The Gorillamen took long weekends off work, but they did manage to record their first Skype episode in some time. About Cultural appropriation.

This is what they talked about:

• When was the first time you heard the term cultural appropriation? What was the context?
• My iPhone now auto-corrects cultural appropriation. Is that a sign of our times?
• Have you ever appropriated another culture?
• What is cultural appropriation to you?
• Is cultural appropriation a huge problem in today’s world?
• What’s the weirdest complaint of cultural appropriation you’ve seen?
• The dumbest?
• The most egregious example of cultural appropriation you’ve seen?
• How common is cultural appropriation?
• Where do we draw the line?
• How do we fix the problem of cultural appropriation?

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Few things say “cultural appropriation” like a thin, white model — barely dressed — and wearing a warbonnet on her head. At the same time, there are so many things from other cultures people don’t think twice about in America. Some will argue that appropriation of any kind is terrible; others claim it’s bound to happen in a place where many people come together…that it can even help others come to understand what they may have once feared.

Cultural Appropriation is the topic of this week’s episode of Men in Gorilla Suits.

* * *

We begin with whether or not we identify as white — and what it means to be a white guy in America. After that, we talk about whether or not we identify as American — and what that means to us. Next, we chat about whether or not we fit wholly within what most consider a white, male American…or if we’ve borrowed traits and ideas from other races and cultures.

We discuss the first thing we remember admiring about a different culture — and whether or not we attempted to appropriate what we admired into our lives.

We’ve all appropriated something from other races and cultures…find out what we’ve brought into our lives and why we chose to focus on those things. (As always, it’s mostly about all kinds of food with us!)

Using a scale of 1 – 100, we talk about how much we think we’ve personally been influenced by other cultures…as well as how much Americans in general have been influenced by others.

For some, cultural appropriation is much more than simply cooking a meal originating elsewhere in the world. We chat about extreme example of cultural appropriation, and then jump to the best — and silliest — uses of cultural appropriation we’ve seen.

Near the end of the episode, we discuss the one idea or concept from another culture we would like to see adopted in America, and then wrap it all up with this: In the future, do we think cultures will borrow from each other more or less?

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