 What's his face invited you to a Halloween party? Do I even want to go? Oh, I supposed to wear! Hi, I'm Eileen, and this is the Lazy Millennial. In case you haven't noticed, it's been Halloween season for the last two months. But it's the real deal now, and you know what that means, cultural appropriation. We're getting into it. Wait, we're talking about what? Get excited. I know it's a sensitive topic. A lot of people get super mad about it, and sometimes I totally get where they're coming from. There are lots of costume parties, bagged costume choices, can lead to hurt feelings, and sometimes, believe it or not, even violence. I don't need your disrespect. Why are you filming this? Everyone's safety. Those guys aren't even trying to get free candy. Man, what should I even wear to this thing without offending anyone? Cheerleader? One of these dumpies? Why, yes. It's a classic. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. But wait, am I culturally appropriating? Nope. Even though I look wicked white, I'm actually descended from the Spanish pirates who raided Ireland back in the 18th century-ish. So it's actually all y'all dressing as pirates who are culturally appropriating me, am I great-great-great-whoever grandfather? Didn't see that coming, did you? But think about it. Dressing up as a pirate is actually really offensive. They were the terrorists of their time. Every time you dress up as one, you're celebrating murder, sexual violence, pillaging, and ruining people's entire worlds, including what happened to my own family. But this line of thinking is exactly where the whole cultural appropriation fear starts to break down. It only takes a few moments before you can start to find something wrong with literally every costume. Real cheerleaders would probably be offended that someone as unathletic as me was presuming to dress like them. With the nurse, you could say that the costume is actually trivializing a really important job in the medical field. As for the bee, I didn't actually get its permission to dress like it. So that's pretty rude. At this point, you're probably thinking that's kind of extreme. And you'd be right. But if the idea can become so absurd so easily, maybe that says something about cultural appropriation as a concept. Culture isn't a static thing. It spontaneously grows and evolves over time. Because all it actually is, is just a collection of values and behaviors that a community of people happen to share in the same moment. So when new people immigrate into the community or they come in contact with a culture through trade, or even just when someone comes up with a new way of doing things, the community's culture changes. Music, dance, architecture, art, food, clothes, technology, philosophy, politics. Unless you live on a desert island that's completely disconnected from the rest of the world, literally everything we have today comes from people mixing cultures and appropriating the best ideas. Plus, most of the time, incorporating other people's cultural traditions into our own actually makes us more empathetic to their history, ideas, and humanity. Sharing values brings people together. Look, Halloween shouldn't be an excuse to be racist or mean. That is absolutely true. I mean, I love breakfast at Tiffany's, but those Mr. Uniyoshi scenes are... That's... yeah, not good. Everybody's culture is part of who they are, and when you make fun of it or create insulting characters from it, it can feel like a super personal attack. Let's get out of here. So don't be a jerk. But the whole point is to dress up like someone else. And I bet this year we're going to see a ton of people dressed as Wonder Woman, who is Greek, created by an American, and played by an Israeli. But you shouldn't need to be any of those things in order to dress up as Wonder Woman. Or to admire and emulate a superhero who uses strength and kindness to take down the bad guys. Halloween is about transcending your own body and identity in order to be someone else. But if you are dressing up as a pirate because you really like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies or Captain Hook is your favorite Disney villain, or you like wearing puffy sleeves and you like big hats, well, you can't because you would be appropriating from me. Just kidding. It's fine. Have fun! Thanks for watching our very first episode of The Lazy Millennial. Don't worry, the rest are going to be a lot lighter. But if you did like the video, go ahead and hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. And if you don't want to see the next one, don't hit subscribe. It's fine, you are entitled to your own wrong opinion. It's still a free country.