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So recent events have gotten me thinking a lot about tiktok & its reliance on appropriation (quick thread)
Tiktok as it is could not exist without it. It& #39;s centered around using someone& #39;s music / sound, without their permission, as a part of something that you& #39;re creating. That& #39;s the definition of appropriation. When someone does this repeatedly, it becomes a trend.
The problem with this is that as the chain extends and branches out into different groups, less & less is known about the source material. Discourse keeps popping up where the originator of a sound gets upset about not getting recognition, but it happens with almost every trend.
I saw a tiktok a couple days ago where the artist of a very popular song on the app made a live recording of the song, and many people in the comments straight up did not believe her. They said that she was trying to get attention for something she didn& #39;t do, which was false.
I think it& #39;s telling that many videos of white people using audio made by people of color are some of the most popular on the app, but people of color are notoriously pushed down by the algorithm it uses.
This intersection of the appropriation that the app is built on and racial & social power structures causes a lot of problems, and the events concerning black dresses recently is just another manifestation of that issue
When someone makes something that they expect to be appreciated by their following that understands them and understands the context that that thing was made in, and then it is suddenly being spread in groups that know nothing about it, it gets misused
This is why cultural appropriation is bad.
What makes tiktok a unique example, though, is that appropriation has become essential to the app. It runs off of it. If everyone made original content it would not be what it is today, and what people love it for. But people need to be aware of the very negative effects of it.
When something is depersonalized and taken out of its context it becomes just a backing for whatever content you& #39;re going to make for it, and loses its original meaning. But the history and context behind it needs to be considered. Always.
The amount of white people that use AAVE on the app and have no idea what that is, why people are mad at them for doing it, or even don& #39;t believe it& #39;s a real thing is astounding
I don& #39;t have a solution to this, it& #39;s a much bigger issue than can be easily fixed, but, bottom line: stop taking content and culture that you know nothing about and using it for personal gain. It is always, whether you see the effects of it or not, harmful in some way.
I have a lot more loose thoughts about this but that& #39;s the end of the thread.
