pet is hard, I know. But you obviously gave him a wonderful home and he knew you cared for him. It was obviously his time.
Kittehs, the argument is that the “spiritual” dimensions of Yoga tend to be watered down in the West, and people making a profit off something that’s been removed from its religious/cultural context is pretty much the gold standard of cultural appropriation.
BUT. Yoga was introduced and popularized in the West by Indian teachers, making it a practice that was freely shared rather than one that was stolen from a closed culture. So the appropriation argument probably doesn’t fly here, although of course I would defer to actual Desi or Hindu people.
Ah, made up about the original culture, rather than someone following Hinduism or whatever? Sort of like the peculiar Western take on Buddhism?
Ninja’d with eloquence! š
I wonder how much it can be called cultural appropriation if someone’s following a practice that suits them, but not claiming it’s the original? Knowing something’s derived from another culture is different from going all Oooh-exotic-wisdom-of-the-mysterious-East, isn’t it?
I can’t stand that faux-fetishism Buddhism and various cartoonish notions of Asian cultures among some New Agers; it’s what put me off contact with Spiritualists and Reiki practitioners.
That should have been “faux-fetishism of Buddhism”, or maybe fetishism of faux-Buddhism …
I know a lot of (fairly wealthy, white) people who are into Buddhism, by which I mean the Buddhist-flavored meditation on offer at a million retreats and meditation centers around the Boston area. I don’t think they believe in samsara or reincarnation or the literal Buddha, and they certainly don’t make offerings to him or to any other spirits the way Buddhists across Asia do. They’re treading this blurry line where they’ve borrowed the practice for its personal benefits, and tried to keep some other Buddhist thought with it out of respect for its origins, but it ends up looking watered-down. And of course, it’s for sale…
That’s pretty much what most Buddhism’s like here, too, though plenty of people do seem to have notions of reincarnation (like the dipstick medium who was trying to tell me once that Louis was reincarnated and was standing next to me at the table … make up your bleedin’ mind!).
When I hear someone talking about how an ant gets bad karma for biting a human, I just hope it’s a muddled-up notion. Mind you, it’d get a “nuh-uh” from me whether it’s a confused message or not.
Holy anthropocentric worldview, Batman!
@Auggz, maybe say you do “secular Yoga”? Or maybe tell this person, if they are not Desi or Hindu, that their heart is probably in the right place but they’re not authorized to speak on behalf of the people who are potentially affected by this? Or you could point out, as I did above, that Yoga was freely shared by Indian practitioners.
auggz – jayz, that’s really stupid. “Don’t bend your knees like that, it’s racist!”
emilygoddess – you’re not wrong! I dislike the whole idea of reincarnation anyway, because it is so very anthropocentric (among other reasons), but shit, that was just absurd. Yeah, an animal that really is part of a hivemind getting blamed, essentially, for defending itself against a creature squillions times bigger than it is. If that’s the game, I’m not playing.
This person is a dipshit, and feel free to just look at them and say, “Wow” next time they say something this thoughtless.
auggz, has that person ever done any non-European dance – Latin dance, for instance? You should tell ’em they’re racist if they have.
Internet hugs for Sam-I-Was and eli. š
@My condolences to Sam-i-Was, that really sucks. Jedi hugs and sympathy. I recently lost a family member, so I share the pain.
@auggz:
Yeah, well, so’s kyriarchy theory. You just can’t avoid racism these days, apparently, even with things that aren’t racist. It’s kind of watered down the incredibly complex, impactful issue into some buzzword. Gaaah. Yoga is yoga, it’s not… racist. It’s a series of strength exercises and flexibility improving movements. The only “racist” thing would be, to some degree, the assertion that Indians have some higher magical spiritual power, but even that’s just kind of “ignorant” more than anything else.
Next time you see this person who said, do whatever you normally do, and then add “HAhahaha. Hahaha. Oohhahahahahaha” from Fibi, the guy from the internet.