A few weeks ago I reacted to both an article and the comments of a story that really grinded my gears. Today I'm doing it again, because people still suck and I really need to talk about it. Last time it was a confident little boy and his parents being bashed for showing acceptance and this week it's Khloe Kardashian in a tribal headdress.
I'm not sure if you all saw (I wouldn't blame you, it's hardly world news) but Kim and Kanyes little muffin, North West, had her first birthday the other day. It was extravagant and over the top yadda yadda, but of kourse the word Kardashian is always klosely followed by some form of kontroversy and this event was no different, because Khloe posted this picture.
Now I'm going to start off being completely honest, I don't know why this photo is offensive, but I am not Native American so that really doesn't fucking matter at all. I don't understand the cultural significance of the headdress, it is not my own culture, but I'm educated enough to know that it is very inappropriate to use another's culture as a fashion statement, and I'm human enough to respect that.
One of the biggest things I have learned in life is that if you offend someone, you can not argue that it is not offensive. You don't have the power to dictate what is hurtful to another, no matter the situation. You can always argue that you were not coming from a negative place and try to appease the situation, but apologies always seem to work a little better.
The idea that this could offend someone isn't brand new information. Hell, just a few months ago, Pharrell got himself into very public hot water by wearing a similar headdress on the cover of Elle. He manned up and apologized, admitting it wasn't appropriate, yet the above picture still exists.I know the Kardashians have their heads so far up eachothers asses that it must be hard to keep up with non-Kardashian news but they can't be that late.
If you know something could potentially offend people, why even go there? Why risk hurting someone for an instagram picture? It honestly baffles my entire mind that people just don't get it. I don't care if you don't understand why it is offensive, I care that you know that people find it offensive and you don't care enough to not do it.
This garment means something to a whole race of people (again, I'm not pretending to know the ins and outs, because I don't) and they have stated, time and time and time again that they don't want it to be tossed around like a costume. So why can we not seem to respect that?
The saddest part of it all is that the picture itself isn't what annoyed me the most, the worst part was the comments on the article....(I really need to stop even going there!)
Pages and pages and pages of non-Native American people arguing that people were too sensitive. My favourite?
"Oh my god, there are so many more important things in the world. This would be like if cowboys complained any time anyone who wasn't a cowboy wore a cowboy hat. It's a compliment!!!"
How did you know cowboys were my favourite race? Also, what exactly are you complimenting? Heyyy, you guys looked suuuuper cute and fashion forward when we slaughtered your people!!! Sorry about all those diseases, can I borrow that cute hat on Friday though?
The moral of the story? Don't knowingly offend someone, don't use another's culture as an accessory and stay the fuck away from the comment section of any news website....because people are really dumb.
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