As an Indian-American, the last thing I felt was personally offended when I watched the video for Selena Gomez’s single “Come and Get It” for the first time.

Selena dons a bindi and a sari, showing off her Bollywood dance moves to the beat of Punjabi tabla music. Complaints about her over-sexualizing the culture with her racy lyrics and risqué music video have spread throughout the community; those people have evidently never watched a music scene from an Indian movie before.

The song, released earlier this year, has amassed widespread notoriety in the public eye by causing a powerful resurgence in the racism feud. The track and accompanying music video borrow from South Asian culture in fashion, musical styling, and traditions. Twitter and Tumblr users cried out in indignation, “Cultural appropriation!” but honestly, none of Selena’s ‘offenses’ are even remotely disrespectful enough to spark a controversy.

Recently, the phenomenon known as “cultural appropriation” has developed a large online presence on news sites and blogs across the Internet. Especially in our current age of diversity and racial heterogeneity, the line between appropriation and appreciation is a widely debated topic.

I’ve always personally thought that the term refers to when people steal from other cultures’ icons and traditions with an obvious and overt disinclination to learn more about its origins. More importantly, it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be allowed to explore the world’s customs.

An online flow chart includes the following question:
“Are you participating in a South Asian cultural event (like a wedding), with express invitation or permission to wear a bindi from a South Asian host?” If yes, then “it is appropriate for you to wear the bindi.” If no, then “you are culturally appropriating.”

I’d like to disagree. Earlier this year, I attended my very first Indian wedding. Held in San Jose, it was far from being a traditional event, but flocks of non-South-Asian attendees were dressed in saris, salwar kameez, and lehengas – complete with bindis and churiyan (bangles).

I doubt every single one of them got “express permission” to wear their festive South Asian attire, but that didn’t stop them from partaking in the excitement and becoming a part of the community.

This event is just one of many that could spark controversy in the media, even though the guests that weren’t POC (people of color) were only there to celebrate the marriage. The smiles on their faces were more than enough to express their pride and fascination with the bride and groom’s culture. Wearing a sari to an Indian wedding hardly seems like something worthy of condemnation.

On a popular Tumblr chain, social activists and bloggers (mainly in the United States) pose heated and passionate arguments against the acceptability of the aforementioned situation, claiming a culture as if it were a tangible item.

One defense is that overseas immigrants and their families are often treated with disdain and contempt for the display of their culture via bullying and segregation.

The irony is said by these critics to reside in the fact that people of other ethnicities who popularize these traditional symbols are considered fashionable and diverse.
The coexistence of these two reactions causes much unrest with both hyper-aware, non-POC advocates and members of the ‘appropriated’ culture, the former of which typically go out of their way to overcompensate for suggested racism.

An Indian Tumblr blogger lashes out on a public text post, stating that another user’s Caucasian heritage “enables [them] to wear henna without having racist comments shot at [them] left and right.”

Despite the disparity, is this any reason to ban the use of henna for anyone not as characteristically ‘South Asian’ as the commenter claims to be?

No one should try to halt anyone else from embodying other cultures just because indigenous people from the same culture are treated contemptuously. It defeats the purpose of embracing and pushing for international acceptance.

An important part of the debate is the appropriator’s acknowledgement of their privileges. As long as they recognize the disparity between their treatment and that of other races, and aren’t a negative influence or hindrance in the fight for racial equality, there’s no reason to revile someone for their appreciation – and especially not for their body ornamentation.

The same issue relates back to Selena’s single and her supposed cultural appropriation. The problem with her song and video was her ignorance towards the culture she was exploiting with her music. Although far from mocking the traditions, she was simply misinformed about the origins of the symbols she was using.

But Twitter and other social media websites went about this the wrong way. Instead of attacking her and using her as justification for preventing the intermingling of cultures, we should be referring to her as the guideline for how to encourage positive and informed societal assimilation.

Getting angry with people who are trying to stir the cultural melting pot isn’t the right way to increase tolerance for a native culture. If the end goal is acceptance and an egalitarian society, we should be welcoming the interest.

What does it say about a community as a whole if members refuse external attempts to facilitate cultural assimilation? The worst that can happen is that the white teenager with a Native American headdress doesn’t fully understand its origins, and that’s just another opportunity to educate, welcome, and spread knowledge.