I stayed in yesterday and never got dressed. The news is that’s news. It’s how I have spent most of the past year. I was going to go shopping but it was raining and decided to wait for today even though the bus only stops by my house on Sundays. As I won’t be taking a Donut Walk™ I should walk one way to Aldi. I would do that all the time if it weren’t for the stairs. If I only walk there at least it’s going down the steps. There was a time that was harder on me because of my knees but my joints have not been giving me problems the last few years. I must be getting younger.
I prepared the video but not the audio for this week’s Gord’s Gold ad. I have to get that done today the show is tomorrow night at 11 PM on Folk Music Notebook. I haven’t come up with a theme for next week’s show. I don’t need one, but it makes it easier. I can usually depend on one song inspiring another; I will have faith in the process. I have always thought of myself as a connection machine.
The one thing I got myself to do was make a real dinner, roasted chicken, and homemade potato chips. I love chicken but I hate how long it takes to make and I hate the cleanup. That reminds me that I couldn’t clean up before I went to bed last night. That means I take a break from writing, clean up from last night, make my breakfast, watch Batwoman then pick up writing after that. Change of plans my roommate is watching TV in the kitchen so I’ll write first. Now I’m hungry. I usually eat later than this, but I got the thought in my head that I’d be eating soon, and it reached my stomach. Sorry stomach, you won’t starve if you wait another hour to eat.
This is fun, I’m hungry and I’m about to write about food. My friend Alex posted this on Facebook. “Easter! When I make a vat of my grandma’s meaty Eastern European white borscht for celebration and eat the whole damn thing myself because everyone else finds soup with kielbasa, pork, ham, egg and vinegar.” That intrigued me, I love everything in there but the vinegar. I then looked up white borscht online and found not just recipes but cultural background, Polish White Borscht (Bialy Barszcz). The ingredient in White Borscht are mainly taken from the traditional Polish Easter Basket that are brought to the church to be blessed on Holy Saturday. Here’s what’s in the basket at what they symbolize.
- Bacon is a symbol of the abundance of God’s mercy.
- Easter bread symbolizes Christ, the Bread of Life.
- Butter or other dairy products celebrate the end of Lent and the richness of salvation.
- A candle, while not edible, symbolizes Jesus, the light of the World.
- Cheese reminds Christians of moderation.
- Hard cooked eggs are signs of hope in new life.
- Ham or other meats symbolize the abundance of the celebration of the Resurrection.
- Sausage links represent the chains of death that were broken by Christ’s resurrection.
- Horseradish is a reminder of the bitterness of the Passion and the sour wine given to Christ at the Crucifixion.
- Salt preserves us from corruption and speaks to the Bible passage “You are the salt of the earth.”
Does this remind any of my Jewish friends of anything? It makes me think of the Seder plate. As this is a tradition in Poland and Ukraine which also had the highest concentrations of Jews at the time I’m guessing that there was more than a little cultural appropriation. You can also call it the Folk Process, you see something good, and you modify it to be relevant to your circumstances. Now my plan is to appropriate this right back for the Jewish Atheists, at least for me. This sounds a lot better to me than the traditional Seder meal, a feast of trayf.
“Cultural appropriation” is a loaded judgmental term, cultural borrowing is better, but still inaccurate as you’re not going to give it back, it’s cultural appreciation, and the way civilization was built. Cultures learn from each other. I suspect that the term “cultural appropriation” took hold because of all the things that were appropriated, taken so they can’t be used by the owner and without compensation; The indigenous Americans had their land appropriated, and African slaves had their lives appropriated. Peoples throughout their world have had their cultures not appropriated but deliberately obliterated. People have been proscribed from following their tradition, practicing their religion, and even speaking their language. The American, Canadian, and Australian governments did this to their indigenous populations. The British did it to the Irish. The Romans did it to the Jews. This is what the Chinese government is doing to the Uighurs today. This has been the history of most of the world. Think of any civilization that you know a great deal about, the odds are you’ll find that the present inhabitants replaced the language, culture, and religion of the previous inhabitants.
People want to be good and try to act good, and to be perceived as good. This issue has always been, “what is good?” It’s a concept that changes with time, in any place and time people develop a consensus and individuals try to live up to that consensus. The consensus is not always right. Slavery was acceptable in most places and times in human history. It was the “humane” alternative to killing your enemies. The subjugation of women was considered morally desirable, and still is by many people. For the most part there’s progress, people’s ideas change in the direction of the Golden Rule, the only one that’s maintained a consensus through time and geography. For the most part, but not always.
The movement against cultural appropriation comes from the best place, not wanting to repeat the sins of the past, but it fails the Golden Rule test. It’s saying something is wrong for abstract reasons, not the harm it does. Have you seen One Night in Miami? If not you should ASAP. It’s the story of Mohammad Ali (Cassius Clay at the time), Football star Jim Brown, Soul Singer Sam Cooke (I had to check to see if there was an E at the end of his name), and Civil Rights activist Malcolm X, on the night that Ali defeated Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight crown. It sounds made up, but it really happened, they were all together in a hotel room after the fight. Most of the film is a debate on moral philosophy between them with Malcolm X and Sam Cooke taking the opposing positions and Ali and Brown in between. I’m bringing it up because of one part of the debate. Sam Cooke’s record label released the song It’s All Over Now by the Valentinos, a black group. The Rolling Stones asked for permission to cover it and Cooke agreed. Bobby Womack, who wrote the song, was upset at first, as the Stones version dominated sales. Malcolm X thought that was why it was wrong to let the Stones cover it. Then Cooke said that Womack was only upset until the royalty checks came in. The royalties are a lot larger for a #1 song by the Stones than a #98 song by the Valentinos. Things are complex and it’s not always easy to see right away what makes things better and what makes things worse. If the Stones had recorded the song without permission or paying royalties that would be wrong. If they recorded a traditional song with no ownership, that’s right too. We do it all the time. It’s what folk music originally meant. Often the words get changed, the Folk process. Everyone gains from that and nobody is hurt.
The only part of this I’m certain of is that there is no moral certainty here. Where we draw the lines between right and wrong are fluid. I’m not sure that I’m right and won’t hold it against anyone for feeling differently. It’s complicated, is the right answer to most problems. If it weren’t the problems would have been solved.
Wise Madness 