LaVar Hosting Jeopardy July 26-30 Stan Account 👁

LOL just occurred to me that you could explain cultural appropriation to yt ppl as rent-seeking but lowkey that is exactly what it is...

"rent-seeking involves seeking to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth."

Add cultural value as a kind of wealth and you see how, say, the Beatles' lame cover of Twist and Shout isn't much more than rent-seeking but, say, Don't Let Me Down makes new "wealth" (cultural value) of its own despite its many sources.

Of course there's the added dimension of how cultural appropriation also serves to change how cultural element x is seen in the broader culture, and sometimes you'd rather have mainstream culture know nothing about x than know white lies about x.

So the argument is, essentially, without improving the product at all (usually by making it worse), white folks increase their share of the "wealth" (including non-material positives like attention and praise and whatever).