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Americans who practice yoga contribute to white supremacy, Michigan State University professor claim

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Americans who practice yoga contribute to white supremacy, Michigan State University professor claims | Fox News

White people who do a downward-facing dog are contributing to a “system of power, privilege, and oppression,” according to a Michigan State University professor.
Shreena Gandhi, a religious studies professor at Michigan State, claims in an article she recently co-authored that Americans who practice yoga are contributing to white supremacy and promote the “yoga industrial complex.”
White Americans should learn yoga’s history, acknowledge the cultural appropriation they engage in and possibly reduce the cost of yoga classes for poor people, a group that often includes people of color and “recent immigrants, such as Indian women to whom this practice rightfully belongs,” Gandhi argued.
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Another liberal academic contributing to the pollution of young minds.
 
wtf-meme.jpg
 
"Cultural appropriation" is a noxious, divisive canard.
 
Another Fox news article with some ridiculous spin and bastardization of waht the article says. But why would they expect their ignorant viewers to actually read the artilcle and try to comprehend? No, they just get the conclusion garbage like Fox news wants them to think. There is a hell of a lot more description to describe what they are going at in the article than "doing yoga means you are contributing to white supremacy.

Not that I agree with cultural appropriation stuff or any of the conclusions. However, unlike the righties that will just say "she's a stupid poopyhead" at least their article explains where how they arrive at the conclusion

To the so many white people who practice yoga, please don’t stop, but please do take a moment to look outside of yourself and understand how the history of yoga practice in the United States is intimately linked to some of the larger forces of white supremacy.
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Given a deeper analysis of yoga, white yoga practitioners and teachers can engage in yoga in a decolonizing way that reduces harm and seeks greater cultural accountability. First, they can be aware of the history, roots, and magnitude of the practice and give credit where credit is due. Humility, respect, and reverence go a long way.
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In order to delve deeper into this question, it’s useful to look at the roots of U.S. white dominant culture, the foundation of which is rooted in enslavement of West Africans and settler colonialism. Decades of assimilation and the cultural stripping of Europeans as they arrived to the U.S. produced a white dominant culture. People of European descent replaced their ethnicities (i.e. German, Polish, English, Italian, etc.) with whiteness and the privileges that came along with that identity. This history is especially relevant right now as we are seeing white men taking to the streets in mobs shouting, “We will not be replaced.”
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oes help many people decrease stress, anxiety, and depression. However, when “Western” yoga teachers train other practitioners to relate to yoga only on a physical level, without exploring the history, roots, complexity, and philosophy, they are perpetuating the re-colonization of it by diluting its true depth and meaning. This modern day trend of cultural appropriation of yoga is a continuation of white supremacy and colonialism, maintaining the pattern of white people consuming the stuff of culture that is convenient and portable, while ignoring the well-being and liberation of Indian people.
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Especially during this time when the underbelly of capitalism — white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, and xenophobia– is being exposed, it is imperative that everyone, especially those who have access to spiritual practices like yoga, ask difficult questions of ourselves and one another. We must ask, in what ways are we complicit in a system that harms People of Color, queer and trans people, poor people, people with disabilities, and immigrants? Despite our best values and intentions as individuals, our actions (and inaction) are inherently connected with a system of power, privilege, and oppression. If we want to honor the full yoga tradition and live into our values of love, unity, and fairness, we must examine the ways we are upholding “business as usual.”
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Sampson Simpson said:
Another Fox news article with some ridiculous spin and bastardization of waht the article says. But why would they expect their ignorant viewers to actually read the artilcle and try to comprehend? No, they just get the conclusion garbage like Fox news wants them to think. There is a hell of a lot more description to describe what they are going at in the article than "doing yoga means you are contributing to white supremacy.

Not that I agree with cultural appropriation stuff or any of the conclusions. However, unlike the righties that will just say "she's a stupid poopyhead" at least their article explains where how they arrive at the conclusion







v
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Yea. The “full explanation” doesn’t really make her point ANY more valid. So you can cry about Fox News if you like...but this is just another long winded liberal rant by a stupid ****ing hippy who will find any excuse to claim “racism” and denounce “capitalism.”

Here is a simple one...when people play soccer, football, basketball, baseball, box, ski, mixed martial arts, race cars, or whatever...should they take time to appreciate the history and “cultural values” of said activities? Are they “racist” and “white supremacists” or whatever if they don’t? No.

This professor is a moron and a good example of why tenure was a stupid idea used to protect ass hats in an overpaid job. I could go to any local high school and pull at least 3 teachers who could replace this loser and do a better job at actually educating the students. God I hate college professors. “Academics.” :roll:


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Sampson Simpson said:
Another Fox news article with some ridiculous spin and bastardization of waht the article says. But why would they expect their ignorant viewers to actually read the artilcle and try to comprehend? No, they just get the conclusion garbage like Fox news wants them to think. There is a hell of a lot more description to describe what they are going at in the article than "doing yoga means you are contributing to white supremacy.

Not that I agree with cultural appropriation stuff or any of the conclusions. However, unlike the righties that will just say "she's a stupid poopyhead" at least their article explains where how they arrive at the conclusion







v
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I agree with your general commentary, but in this case the full read did nothing to dissuade me from my initial reaction. This is a more awkward reach than Rubio going for a water bottle.
 
Sampson Simpson said:
Another Fox news article with some ridiculous spin and bastardization of waht the article says. But why would they expect their ignorant viewers to actually read the artilcle and try to comprehend? No, they just get the conclusion garbage like Fox news wants them to think. There is a hell of a lot more description to describe what they are going at in the article than "doing yoga means you are contributing to white supremacy.

Not that I agree with cultural appropriation stuff or any of the conclusions. However, unlike the righties that will just say "she's a stupid poopyhead" at least their article explains where how they arrive at the conclusion







v
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Wow, I feel so much more enlightened, now that you said what you said. NOT! She's still an idiot brainwashing our children with drivel.
 
blackjack50 said:
Yea. The “full explanation” doesn’t really make her point ANY more valid. So you can cry about Fox News if you like...but this is just another long winded liberal rant by a stupid ****ing hippy who will find any excuse to claim “racism” and denounce “capitalism.”

Here is a simple one...when people play soccer, football, basketball, baseball, box, ski, mixed martial arts, race cars, or whatever...should they take time to appreciate the history and “cultural values” of said activities? Are they “racist” and “white supremacists” or whatever if they don’t? No.

This professor is a moron and a good example of why tenure was a stupid idea used to protect ass hats in an overpaid job. I could go to any local high school and pull at least 3 teachers who could replace this loser and do a better job at actually educating the students. God I hate college professors. “Academics.” :roll:


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The fox news article completely spun a bs conclusion not made by the authors because they know their idiot readers won't dig into it more or try to comprehend what was actually said. They just want their readers to believe "liberals are stupid poopyheads"

And sure, you say she's a moron yet, she wrote and article explaining her reasoning behind what she is saying, and all you are doing is saying she's a moron and deflecting to other sports that is completely irrelevant. Yoga comes from spiritual practice, its nothing like football, baseball, or other sports.


Now, I agree the cultural appropriation angle is not something I agree with, but please spare us " this lady is a moron" and "see this is why liberals are poopyheads" when you can't even show the most basic ability to make an argument.
 
Proteus said:
I agree with your general commentary, but in this case the full read did nothing to dissuade me from my initial reaction. This is a more awkward reach than Rubio going for a water bottle.
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Yeah, I agree, I'm not buying her argument. But then again, the article posted completely bastardized what the author said to make it look bad, so their ignorant readers can go "see, liberals are stupid poopyheads."

But I know, to many people, just calling someone a moron is all the argument they need
 
LMAO...soooo...lemme get this straight.

White supremacist rallies on campus, hell ya support them, free speech, Murica!!

Gentle exploration of what is missing from the yoga experience due to appropriation of only the aspects that fit western culture on campus, and it's a "long winded liberal rant by a stupid ****ing hippy who will find any excuse to claim “racism” and denounce “capitalism.” and "Another liberal academic contributing to the pollution of young minds"

LMFAO...wow...you guys are lost.
 
“How dare you mix and match cultures to produce something new; where do you think you are some kind of melting pot?” - Bill Maher
 
American said:
Wow, I feel so much more enlightened, now that you said what you said. NOT! She's still an idiot brainwashing our children with drivel.
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The notion that higher education is "brain washing" or pollution isn't any better than what she said. Congratulations.
 
Dragonfly said:
wtf-meme.jpg
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Yeah, I also have a question: Who has a life so lacking that they are compelled to scour the dumpsters of the interwebbies to find the sort of nonsense in the OP?

There are nutty people in the world. Some are dangerous. Some aren't. Don't waste your time promoting the harmless ones. Unless you're weird enough that doing that gets you off, I guess.:lol:
 
Mr Person said:
The notion that higher education is "brain washing" or pollution isn't any better than what she said. Congratulations.
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Appreciate you showing us how you'll defend this schmuck.
 
American said:
Appreciate you showing us how you'll defend this schmuck.
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Defend?

Oh, I didn't say anything about the woman's stupid article other than to compare its stupidity to that of your opinion of higher education. How'd you miss that?






Now, do your usual hit & run routine....
 
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Sampson Simpson said:
The fox news article completely spun a bs conclusion not made by the authors because they know their idiot readers won't dig into it more or try to comprehend what was actually said. They just want their readers to believe "liberals are stupid poopyheads"

And sure, you say she's a moron yet, she wrote and article explaining her reasoning behind what she is saying, and all you are doing is saying she's a moron and deflecting to other sports that is completely irrelevant. Yoga comes from spiritual practice, its nothing like football, baseball, or other sports.


Now, I agree the cultural appropriation angle is not something I agree with, but please spare us " this lady is a moron" and "see this is why liberals are poopyheads" when you can't even show the most basic ability to make an argument.
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And what are you doing? “Liberals aren’t stupid poppy heads. Conservatives are stupid poopyheads.” Instead of doing the smart thing and dismissing this for what it is...tenure stupidity run amok...you are trying to defend this trash. “Oh but it’s spiritual.” Bull****. It is only spiritual if the individual wants it to be. To pretend like someone MUST engage in some bull**** spiritualism to do some breathing and stretching is garbage...or be a racist? **** that. It is EXACTLY like other sports. Martial arts is a good example. It isn’t racist if you apply the techniques and learn it for something practical and useful.

Like I said. This is garbage and I could pull 3 teachers out of a local high school that could kick this dimwits ass in actually instructing fellow humans on a topic.


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OlNate said:
LMAO...soooo...lemme get this straight.

White supremacist rallies on campus, hell ya support them, free speech, Murica!!

Gentle exploration of what is missing from the yoga experience due to appropriation of only the aspects that fit western culture on campus, and it's a "long winded liberal rant by a stupid ****ing hippy who will find any excuse to claim “racism” and denounce “capitalism.” and "Another liberal academic contributing to the pollution of young minds"

LMFAO...wow...you guys are lost.
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If that is what you got out of this...you are obviously being willfully naive. Clearly nobody said she doesn’t have the right to say it. She does. She is stupid for saying it. Just like nobody said white supremacists aren’t stupid. But they have a right to speak.




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Mr Person said:
The notion that higher education is "brain washing" or pollution isn't any better than what she said. Congratulations.
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Our higher education system IS a joke with only a few areas (certain professional programs) keep the rest afloat. You want an idea of our “higher education” just remember what Professor Farnsworth said, “Fry, I’m a professor. I don’t know how to teach.”


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blackjack50 said:
Our higher education system IS a joke with only a few areas (certain professional programs) keep the rest afloat. You want an idea of our “higher education” just remember what Professor Farnsworth said, “Fry, I’m a professor. I don’t know how to teach.”


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It's only a "joke" if the student wants it to be. Get yourself into a good school and take hard classes, then it's no joke.
 
Sampson Simpson said:
Another Fox news article with some ridiculous spin and bastardization of waht the article says. But why would they expect their ignorant viewers to actually read the artilcle and try to comprehend? No, they just get the conclusion garbage like Fox news wants them to think. There is a hell of a lot more description to describe what they are going at in the article than "doing yoga means you are contributing to white supremacy.

Not that I agree with cultural appropriation stuff or any of the conclusions. However, unlike the righties that will just say "she's a stupid poopyhead" at least their article explains where how they arrive at the conclusion







v
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If that's the whole story, then she's even whackier than I thought. It's like reading something created by a "Standard far-left meme generator".
 
blackjack50 said:
If that is what you got out of this...you are obviously being willfully naive. Clearly nobody said she doesn’t have the right to say it. She does. She is stupid for saying it. Just like nobody said white supremacists aren’t stupid. But they have a right to speak.




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Yaaaaaaa....but. Very different reaction from the same people. Don't worry, I'm not accusing anyone of racism...though one could be forgiven for making that mistake when comparing threads. More it's just the lunacy of partisanship at the moment...the preprogrammed knee jerk defense and offense. Remembering the threads from when the Nazis were trying to demonstrate on campus grounds, there was far more talk of the 1st amendment, and far less criticism of the messaging. And that was hate speech, this is not. I find that telling.

If you slow down for half a second and use your brain, you will see there's nothing there that is shocking or directly controversial, unless you're trying to deny white supremacy exists as an institution...good luck with that, outside of your partisans of similar leaning. If she can be faulted for anything, it's overuse of PC buzz words that seem to instantly turn off more hardened partisans, resulting in her message never having a hope of being heard by the people who's minds she wishes to change, or at least educate. But the core of her message is pretty common sense...certainly not deserving of the reaction some of our DP friends here have had.

Perhaps my initial response was a little too flippant, I was in a weird mood this morning...but still, when given such a beauty of an example, one can't help but notice the contrast of reactions. Do you have any thoughts as to why that difference might have taken place?
 
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