PSA re: culture
ways to appreciate a culture:
- learning about it (seriously do as much reading as you can)
- learning the language is a great thing to do!
- talking to people in the culture about their culture, but only if they’ve stated explicitly that they’re okay with it (do NOT pick an x-looking stranger on the street to speak x and talk about x to)
- visiting the country, visiting museums
- understanding modern culture as much as historical culture
- respecting it
- respecting that it is not yours, and being mindful of your actions towards people who it actually belongs to
not ways to appreciate a culture:
- thinking that because you like it, you’re special
- using the culture to make you look special for liking it
- thinking that because that person looks like x (i.e. not white), that you can talk to them about their ~exotic~ culture
- thinking that because you like a culture, you’re okay to just do whatever you want in the name of liking that culture (do NOT wear their clothing just because you can. do NOT wear their symbols just because you can. do NOT treat a culture flippantly because liking a culture doesn’t exempt you from being an asshole.)
- thinking that because you like it you can do with it (and people from it) as you wish
- thinking that because you like it you’re the highest authority on it
- thinking that because you like it you can speak over actual people from the culture on it, and that your word means more than theirs.
