Cultural Inappropriation
Monday, March 17, 2025
Cultural Inappropriation
The UK Telegraph newspaper had this gripping headline over the weekend:
Shakespeare’s birthplace to be decolonised after ‘white supremacy’ fears
The article, by arts editor Craig Simpson, reports on the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust having decided their ongoing promotion of Shakespeare was no longer the thing they would like to do. Instead, from here on out, they would rather make a greater effort at inclusion—by excluding Shakespeare as much as possible.
The trust, which owns much of the Shakespearian historical sites around his birth home at Stratford-upon-Avon, has made its new objective to engage in
[t]he process of “decolonising”, which typically means moving away from Western perspectives[. It] comes after concerns were raised that Shakespeare’s genius was used to advance ideas about “white supremacy”.
To achieve its aims, the effort will move beyond its previous focus:
The ongoing closing of sites linked to Shakespeare comes following a trend for more racially-focused criticism of the playwright in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Some national security analysts have wondered to what extent BLM, occasionally a Cuban regime supporting group, was aided by the Cuban Directorate of Intelligence, well known for its ability to infiltrate and corrupt.
At any rate, since we in these here United States parted ways with Old Blighty some 249 years ago, we’re fortunate not to have suffered any such colonial subjugation. We’ve always been free to seek out news of any nonsense over the internet so as to complain about.
The entire episode leaves but one open question in the mind of the discerning CSLF reader: Once the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has completed its decolonoscopy, where might it best focus its future efforts?
"Once the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has completed its decolonoscopy, where might it best focus its future efforts?"
Bowel cancer prevention for Black people.
I wonder if Black people are sick of Black Lives Matter, which seems to exist to make everyone else think that everything would go along pretty okay in the world, if it weren't for Black people. Just as I'm annoyed by women's groups that give the impression that women are a mainly a howling nuisance, I would think Black people - most of whom, like most of Any people, are reasonably okay - would be done with Black Marxists, who (to the extent they are Marxist) are not okay.
Answer to the question: They need to get out of politics and literature altogether. I think the obvious thing to do would be to start a burger and beverage franchise: SHAKES BEER AND BURGERS.