How offensive, exactly, is having dream catchers?

[Anonymous]

Interesting article about the focus on microaggressions andt he rise of victimhood culture, especially on college campuses: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/the-rise-of-victimhood-culture/404794/

and: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/opinion/sunday/the-real-victims-of-victimhood.html

Seems like we can no longer have real conversations about touchy topics b/c the "victims" can shut them down by reminding everyone of their victimhood.

"So who cares if we are becoming a culture of victimhood? We all should. To begin with, victimhood makes it more and more difficult for us to resolve political and social conflicts. The culture feeds a mentality that crowds out a necessary give and take — the very concept of good-faith disagreement — turning every policy difference into a pitched battle between good (us) and evil (them)."

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Oh, for god's sake.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not wearing the dreamcatcher. You are not using it as a potholder. You are using it as a dreamcatcher, and it has been shared by Native American culture as such, and you have not taken it away and made it into something else for merchandising purposes. I don't see how this is cultural appropriation.

Please don't use the phrase "Native American" to describe the Indian people. That's definitely a microaggression. The preferred term is "Indian" or, better, to refer to someone by their actual tribal affiliation.

-- Signed, part Algonquin.

How "part". Anything less than 1/4 and your opinion doesn't matter here

[Anonymous]

We need a low wow

[Anonymous]

Like many other things, appropriation is much worse if the native community is being deprived of the revenue from something that is part of their tradition.

So, the issue with dream catchers isn't just that they have a religious significance that is not understood outside the original community, but also that they are being mass produced by non-Natives and sold to non-Natives. In this way, native traditions are being stolen and monetized while native peoples continue to be discriminated against and are often living in poverty.

So, short answer: dream catchers are not necessarily offensive but if I really felt that I needed one for some reason, I would be sure to buy from a native artist.

[Anonymous]

Not offensive.
I have a cottage on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario Canada - it borders the Saugeen Nation Indian Reserve. I have received dream catchers from my Ojibway neighbors, made by them. If you google dream catcher you will find the Ojibway created them (Asibikaashi). If they themselves find no issue with persons outside the tribe having them and in fact encourage it through gifts and sales why should someone outside the tribe feel they have the right to take issue with it.

[Anonymous]

Pow wow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not wearing the dreamcatcher. You are not using it as a potholder. You are using it as a dreamcatcher, and it has been shared by Native American culture as such, and you have not taken it away and made it into something else for merchandising purposes. I don't see how this is cultural appropriation.

Please don't use the phrase "Native American" to describe the Indian people. That's definitely a microaggression. The preferred term is "Indian" or, better, to refer to someone by their actual tribal affiliation.

-- Signed, part Algonquin.

How "part". Anything less than 1/4 and your opinion doesn't matter here

I've spotted the first actual micro aggression on this thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like many other things, appropriation is much worse if the native community is being deprived of the revenue from something that is part of their tradition.

So, the issue with dream catchers isn't just that they have a religious significance that is not understood outside the original community, but also that they are being mass produced by non-Natives and sold to non-Natives. In this way, native traditions are being stolen and monetized while native peoples continue to be discriminated against and are often living in poverty.

So, short answer: dream catchers are not necessarily offensive but if I really felt that I needed one for some reason, I would be sure to buy from a native artist.

Really? Every cheap or expensive dream catcher I have seen was made by some American Indian or another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like many other things, appropriation is much worse if the native community is being deprived of the revenue from something that is part of their tradition.

So, the issue with dream catchers isn't just that they have a religious significance that is not understood outside the original community, but also that they are being mass produced by non-Natives and sold to non-Natives. In this way, native traditions are being stolen and monetized while native peoples continue to be discriminated against and are often living in poverty.

So, short answer: dream catchers are not necessarily offensive but if I really felt that I needed one for some reason, I would be sure to buy from a native artist.

Well damn. I want everyone else to stop appropriating my white bread and mayonnaise! Put those butter knives down now.

And my great gramma was all Cherokee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is "Native American" offensive, especially when "Indian American" is just based on Columbus not knowing where he was? Genuine question.

Native American is also a name white liberals chose for us.

In Canada, they are called "First People." It sounds nice but overlooks the fact that there were other people in the world even if not in Canada

In Canada we are actually First Nations.

First peoples refers to early humans/development anywhere in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like many other things, appropriation is much worse if the native community is being deprived of the revenue from something that is part of their tradition.

So, the issue with dream catchers isn't just that they have a religious significance that is not understood outside the original community, but also that they are being mass produced by non-Natives and sold to non-Natives. In this way, native traditions are being stolen and monetized while native peoples continue to be discriminated against and are often living in poverty.

So, short answer: dream catchers are not necessarily offensive but if I really felt that I needed one for some reason, I would be sure to buy from a native artist.

Well damn. I want everyone else to stop appropriating my white bread and mayonnaise! Put those butter knives down now.

And my great gramma was all Cherokee.

I really should have taken bets on how long it would take for someone to bust out a (probably mythical) Cherokee princess great grandmother. http://blog.nativepartnership.org/my-grandmother-was-a-cherokee-princess/

[Anonymous]

And who misappropriated our casinos?? I want them back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not wearing the dreamcatcher. You are not using it as a potholder. You are using it as a dreamcatcher, and it has been shared by Native American culture as such, and you have not taken it away and made it into something else for merchandising purposes. I don't see how this is cultural appropriation.

Please don't use the phrase "Native American" to describe the Indian people. That's definitely a microaggression. The preferred term is "Indian" or, better, to refer to someone by their actual tribal affiliation.

-- Signed, part Algonquin.

ER, really? Why is the "Native American Museum" called that and not the "American Indian Museum" then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not wearing the dreamcatcher. You are not using it as a potholder. You are using it as a dreamcatcher, and it has been shared by Native American culture as such, and you have not taken it away and made it into something else for merchandising purposes. I don't see how this is cultural appropriation.

Please don't use the phrase "Native American" to describe the Indian people. That's definitely a microaggression. The preferred term is "Indian" or, better, to refer to someone by their actual tribal affiliation.

-- Signed, part Algonquin.

ER, really? Why is the "Native American Museum" called that and not the "American Indian Museum" then?

It's called the "National Museum of the American Indian".

http://www.nmai.si.edu/