This morning I read an opinion article from Business Insider claiming that the entire Met Gala was cultural appropriation and that Catholics are being appropriated.
That’s a negative ghost rider. And let me explain why.
First let’s start with the definition of cultural appropriation:
Cultural appropriation is a concept in sociology dealing with the adoption of the elements of a minority culture by members of the dominant culture. … Cultural elements which may have deep meaning to the original culture may be reduced to “exotic” fashion or toys by those from the dominant culture.
Lets start with Rihanna. First off, she may be rich and famous now, but she grew up in Barbados in a 3 bedroom bungalow with a father addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. In order to appropriate a culture, you have already be placed in a position of power. Being a person of color and from the Caribbean, she is NOT a member of the dominant culture, therefore she can’t appropriate it.
Now about the Catholic Church. By the end of 2015, the Catholic Church had 1.285 BILLION Catholics. So it’s safe to say they are the dominant culture here.
The Church has also been in power since the existence of the Roman Empire. And the Catholic Church has tons of money, according to this NASDAQ.com article no one knows for sure how much money the Vatican actually has. But, we do know that as of 2015 the Vatican Bank manages $64 billion for its customers, owns $764 million in equity, and keeps gold reserves in the amount of more than $20 million. So they have some coin.
Last, but not least, the most important reason that “Pope Rihanna” is not cultural appropriation:
Not only did the Catholic Church know about the Met event, there were church officials that attended and the Vatican provided over 40 pieces to the exhibit. Cultural appropriation requires not giving credit to those who created the cultural. And they did.
I’m going to wrap this up with a quote from Teen Vogue that sums up this argument nicely:
Hijacking the cultural appropriation argument — either to criticize Met Gala attendees or to satirize the concept in general — just doesn’t make sense. By definition, cultural appropriation hurts the powerless, and the Catholic church is one of the most powerful institutions in the world.
Punk Rawk Boss 