Of the all memes that plague the Internet these days, one
finally caught my attention for not being instantly recognizable for its
stupidity.
The question implied by the meme asks why is it socially
acceptable that former Olympian Bruce Jenner – a white person – wants to pass
himself off as a something he is not but it is not socially acceptable for former
NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezal – another white person – to attempt to pass
herself off as something she is not? Is the difference about gender, is it
about race, is it about celebrity; what the heck is going on here?
We should all know by now what Dolezal did wrong: She is
guilty* of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation, if you don’t know
already, is adopting or using elements of a culture you’re not considered a
part of and using them for your own benefit. Moreover, minorities and Caucasians
of an extremely guilty conscious will tell intimate to you – if not tell you
outright – that this criminal behavior only applies to Caucasians given the
historical treatment of everyone else in the world by said Caucasians, or
something. Dolezal, during her tenure as a chapter president of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was discovered to be
Caucasian and not an actual African American, as she portrayed herself as and
continues to identify herself as. This outraged pretty much everyone who
chiefly identifies themselves as a victim (which is occasionally for a good reason) and/or operates solely on emotion. (Nevermind
that there is no bylaw of the NAACP that states that a chapter president must
be of ‘colored’ descent. ) Dolezal, being Caucasian, comes from what is
considered the upper and more powerful class and that in itself apparently
means she is not allowed to identify herself as an African American no matter
how much she acts like it or how much tanning she does. Dolezal, being Caucasian,
because of her genetics, her race, is
not allowed to portray herself as a member of a disadvantaged class in any
manner. Why this is the case is not the question right now, but keep in mind
that this is the state of ‘social justice’ mentality in the U.S. right now.
[* Guilty in the eyes of those who chose to accept the
definition and the negative connotation of ‘cultural appropriation.’]
By comparison, what Bruce Jenner apparently did right was come from the upper and most
powerful class of all – white men – and change himself into a member of a
disadvantaged class, borrowing all the bells and getting rid of some of the
whistles to do so. Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner went much further than Dolezal
did with his/her cultural appropriation. Yet uber-liberals and every
disadvantaged class in the U.S went ga ga for Caitlyn. So, on the face of it,
this would seem to be a double standard unless something else is going on. Why
is what Ciatlyn did acceptable and what Dolezal did unacceptable?
Is it the case that it is okay to go from being one gender
within an ethnicity to another gender within the ethnicity because you’re staying within the ethnicity? Is it the case that it
is not okay to identify with one ethnicity because
you are not genetically that
ethnicity? [For argument’s sake, we will concern ourselves with the genetic
component of ethnicity since this appears to be the primary basis for accepting
or rejecting people into a wide cultural group.] If both these cases are true
they must have some kind of philosophical justification. Otherwise, it would
seem up to ‘herd mentality’ to arbitrarily judge what is socially acceptable
and what is not, and this would mean there is no rational basis for accepting
Caitlyn Jenner for who she thinks she is. And that’s just it; there is no
philosophical basis for the cases such as I’ve stated them and possible reasons
for rejecting them, mostly on the basis of what is considered an ethnicity.
The reality is that ethnicity is almost as fluid as language
and this mightily complicates anyone’s attempt at any sort of identity. Take
for example someone like Barak Obama who is half-African and half-Caucasian;
should he identify himself as one or the other? Based on what, the dominance of
one parent’s genes over the other, what he looks more like, based on how he
talks, based on what cultural practices he observes? While Barack Obama looks
more African than Caucasian, he definitely acts more Caucasian than African. Maybe
both ethnicities should reject him as a strange anomaly or as something less
than either (and member of both ethnicities surely do). And what would we make
of someone who is equal parts African, Caucasian, Asian and Latino? So, we can’t
(or shouldn’t) base the acceptance or rejection of someone within a cultural
group based on their genetic constitution. If Rachel Dolezal identifies herself
as ‘colored’ because that is what she feels
inside, this should be exactly the same as Bruce Jenner wanting to change his
identity because of how he feels inside. But
if we’re going to bring genetics into the argument, that Bruce is good to go because
he’s staying within the same ethnicity, the reality is that one can no more actually become a woman than one can become African. But if changing one’s
identity is just a matter of drug therapy and surgery, than anyone can become
another gender or ethnicity and the stewards of today’s social justice will
have to accept it.
Although I am no fan of Kylie Jenner, the black community
should get off her back for putting her hair in cornrows. She’s a 17-year old
nitwit who hasn’t formed her own identity yet. But when she does, if forming
her identity means she is going to walk, talk and look like she’s black, her
identity must be accepted for there to be any consistence to the term ‘social
justice.’ On the other hand, if what’s really going on here is that it is okay
to be racist if you’re from a disadvantaged class because historical Caucasians
haven’t treated your group well, well then, let’s call a spade a spade and
recognize today’s ‘social justice’ for what it really is – vengeance.
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