tegs07

Well the Nazis appropriating the Swastika and turning something beautiful into something ugly and depraved kind of makes any usage of it (transposed or otherwise) in very poor taste. When certain objects have been imbued with meaning and could cause offence then I would suggest no don’t do it. However if you like the style and feel of a sari or have a passion for country music I don’t see why anyone whether they are born and raised in Delhi or Texas should be shamed for wearing a sari or a stetson, or both no matter what gender they identify as.

From Alan Lomax protesting electricity at Newport folk festival, Santana fusing Latin rhythms with rock, Cream taking the blues to a new level, British SKA, Northern Soul, Heavy metal in Delhi, Katmandu and Tokyo. Cultural Appropriation, dilution, desecration or just art? I am all for culture NOT being either sacred or static. That’s the death of creativity. I don’t think Dylan should have apologised to Lomax or Cream apologised or Santana etc. I think George Harrison had as much right to pick up a Sitar as any young lad in Delhi has to wear cowboy boots and sing country music and if working class white lads in Wigan have a passion for US Soul music and are inspired to dance please do.

I honestly find these type of people to be idiots that would only be getting annoyed by something else when they were drunk. The Corrs are hardly a traditional band playing rebel songs but mixing folk with pop. I guess Phil Lynott should never have picked up an electric guitar either and introduced that American rock sound and diluted the purity of the gaelic music.

All I would say is it’s up to you. Personally I am glad that the ancient Greeks didn’t pass upon the rich culture of ancient Byzantium and later Greek scholars took the rich cultural and intellectual heritage to Italy and the renaissance men absorbed and learned from this and passed the knowledge and culture on to … etc etc I do think culture is an incredibly valuable thing and should be shared. If a 52 year old white man can get across the message and emotion of Public Enemy then I see no reason why not. Perhaps Terry Hall should have just done the culturally appropriate thing and become a plumber? Edit: When I spent time in India I met a Harley Davidson biker ‘gang ‘ (mainly wealthy businessmen) dressed according and a line dancing club. All wore full regalia. Were they taking the piss or just people with a shared interest and passion spending time together and enjoying themselves?

Oppressive governments using coercion and violence against their own people. Working class and oppressed people being used by the military to further their own agenda. Feels like fairly universal concerns to me. I think this song is as relevant to the victims of ICE, the residents of Gaza, the people of Kiev, the immigrants detained in hotels facing a howling mob as it is to the people of Nigeria in the 1970s. To me it’s a universal message that echoes our common humanity and sense of injustice.

And then mixed with country and folk music. Bloody cultural appropriation. Edit: I would also trace the blues back further to Mali and the roots even further back. People have travelled and traded, migrated and integrated for milenia. There are so many cross overs and parallels in religion, folk stories, music etc. Culture is not a static or exclusive concept IMO.

It’s a pretty upbeat song unless It’s another one I am unaware of. If Fela Kuti wanted folk to sit around and mope it would have been a different tune altogether. I also doubt he released it hoping it would only be appreciated and played by and to a very limited audience who could fully appreciate and embrace its cultural context. Its a tune and a damned good one.

Personally I feel culture is something to be shared and celebrated by everyone. I think if you are celebrating and sharing culture it’s not appropriating it but absorbing it, being influenced by it and changing your mindset and behaviour because of it. It’s a positive not a negative thing. Appealing to soldiers not to blindly follow orders, which I think this song is about, is as relevant to any culture or race and no more so than in the current world situation.

They must be visually impaired to buy such a fecking ugly car!

the bikini!

Sorry to hear this. I really don’t know what is happening to customer service in the UK. I have a couple of fairly simple things that need sorting that rely on other companies and their woeful customer service. One of which involves money owed and the other retirement planning. In one case 10 months have passed without resolution, the other getting on for two months. The legwork and staggering incompetence involved is depressing. Thankfully I have a little time and am not financially strapped or the impact would be far worse. I feel your pain. Customer service is a race to the bottom in the UK. Happy to take your cash but very slow to provide any service and getting cash back from them ….

When I think of street food I primarily think of Asia where eating can often be a communal, low cost, shared experience rather than the UK where unfortunately the street can be just for getting to shops or trying to avoid piss heads.

does it include the 10 most difficult bass lines ever on a boutique bass and come with an AI photo of a lady in a very tiny bikini?

And back on planet earth. Building contractor sorry guv we are booked solid for the next 8 months with actual real jobs that we have been to the property and provided a quote for. Edit: I don’t know your area but the building contractor guys i know doing big jobs like lofts and extensions don’t work on ifs and maybe. There are too many third parties to keep on the right side of and permanent staff to pay to do this. In addition the stamp duty bracket has got so high that people extend rather than move and they have more work than they can handle already without a tepid maybe.

Most decent building contractors have a waiting list of at least 6 months. A tax on property over £500K may sort this out though particularly in London and the South East.

Each to their own. Love Roquefort, the colour and the cheese. I could wander around those caves for hours.

As long as people are polite and respectful there should be no problem. People have differences, they are flawed and nobody is perfect or invulnerable. Times change, people change, attitudes change. There really has to be tolerance, respect and forgiveness or it is going to get really ugly out there. One thing I would say about getting older is your world shrinks and things start to become more of a challenge than an opportunity. On the flip side I think people get more phlegmatic and possibly a little less certain about what is the right way to be. I certainly see more capacity for forgiveness in the older generation. There is a slight tendency towards absolutism creeping into the world now. Ideally I want to stay living in a city as I get older because being around many different cultures, ages, backgrounds, religions is a healthy and positive thing. It’s difficult to believe all of the fear mongers in the media and in power when you walk down the street and see most people are the same. They face the same challenges, breathe the same air, walk the same streets and go home to lives that have more similarities than differences to the home I go back to.

I frequently visibly wince at large gatherings of the oldies. I suspect that you would explode. I have to remind myself that they grew up in a different time and place and even the most enlightened and educated amongst them use terms that are now outdated and not appropriate. They are not evil people though.

Really? Pretty much all of my family over 70 have views I don’t agree with. I certainly wouldn’t fall out with them because they are going to vote for Farrage. I think they are delusional buffoons living under the illusion life was better in the 1950s but I bear them no malice whatsoever.

But would you seriously fall out with family members for having different opinions? Oi Grandad you may be 87, an ex steelworker who saw action during the Suez Crisis but frankly your views on gender identity and pronouns are unacceptable?

I certainly don’t expect that all demographics or socioeconomic groups would have the same views as I have. That would be both exhausting and depressing.

So it all boils down to the daily mail vs the guardian, corbyn vs reform. the polarisation defined and the clock ticks. I hope i can escape before the main event because the challenges are enormous and those available to tackle them are woefully unprepared and living in different realities. they are setting up stalls and courting an electorate motivated by differing ideologies that have nothing in common apart from neither of them have anything to do with the crisis at hand. probably best to put the thread to bed as it’s circling an inevitable drain. bit like the uk financial system.

Sometimes you just need to live and let live. A middle class mates wife got in a bun fight with her cleaner due to her views about trans and gender identity. Really? Why bring this up with your cleaner? Maybe chat about the weekend and the grandkids? Also do you really expect someone in their 60s on their knees on your vast kitchen floor to really give a toss about what keeps you up at night?

Democracy does appear to be in its death throes. For much of history there were basically two political parties in most democratic nations. As a gross simplification one party supported the needs of the working majority and sought to level the playing field and re-allocate resources. The other was motivated by the concept of deregulation, free trade and represented the interests of the owners of production. The sorry state of politics now is largely down to these peripheral ideological differences that do nothing to address the problems that most of us are experiencing. Wake up people you’re being manipulated and your pockets are being picked. The circumstances that are conspiring against you are not caused by anyones gender, religion, passport or sexuality and likewise focusing on these things will not pay for your groceries or pay your rent.

The theme of bullying is interesting in terms of the current economic and political situation. I think a lot of workers, particularly on the lower pay scales feel bullied. They feel powerless to change anything and victimised. Add social media to this and you get a toxic circle of reinforcement. The really bizarre thing (for me personally) is they are looking to elect even bigger bullies as a solution to their problems.