#Cultural Imperialism

[useless-catalanfacts]

No question. Just rant. I love your page. And sorry for chaotic story time vibes, but I don't think I'd realised how crazy this anti-catalan thing really is until I travelled to southern Spain. My Spanish is not great, but I took a course in Catalan in high school (long story on why this was available in my city but it also included a human tower party at the end and it was brilliant even tho I almost died) so when talking to people I casually threw in some Catalan words to help my Spanish. I am Norwegian, and I thought it was kind of like... as if someone was trying to speak Norwegian but casually threw in some Swedish to fill in the gaps. Like we would totally have joked about it, but overall we would just be grateful they really made an effort to be understood. But no. IT WAS NOT THE CASE. My host was literally offended. Like offended offended. I didn't really get it, because it's not like the Catalans have oppressed him and I'm coming here speaking the tongue of the oppressor (its kinda the opposite). But no. My host acted if I was the most ignorant person ever. He basically sat me down and explained that I have to show respect and speak castillian (or english, which was apparently fine, even if he understood about 1% of it), and then I asked if he would speak Catalan if he visited Barcelona and he said he would never visit Barcelona because he didn't like the people there. And then I said that if you hate them so much, why not throw them out of the country, get rid of them, and let them have their own state? It sounds like a win-win. And he looked as if he was gonna hit me.

Ah 😬

I wish things like this surprised me, but I have family from Andalucía and Extremadura and have friends who also have family from Andalucía, and so I've heard this and worse... It also reminded me of a few weeks ago when there was a scandal because a train in Málaga (in Andalucía, southern Spain) gave the announcements in Catalan instead of Spanish (turns out the train had been programmed in Catalonia during the COVID-19 restrictions and later moved to the Málaga train system, but for some mistake this day it was showing COVID-19 precaution in Catalan from 2020 now in 2024). It was such a scandal that it was on the news and politicians were making such a big deal of it, the PP (the most voted party in Málaga and of all Andalucía) also said it was "offensive" and that Malagans were being "laughed at" by the trains. Other errors in public transport that actually mean people can't travel in time don't get reported as much as when one train's screens tell you in Catalan to wear your facemask. 🤷

The last part of what you say, absolutely right. I never understood it either: if they really don't like us, then shouldn't they also be interested in not having anything to do with us? Why not just kick us out? I never really understood it until some years ago when I heard the words of a right-wing Spanish journalist (I think was Federico Jiménez Losantos?) who said something along the lines of "if Catalans want to leave, then leave. But Catalonia is ours." Meaning that Catalan people, individually, we can leave and migrate abroad. But the land is a possession of Spain, our homeland is their property. I think that sums up that view. It's not about being annoyed at having to share a state with a culture you despise, it's about wanting to keep domination.

I'm sorry you had this experience. Your effort to communicate should have been valued, and pulling the words you know from a language from the same linguistic family was a good idea that would have worked great, they wouldn't have found it offensive if the language you knew instead of Catalan was Italian, Portuguese, etc. Thank you very much for sharing your experience, and I hope you could enjoy the rest of your trip (Southern Spain, outside of situations like this, is a beautiful place), and I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the castells party (and didn't die in it)!

#ask #anonymous #actualitat #catalanophobia #catalanofòbia #coses de la terra #catalonia #catalunya #spain #language rights #language imperialism #imperialism #cultural imperialism #languages #langblr

[hieronymus-botch]

It continues to be really weird to me how liking the metric system is a vaguely left-wing-coded thing when the metric system is literally the product of a bunch of rich white men deciding they knew better than literally everyone else on earth and their way of doing things was objectively superior to all others in all circumstances and then forcing that way on the rest of the world via imperialism and colonialism.

#politics #metric #colonialism #cultural imperialism

[claraameliapond]

Lauren Booth: "Now here's another proof that the Zionists do not belong there. If you go there and you feel this, much less if you feel you own the land, could you destroy 750,000 ancient olive trees? Could you absolutely decimate an are where ancient stones where prophets are and where profits have walked? No. Not if you believed in any way in a love for that land. The Zionists are alien bodies, are viruses in a beautiful body - they're a virus because a virus kills. A virus does damage. And people are going to freak out : 'oh my god, you're calling them viruses ' but - show me what good they've done for the land of Palestine. ..."

She's completely right.

You can't claim to have a spiritual connection to the land, that land and it can only be that land, because of the spirituality connection, and then destroy it.

If you base your entire claim on the land on a spiritual value, you render your entire claim void the second you don't respect that land that you claim is yours through a spiritual connection. The second you destroy its native plants and habitats, native animals, ancient buildings and architecture directly connected to that spirituality you claim is so sacred, and is the whole reason for this, you reveal yourselves.

The ancient buildings, architecture, the land and nature on it, the very things that are the cultural history of that spirituality that should by definition be sacred to you, the second you disrespect and destroy that, you expose the truth of your intentions. And what this has always been about.

Decolonise Palestine now

Full interview

#Palestine #Free Palestine #Decolonise Palestine #Israel is a terrorist state #Zionists #Zionism #colonization #war crimes #ethnic cleansing #Genocide #Lauren Booth #Land #Palestinian Land #Illegal invasion #Illegal occupation #Illegal settlement #Illegal Israeli expansion settlements #Destruction #Cultural imperialism #Cultural history #Religion #Youtube

[infinitysisters]

“It’s about internalizing correct thought. Orwell understood very well the relationship between language and thought and how control of the former permits control of the latter: “[If] thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

He devoted much of “1984” to exploring how the exercise of power over what may be said makes it easier to enjoy dominion over what can be thought, over how individuals understand themselves and their place in society. “Don’t you see,” says Syme, a lexicographer at the Ministry of Truth, “that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.”

The real-world version of that fictional effort to overhaul man’s inner life through controlling the language he is allowed to use in society is expressed more softly, though no less sinisterly. “New language… can become a useful tool for changing how people deal with each other,” say the Symes of today.

Allowing the subjective beliefs of people in the present to override the objective recording of events in the past would be extraordinary – a testament to the extent to which political correctness had overpowered reality entirely.

We now know the price of not speaking back, of letting others instruct us on what we may utter and how we must think. We now know the cost of allowing incursions into our inner lives. Man must be “master of his own thoughts,” said Spinoza. He must never be “compelled to speak only according to the diktats of the supreme power.” That is the first task of the heretic, then: to resist compulsion. To speak as he sees. To never fear to express the truth.”

———

Brendan O’Neill 𝘈 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤'𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰: 𝘌𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦

#books #the new inquisition #thoughtcrime #Orwellian #orwell 1984 #thought police #totalitarianism #cultural imperialism #secular puritanism #state religion #freedom of thought #freedom #de evolution #regressive ideology #social confusion #Brendan O’Neill #heresy #language #control #social engineering

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Louisa Clarence-Smith

Published: Dec 29. 2022

Maths professors at top UK universities will warn ministers on Thursday that academics are too scared to challenge damaging attempts to “decolonise” the curriculum.

A dozen leading academics have written to Claire Coutinho, the Education Minister, calling for more protections for free speech at universities, where many professors fear it is too “personally risky” to challenge the decolonisation agenda.

For maths degrees, professors are being pressured to explain how they are presenting a “multicultural and decolonised view” of the subject. In a recent consultation, the Quality Assurance Agency, which advises universities on course standards, said maths professors need to “present the work of a diverse group” of mathematicians, and ensure students are aware if they had “connections to the slave trade, racism or Nazism.”

A group of professors will warn on Thursday that such guidance “risks politicising the subject of mathematics and presenting a skewed perspective on its history.”

'Personally risky'

They said in a joint letter, seen by The Telegraph, that it also “infringes on the academic freedom of mathematicians to teach their subject according to their best professional judgement”. However, they warned that academics “who challenge orthodoxies on topics such as gender identification and diversity face physical intimidation from student activists”.  

“Many mathematicians see it as personally risky to suggest that 'decolonising the curriculum' might not be the best way to encourage more Black and minority ethnic people to take up mathematics,” they added.

Signatories of the letter include Prof Alan Sokal of University College London, Prof Abhishek Saha of Queen Mary University of London, Prof Jane Hutton, a medical statistician who works at the University of Warwick, and Dr Yuri Bazlov from the University of Manchester.

They are urging the Government to fight to pass the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill in its original form, despite opposition in the House of Lords. Clause 4 of the bill would give academics and students the power to sue universities if their freedom of speech rights are breached. The Government tabled amendments to the bill which would mean academics could only use those powers as a “last resort”, after first pursuing complaints through the procedures of the relevant university and the higher education regulator.

Personal cost of raising complaints 'far too high'

However, responding to the amendments, the mathematicians said: “We do not think this would give us the protection that we need. Universities have vast resources and power compared to individual academics. If academics are required to exhaust all internal processes…and then spend up to 12 months taking their complaint through the Office for Students before they can begin the lengthy process of going to the courts, we believe that the personal cost of raising any complaints would be far too high, rendering the system ineffective.” Ms Coutinho has previously said that the Government remains “resolute in our commitment that academics and speakers will have the right to go to court where this fundamental right has been denied.”

A spokesperson for Universities UK said: “Universities work hard to create the right conditions to protect and promote free speech and academic freedom across their campuses, and there are already significant legal duties placed on universities to uphold freedom of speech. The Government’s proposed changes to the Freedom of Speech Bill are helpful in making the new legal tort more targeted in scope, reducing the risk of university resources being wasted defending frivolous or vexatious claims.”

==

Secular blasphemy laws.

#Andrew Doyle #Jane Hutton #Free Speech Nation #mathematics #woke math #decolonize #decolonize everything #decolonize math #academic corruption #corruption of education #intellectual laziness #cultural imperialism #University of Warwick

[lydiardbell]

The greatest lie US American cultural imperialism ever told is that there is no US American culture

#cultural imperialism #americentrism #quickly becoming even more annoying than 'well how was i supposed to know Thailand was a real place. that wasn't in AP civics'

[luminalunii97]

Some people think with their asses instead of brains. Someone just tried to convince me cultural imperialism isn't a thing and every country worldwide decided to be Americanized by pure choice in the last couple of decades. Because apparently USA is the best! They weren't even USAmerican to justify this.

#why #culturaldiversity #cultural imperialism #monopoly

[capitalrrealism]

David Craven, "Hegemonic Art History" in Art History as Social Praxis (2017)

#art history #classical art #ai artwork #renaissance art #cultural imperialism #david craven #art theory #historical materialism #quotes #academic writing

[shotofstress]

So remember when in Enola Holmes movie the whole message was that working class women are bad for fighting against patriarchy (specially if they do it with direct action), making a parallel with the suffragettes white women of the movie (bc of course the movie washed the imperialist, racist and classist suffragettes) and the only respectable ppl were the good upper class white woman that vote (which are represented, if so, by white upper class men in the House of Lords, depending on Tewkesbury) bc viva the democracy in the british empire that is, according to Enola herself, the best and most awesome country in the world...in the context that of being in it's COLONIALIST peak? Yeah, the movie was a big political propaganda against the social revolts that were occuring when was made. In the same time we had a full new resourge in media of the medieval period and the european 19th and 18th centuries, which highlights how cool in the monarchy, how good is the aristocracy, and the upper class in general, how good is the status quo and how capitalist society is the best and upper class ppl can do whatever they want, and that white ppl from the imperialist countries are "just like us", the common ppl, and the working class ones from the colonies and Global South in general. And now what we have? oh yeah, remember John Watson, the white dude from London that was a soldier of the British Empire in british invaded India to help colonization in Afghanistan which eventually ended being defeated by the criminal british empire, the one that put a new emir in Afghanistan, u know, classic western coup? yes, that dude is now a dude of colour who is gonna be a good colonized who put on the costume of whiteness. played by Himesh Patel (which also use the costume of whiteness), whos family are indian Gujaratis emigrants from Zambia and Kenya, all territories that have to deal with the damage that did and STILL does the British Empire... yes, British Empire bc saying UK is a democratic country and not a colonialist empire as always that does whatever it wants would be a lie. Sooo lovely to feed up the eternal queer bating of Holmes and Watson to just keep making money while also doing tokenism and washing the image of the colonialists.

So, yes, lets keep pushing cultural colonialism and capitalist agenda to preserve the power. So fun to see how ppl buy that bullshit bc its make via movies, like this ones with Millie Bobby Brown that is sadly traped in the horrors of the industry and is already a product of consumption and used as a fascist messager and dressep up in the fake empowered women which is, as her character, just a upper class white women that will help to preserve the status quo and keep the machine working. Guy Debord's Society of the spectacle who? the fans of this movies don't know it and never will care bc if in 2022 ppl can't get it at plain sight they never will. and really? they dont care.

#cultural colonialism #uk #british empire #fascist movies #fascism #sherlock holmes #john watson #enola holmes #enola holmes 2 #enola holmes netflix #guy debord society of the spectacle #white women #british invasion #british imperialism #colonialism #british colonialism #british colonies #johnlock #cultural imperialism #tokenism #image washing

[alchemistys]

the racism in fs is...astounding to me. specifically im bitching about how asian skaters can’t skate to asian music because the judges don’t ‘understand’ it or the artistry. like apparently some motherfucker (Joe Inman) was saying hanyu Yuzuru was lucky to win pyeongchang gold with seimei because japanese music in unintelligible to westerners?? please. I didn’t know jack shit about Abe no seimei when I saw the 2018 olympic free skate as a stupid teenager who’d never been outside fucking North America. yet I cried as I watched it. you don't have to know fuck all about the folklore or the cultural/historical context to feel passion or raw emotion, to appreciate the interpretation. after I finished watching seimei I still didn’t know shit about the guy, but I knew the program, the skating made me feel some kind of way. there’s a bazillion ‘swan lakes’ but let me tell you to this day I don't know shit about fucking swan lake. I can still tell when a skate has good artistry. your average american probably doesn’t know jack shit about swan lake either, same as Abe no seimei, but they'll still prefer swan lake over seimei. like don't try to tell me it's ‘only’ because of cultural differences that you're gonna score swan lake higher, just admit you’re racist. we know. and the absolute stupidity of this is that asian skaters performing a western piece will get scored higher and people will feel the artistry is better. what kind of dumbass logic is it that an asian skater will have a better interpretation of a piece of music from a different culture than of one from their own? you dumb fucks. I hate how skaters have to conform to western culture/standards in order to be taken seriously. are you so convinced of your own fucking superiority? of your own importance? the world doesn’t revolve around you. is someone else’s culture not as, idk, valuable as your own lukewarm white history (and how the fuck can you measure a culture’s value)? there’s over a billion people in china alone yet the country the entire world has got to pander to is the u s of fucking a? ‘cultural differences’ and ‘unintelligible’ my ass, it’s just soft imperialism. reminds me of how kpop is seen in the west. if the entirety of america can bop their bussy to despacito they can also bop it to bts. but nooooo the orientalism just has to get in your way of enjoying amazing cultural exports. you don't have to understand it you just have to appreciate it, which is why that fucking racist bullshit falls apart when you poke it with the critical thinking stick. and admitting that you can't do your job properly is so embarrassing, especially when you admit it’s racism standing between you and competence. i’d say the isu should fire any of these racist chucklefucks who say asian culture is unintelligible and that impedes their scoring, but we all know the isu is a joke that’s also comprised of racist chucklefucks. 

#figure skating #isu #anti isu #anti rusfed #anti usfed #racism #orientalism #hanyu yuzuru #yuzuru hanyu #seimei #fuck isu #western supremacy #soft imperialism #american exceptionalism #anti figure skating #fs #anti fs #fs scoring #scoring discourse #cultural imperialism

[theexodvs]

Delayed marriage is a false consciousness, and an American concept being exported imperialistically to the global south.

Adolescence is a false consciousness, and an American concept being exported imperialistically to the global south.

“Believe in/be yourself” and “Follow your heart/dreams” are false consciousnesses, and American concepts being exported imperialistically to the global south.

Trans ideology is a false consciousness, and an American concept being exported imperialistically to the global south.

Queer theology is a false consciousness, and an American concept being exported imperialistically to the global south.

Westphalian nationhood is a false consciousness, and a western concept being exported imperialistically to the global south.

But most leftists are not ready for that conversation.

#delayed marriage #adolescence #adolescence is a lie #adolescence isn't real #adolescence is not real #believe in yourself #believe in yourselves #be yourself #be yourselves #follow your heart #follow your hearts #follow your dream #follow your dreams #queer theology #american imperialism #american imperialists #american imperalist #cultural imperialism #cultural imperialists #cultural imperialist #american colonialism #american colonialist #american colonialists #neocolonialism #neocolonialist #neocolonialists #trans ideology #transgender ideology #trans rights activism #false consciousness

[bumblebeeappletree]

'The stone is a symbol of cultural imperialism' — Egyptian archaeologists are calling for the return of the Rosetta Stone, a 2,200-year-old artifact that was taken 200+ years ago

For more world news, subscribe to NowThis News.

#rosettastone #egypt #history #Politics #News #NowThis

#now this news #now this #solarpunk #Rosetta Stone #egypt #imperialism #cultural imperialism #Monica Hanna #archaeologists #Egyptian archaeologists #archeaology #cultural violence #French #British #british museum #UK #england #colonialism #Youtube

[fourdramas]

i have a few friends who are deep into american politics and even though i know it's mean of me, i can't help but feeling a bit sorry for them. we live across the globe from america, we live in a far more "advanced" country in terms of living standard and just overall functionality of our public system, and yet they get stars in their eyes when we talk about the united states of america and want to change our governmental system in a way that is more like the united states of america's.

it scares me that cultural imperialism is so strong that otherwise progressive people actively want to emulate what is happening in america and in many ways seem to have their political imagination limited by the united states of america - i sometimes get the sense that, not just among my america-enthused friends but generally in the public opinion in this conutry, the united states of america is seen as the future that we must move towards - certainly a lot of the more politically imaginative reforms proposed are uncannily similar to something that is always institutionalised in the united states of america.

#usa #cultural imperialism

[discountalien-pancake]

Look I’m not going to dispute whether or not Han Chinese is the ethnicity with the highest global population percentage (because it could be true), but I sure as fuck want to drill it into everyone’s head that that statistic is without a doubt heavily inflated by Han nationalism. Which is the current Chinese government’s policy of imposing Han identity and culture on every citizen it possibly can.

Cultural genocide is de facto state policy, and at this point it’s almost impossible to know what percentage of “Han” Chinese people are actually ethnic minorities whose roots were erased. And just so you understand the scale of it, there are Han nationalists trying to claim Korean hanbok is actually just a derivative of hanfu, that the majority of Viet people are actually Chinese, and that Tibetan artifacts are actually Chinese artifacts. And the brainwashing runs deep, to the point I had American-born Chinese classmates say some of that shit to my face.

So no, straight cis white men aren’t the Global Default Human by any stretch of the imagination, but—*gestures vaguely at the aforementioned Han nationalism*—that shit rubs me the wrong way just as much.

#vietposting #cultural imperialism #genocide mention #if you say the largest nationality in the world is chinese then i can agree #but China is no more uniform than India #and the concept of Chinese having ‘dialects’ is at best an incomplete truth #in reality it is just more cultural erasure #i am not talking out of my ass—vietnam’s history is literally just #a long slog of fighting off attempts at absorbing it into Imperial China #both through conquest and through cultural imperialism

[deadassdiaspore]

1707, o/d 58 x 46 Kopenhagen Statens Museum for Kunst

Dutch Painter: Dirk Valkenburgiyjj

TITLED: SLAVE DANCE

Article notes:

The Great Suriname Exhibition, in 2019 in De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.

Note: THIS EXHIBIT WAS THE FIRST TO BE APPROVED OF THE NUMEROUS REQUESTED IN THE NETHERLANDS....WHY?

"In itself an understandable choice because a ceremony or festivity can be seen in this work of art. The artist has depicted the large group of ‘partying’ people in great detail from myriad vantage points of the Surinamese people in community.( Although descriptions and accounts of this moment )".  

HATE HOW THE WORK IS LITERALLY DEPICTING A CELEBRATION AND RITUAL AND IT STILL ENDED UP BEING

TITLED: SLAVE DANCE.

"This was also the case for another exhibition in the Nieuwe Kerk: Black is beautiful. Rubens to Dumas in 2008, which I curated".

One of the elements that has intrigued me for a longest time about this work is the woman with the bra on the far right. Did they already exist then? Did she invent it (I secretly hope so). 

GIRL , IF YOU DON'T GET OUTTA HERE.

NOTHING I HATE MORE THAN A WHITE PERSON CURATING AN EXHIBIT CALLED "BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL". THIS IS WORTHY OF A KNIFE FIGHT!!!!

#cultural imperialism #Colonial Gauze #African History #African Art History #African Celebration #Suriname #African Rebellion