On the ‘Noble Savage’ in particular and dilemma of whiteness in general
Organized society necessitates a certain amount of infantilization. To rely on others, and make it instinctive to rely on others for your basic needs, to make filling them yourself beyond imagining. That’s not entirely a bad thing, when it’s handled well in a fair just society (composed entirely of magical elves), but otherwise it’s kind of like child abuse as an ingrained institution. To justify this (and the huge inequalities that make it seem necessary to those in power) in a society that justifies itself on ideas of ‘fairness’ ‘equality’ and ‘merit’ those with disproportionate power touch themselves imagining an ideal of ‘self reliance’ and not needing anyone else (contrary to that civilized ideal of almost mechanical deference that gives them their disproportionate power) putting them among the (most) virtuous (being the ones who are needed, who must be deferred to, whose norms and interests determine popular understanding of ‘good’), and that it’s a real thing that's ever existed anywhere (even they must still act with consensus, or at least not against the interests of their own class. even hunter-gatherers venerated their prey and staple foods). So. The ‘Noble Savage’ bastardized ideation/appropriation of tribal (or even modern disenfranchised-enough-to-resort-to-self-help*) cultures.
And onto (white) people appropriating shit in general: the state of whiteness (in most of the world; maybe not KSA or PRC) is one of oppressing, whiteness is an act of oppression. The benefits (often in a zero sum system) are passive and come to you whether you want them or not, and you’re told you deserve them for reasons that have nothing to do with the amount of melanin you don’t have (almost) every time. But oppression hurts the oppressor as well as (of course always to a lesser extent than) the oppressed, and it necessitates certain ways of being; having servants is creepy, whipping slaves is hard, relying on others for everything is infantilizing as fuck, and living among a captive population that outnumbers you and could destroy your way of life by just stopping (not to mention active resistance) is fucking terrifying, traumatic, and limits the ways you can be in the world; noone had fun in sparta, white confederate families were always abusive, and apartheid south africa was probably just as creepy.
So. What is one to do when born into this? To actively swim against that current, to decline the benefits and advantages you’re unjustly offered pretty much from birth (and they’re never blatantly offered on merit of your race, so you have to decide whether to err towards sensitivity and fuck yourself more than you need to or specificity and still reap some of the rewards while feelings like you’re resisting in total solidarity?) insults others, functions implicitly as a call-out of everyone who just went with the flow. That pisses people off. That calls all their achievements all their joy all their daily satisfaction and maybe even their suffering (in their un-nuanced eyes) unjustified, unreal, cheating, made up (which it kind of is, but you still have to be exceptional to win at the olympics even if your pharmacist helps out, and a 10% edge at the roulette table still leaves you penniless more often than not). So obviously, in a society where we’re always told to go with the flow, that shit and all the attendant blowback isn’t an option, but for anyone with a conscience and basic self awareness just going with it’s not an option. What’s a self-aware but not self-critical milquetoast asshole to do?
This is where I compare cultural appropriation to libertarianism, and I’m pretty sure I owe one party or the other an apology but I can’t quite figure out which (I’m so sorry; white girl with dreadlocks, seattle yuppie. That comparison was mean spirited and I shouldn’t have. now stop making out.). A lot of (white) people whose awareness of the problem floats just below consciousness because they don’t quite have the integrity, emotional backing, or intelligence to resist instead cling to something else. for economic inequality, it’s libertarianism, a rejection of the system without actually pushing back against it, gaining all your strength through its most despicable mechanisms. For race, denying association with whiteness or white culture is a fun start, but since the view from nowhere isn’t a thing (and it would be fucking boring if it was) you have to claim SOME perspective, and what’s better than claiming you’re oppressed? you’re entitled to some sense of justification, after all; you are sorta-kinda not just going with the flow of whiteness. you're aware enough to cringe at those ‘white peepul aer uppressed mineorities!’ white nationalist asshats, so you can’t be one of them; your face would get tired! The obvious answer is: claim the identity of someone your whiteness oppressed (which you can only do because of that same whiteness, but hypothetical you isn’t self critical because that can be uncomfortable, so shush), because you can’t have benefitted been involved or even really be complicit if you’re from the streets (specifically a lovely cul-de-sac off maple drive in orange county), how could you possibly be the oppressor? it’s some bullshit psychopretzel absolution, but it seems to work for a lot of people, which is why they take it so hard. Besides; white culture is awful and boring and so pervasive as to be almost invisible. who wants to be invisible for reasons that aren’t creepy?
This isn’t me making excuses. I take joy in the discomfort of others, and hate myself fucking passionately, so I try to swim against that current at every opportunity, but it helps to understand why. I’m not sure I have a solution here. maybe the closed I can come is:
if you won your gold metal cheating doesn’t it nag at you? never knowing if you were really the best, or just ‘good enough’? it can’t all have been for the pretty rock.
Weirdly, even (white) people who HAVE legit connections to other cultural identities (regional poverty cultures, geekiness, disability, deafness, etc.) tend to either do this, or (so very often) be more dedicated to their whiteness, to avoiding the marginalization that goes with these other identities, to erase and make white these other parts of themselves. After all; being white is more fun than being a (white) disabled queer if comfort’s your priority.
*By ‘self help’ I don’t mean ‘boot straps!’, but ‘killing the pig who keeps raping members of your community yourself(ves)’, or ‘finding something to kill/cook when you’re hungry’.
