In the latest case of manufactured outrage, the reactionary social justice warriors have worked themselves into a frenzy over a high school student wearing a Chinese dress...
The problem? She's WHITE!
The Tweet that started it
In this tweet, high school senior Keziah Daum posts four images of her with a group of friends celebrating their school prom.
In America, this is a very normal tradition. Kids going to prom will get dressed up, take pictures, ride limos to the event, and have elaborate afterparties.
The outrage
It started when this guy got offended.
And here is another tweet that is getting notoriety in this manufactured outrage case.
What they are complaining about is the phenomenon known as "cultural appropriation", which is a thing that is supposed to be bad that happens when white people engage participate in elements of cultures that are traditionally not white.
My personal take on cultural appropriation is that it's BS, mostly because it's completely biased against white people. For example, people from all over the world are permitted to participate in culture that was derived from populations that are Caucasian.
Take the olympics, for example. Originated in Greece as a strictly Greek tradition, now is a worldwide affair that accepts all peoples from all countries in a contest of athletic ability. Or take Western classical music, which has been adopted by the Orient to such an extent that it's become a stereotype that Asians play Bach or Tchaikovsky.
Nobody has a problem with this. But the moment a white girl wears a dress that she simply thinks is pretty to one of the most important events in her young life, she gets accused of all of this terrible stuff.
Many people are also taking issue with this picture specifically:
Here is what they're saying:
This one is simply a case of ignorance, as the people complaining don't actually know that what they're doing is a meme called "vape nation" and "papa bless" from the popular YouTube channel h3h3Productions
"Papa bless" is a sign-off by the channel's Ethen Klein. It used to be that he said "God bless", but because so many people asked questions about that he amalgamated it with his ongoing Papa Johns meme and said "Papa bless". The joke is that Papa John is god and they do the "namaste" gesture.
Once again, as with the Dankula stuff, it's just a dumb joke that people didn't know and don't want to learn about because their outrage narrative would be destroyed by the truth that context brings.
How is the girl handling it?
It's not every day that an innocuous tweet of yours goes viral and becomes the topic of American outrage culture.
Since this story broke, it's been written about by mainstream media outlets as big as [USA Today](Chinese prom dress draws rage, but Utah student said she meant no harm). That kind of immediate fame can often cause stress and harm.
But Daum is handling this gaffe better than most celebrities do. She is approaching this manufactured outrage unapologetically, with love and grace.
I actually find it quite remarkable. She's got a good head on her.
The thing you never want to do in these situations is APOLOGIZE.
When you plead "mea culpa!", the sharks smell blood and they will come even more ferociously than before.
Daum did nothing wrong. She saw a dress that she thought was pretty and wanted to wear it to the prom. She took pictures with friends where they did poses from a popular YouTube channel.
This is not a problem. It is nothing but manufactured outrage.
What do you think?
I would say I'm getting tired of this sort of stuff, but I've been tired of manufactured outrage for a long time.
As my wife says, people who are outraged by things like this need more problems in their lives -- they obviously don't have enough.
What do you think?