-->
Home › Mesothelioma Law Firm › News › Get Over Yourself: On Culture, Entitlement, and Microaggressing Rice

Get Over Yourself: On Culture, Entitlement, and Microaggressing Rice

- Agustus 24, 2018

 

 

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was recently accused of cultural appropriation for his marketing of a recipe for rice.

I’ll let that marinate for a minute.

The dish is called “Punch Jerk Rice.”

No, it’s not a tasty tribute to Chris Brown. It’s brown rice, but no relation.

On Twitter, someone protested Oliver — who is white — mining a trove of blackness for something to eat:

“I’m not in the mood for this @jamieoliver #PunchyJerkRice #Alkindawrong #Stopit now lost all respect for you. WE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY truly know how to cook OUR food and you take it and disrespect it in such a form. What a disgrace. I’m not surprised though #FakeFood”

He’s not in the mood, everyone — act accordingly.

Perhaps the dumbest part of the tweet isn’t about culture theft; there’s nothing more inane than someone claiming to represent everyone of a particular race. “We in the black community.” If I have blue eyes, can I speak for Frank Sinatra? The notion is ridiculous, when done by “MamaSam,” Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, or any other ambassadork.

Nonetheless, defending Jamaica from a mean man with a skillet, a hunger drive, and some wacky culinary ideas isn’t a kind of nitwittery limited to goons on Twitter and power-driven American political demagogues; a member of British Parliament also spoke out against Oliver:

“#jamieoliver @jamieoliver #jerk I’m just wondering do you know what #Jamaican #jerk actually is? It’s not just a word you put before stuff to sell products. @levirootsmusic should do a masterclass. Your jerk Rice is not ok. This appropriation from Jamaica needs to stop.”

And this is where we are, looking down the hill at a generation coming for us — one that’s being taught they’re entitled — that things simply belong to them — in too many ways to list here.

And those ways are wrong.

You don’t own my speech. You don’t own my faith. You don’t own my way of combining the two. You don’t own my ability to protect that which is mine. You don’t own the right to be comfortable. You don’t own the privilege of being unopposed.

In fact, the only things you own are what you think, what you say, what you do, and what you earn.

And you sure don’t own a culture. Even the one that produced you.

What is culture? It’s a set of ideas and an aesthetic. And it’s nothing anyone can own.

Italians don’t own the fork any more than Chinese people own the chopstick. Germans have no sole possession of the hamburger, and Greeks lack exclusive dibs on the wheel (Does “MamaSam” drive a car, bicycle, tricycle, or big wheel? OOPS!)

Culture is the sum total many individuals’ contributions, combined with the acceptance and participation of many benefactors, over a very long period of time which greatly exceeds any one individual’s lifespan or participation. It is something for which no person can take credit.

Even if one makes a significant cultural contribution, their endowment is but a penny in a massive well of other gifts, bestowed by a multitude. And those donations likely came by way of inspiration from influences abroad, in one way or another. Furthermore, a worldview which separates humanity according to race — or manmade property lines — is ridiculous.

So whoever you, and whatever you’ve done, you don’t own a culture.

Goofballs and Millennials, get over yourself. The fact that you fart doesn’t mean you own the wind.

 

 

 

The post Get Over Yourself: On Culture, Entitlement, and Microaggressing Rice appeared first on RedState.

 

Start typing and press Enter to search