Ok. I'm half Scandinavian. If I see someone at a Halloween party dressed as a Viking, I'll probably go talk with that person and get to know them. But I definitely won't be offended. I don't know of any Scandinavian who would be offended. So why am I (a regular white guy) barred from wearing costumes featuring other cultures? Why can't I dress in historical Native American or Mexican attire? Or as a German Nazi officer? Or a Japanese Samurai? Or a Hawaiian?
You can. You'll just be harrassed by leftists trying desperately to get people to care about Political Correctness again. And they'll be white. The people you're 'culturally appropriating' by and large dont care.
I see their points, but sometimes I wonder. I actually thought of the man I saw at one party years ago, dressed with a cape and a sex toy under it that looked like a male body part. It was a bit offensive to me, but also a little humorous. I have seen many women dress, in my opinion, inappropriately, too. I'm sure I thought it was great when I was younger. Now, I wish these things didn't happen. I guess I've changed.
Being of a certain Ethnic Group means you eat, dress, speak, have fellowship with the same. So if I was Scandinavian and would boast of such, I would know how to prepare, cook Scandinavian foods, speak Scandinavian, listen to Scandinavian music and movies, read Scandinavian books, etc... But if my 'roots' are of Scandinavia but I do not know too much of Scandinavia, then it would be as if I was a tourist, and not a member, if I ever visited Scandinavia or spoke with other fluent Scandinavian speaking persons. Culture and language go hand in hand. You can't really have one without the other. It would be like me saying that I am a Chinese cultural person without being able to speak with Native Chinese in China. Another way to see how much of a culture you partake in is to see what the major language(s) are which are spoken at home. If only 1, then you would probably be more of only 1. If 2, then you might have 2 cultures, etc... Native Chinese in some parts of China ONLY speak Chinese at home. Even when answering their telephones. So I may say that I have German blood but without me being able to speak any German or have any fellowship with ONLY German speaking persons, to them, I am a German born abroad with no ties to the land of Germany. Even Adolph Hitler, who by birth is Austrian, passed as a German only AFTER he learned how to be fluent in the German language.
My only interest is if the intent of the costume is to offend others. Dress up as an Indian, I do not care. Wear a loin cloth and a head dress, be my guest. Now if your intent is to wear a bowler hat and act as a stereotypical "Drunken Indian", then I am probably going to say something because that is plain wrong. Interestingly enough, I had somebody scream at me a few years ago when I was working in San Francisco and wore a pair of faux buckskin pants, white linen shirt, and tan leather vest along with a beaded headband to work with a long black wig. Had more than one idiot try to scream that I was being racist. Several got even more butthurt when I asked what was wrong with dressing as an Indian ("Native American" you bigot was the general response). At which I told them I was Potawatomi, and I could dress and refer to myself in any way I felt fit to do so. Of course, most of them also probably buy into the "Indian Genocide" myth. Not even realizing that we were not "wiped out", we simply melded into the rest of the nation. Yea, my great-grandparents could have remained on the Reservation. And then my mother would likely also have been a dirt farmer, and never been a computer programmer in the 1960's. And in the 1980's I would never have started my military career. Why, it is not hard to understand. Being from Austria, Der Wall Painter spoke with a heavy Bavarian accent. His earlier speeches sound very different than his later ones to a German speaker, because he put a lot of work into loosing his native accent. Not unlike somebody from Quebec moving to France. Or getting 3 people from Mexico, Argentina, and Spain together. They all would be speaking different dialects of the same language, and each would be apparent to the other that they were "foreigners". My wife has over the decades adapted a Mexican dialect of Spanish, because her native Argentinian dialect was very obvious. We even have that not only in English, but in the US. Get me talking with somebody from Alabama, North Carolina, California, and Idaho and I will pick each out by their accent and how they talk. Each has local words and accents that give them away if you know what to look for. Directions is the easiest way I know of to pick out a Californian. We do have an accent (which many do not recognize due to it's presence on TV and in movies), but also curious turns of phrase unique to just that state for the most part. Ask any Californian how to travel from one place to another by freeway, and you will get something like "Take the 101 to the 5, then go North until you hit the 580". Where as most of the country would list those as the "I-5", the "I-580", and "Highway 101". Something about the local language has caused us all to drop the "I", "Highway", "State", and other descriptors from roadway names. We only use Highway when using the name, never the number. We will say either the "1" or "Pacific Coast Highway" (or more commonly "PCH"), but we will never call it "Highway 1". It is just "the 405", never "I-405" or "San Diego Freeway", although in recent decades "freeway" has been appended more because of radio traffic reports. Hence only in the last 20 years or so would you start to hear things like the "405 Freeway". But still never the I-405. That always caused confusion to others when I was in other parts of the country. I would tell somebody to go to the 10, not saying I-10 or Interstate 10.
