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Bank Robber’s Mask Is Soooo Problematic
UPDATE: News story based on bunk, as noted below by Midget Faded Rattlesnake. The general points about “cultural appropriation” stand, although not as related to this story. Fake but accurate!
In which California is fitted with a jet engine, loaded into a rail-gun launcher, and aimed so the trajectory takes it over the shark:
I used to say “not the Onion,” but let’s use “Not the Babylon Bee” going forward. From the story:
An armed robber wearing a “Day of the Dead”-type mask, who held up a Wells Fargo Bank, may be charged with cultural appropriation, in addition to bank robbery.
According to a press release by the Santa Monica Police Department, on Sept. 10, a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt, gloves, and a skull mask similar to one that represents the Mexican holiday, entered a Wells Fargo location in the beachside Los Angeles suburb.
“Use of a Day of the Dead Mask during a robbery can be a separate offense or an enhancement, under the California Penal Code,” a police spokesperson said in a press release, per the Observer. “In this case, the suspect is sought for violating the rights of indigenous peoples, and for bank robbery.”
Interesting set of priorities in that last sentence.
A spokesperson from Wells Fargo tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “We are working with law enforcement and are unable to provide more details as this is an ongoing criminal investigation. Wells Fargo values and promotes diversity and inclusion in all aspects of business at all levels. We do not tolerate racism, cultural appropriation or discrimination of any kind.”
It is a good thing that Wells Fargo does not tolerate racism. One suspects they tolerate a great deal of discrimination when it comes to extending credit, but the term no longer means “make a distinction.” What’s new, at least to me, is this: Wells Fargo does not tolerate cultural appropriation of any kind, even if it’s not related to a robbery.
I’d love to see someone make them codify precisely what that means. They can’t, of course, and wouldn’t, of course. It’s a nonsense term, selectively applied, and profoundly illiberal. It suggests that every tribe should stay in its lane, as they love to say, with no culture polluting the folkways of another – as if the syncretic history of humanity hasn’t eventually enriched everyone whose culture picked up something from another. It doesn’t even define “culture,” except for superficial manifestations that reduce culture to kimonos or burritos, but never the ideas that arise from a civilization. Even then, it’s inconsistent: the high schooler wearing a kimono to a prom is culturally appropriating; the Japanese businessman in a suit is not. This has the odd effect of defining Western cultural signifiers as a global norm, which seems like cultural imperialism.
You could make the point that Western innovations arose from cultural differences unique to a time and place, a confluence of capital, societal endorsement of innovation, a post-Enlightenment elevation of reason and inquiry, and so on. But no one would make that case, because it would center the conversation around the history of Europe and the Anglosphere, which is inconvenient. Best to see that tale through the lens of colonialism, which prevented the occupied lands from developing the telephone and the three-piece suit.
More from the news story:
The Day of Dead, a holiday that lasts between October 31 and November 2, is a celebratory period for Mexican people to honor those who have passed on. Toy company Mattel is currently selling a “Barbie Día de Muertos” (retail price: $75) that some reportedly tweeted appropriated Mexican culture.
Somehow a news story about a bank robbery required the inclusion of a bad Barbie that resulted in some tweets, but okay. The designer of the doll is Mexican-American, according to a NYT story worrying about cultural appropriation. Doesn’t matter. LANES. STAY IN THEM. THAT INCLUDES COLLECTABLE PAINTED FIGURINES.
The Left: absolutely you should do extra prison time for appropriating a culture. Also the left: vote Elizabeth Warren. Also the Left: we find your use of the phrase “pow wow chow” offensive. Additional charges will be filed.
Published in Culture
The fact that this story is bogus is even worse than if it were true. Back in the “good ole days”, you knew where a paper stood because you knew what bias they had. The News and Observer, a Raleigh, NC paper, was started by Josephus Daniels. You knew that paper was backing the Dems all the way. The Raleigh Times was the other paper in town and gave the other side. You were left to make your own mind up about stuff. This is what I’d like us to get back to. We (the political junkies) know what side most media is on. The problem comes in when “regular” folk don’t understand that.
I thought she was about the coolest looking Barbie I’ve ever seen.
Remember when people were mad at Mattel because they only sold white dolls?
I believe that is known as the Rather Rule.
I would like to know whether the Wells spokesman gave the quotes,
“Wells Fargo values and promotes diversity and inclusion in all aspects of business at all levels.”
and,
“We do not tolerate racism, cultural appropriation or discrimination of any kind.”
in actual response to the robbery or if they were simply cribbed from some other occasion.
Because in point of fact they certainly did serve an offensively dressed customer (albeit at gunpoint) and should close for a few days so that their tellers and managers can attend some much-needed sensitivity training sessions.
Any customer that shows up in problematic facepoint henceforth had better be ready for a DNA testing or he can take his money elsewhere.
To quote the problematic sneaker company: “Just Do It!” Ostentatiously enjoy all the ethnic food, holidays, clothing, music, stories, and whatever else you can and, whenever you can, flaunt it. Appropriate every good thing you see. If you can, when you rob a bank, wear an Obama mask and a serape, while eating a taco. We should all work to make the world a better place!
I guess I won’t be eating Mexican food in California then. The last thing I want is to be arrested for eating burritos as a white dude . . .
Really, it is @skipsul who should get the credit! He provided the original link to the Santa Monica Lookout identifying the alleged police press release as bunk. I just fleshed it out a little.
Judging by what @garymcvey says,
it’s possible Santa Monica locals do know where these papers stand.
And Stan Greene specifically seems like a columnist straight out of the Epoch Times. It’s not hard to get an idea where Stan Greene is coming from just by looking at a compendium of his column headers and ledes.
That’s a great question.
My own guess was that Wells Fargo already had boilerplate on this and some poor sap just read the boilerplate at whoever happened to be inquiring. But that’s only a guess.
Oh, dear…
https://time.com/5680759/justin-trudeau-brownface-photo/
I needed this today! Thank you!