Read on Twitter
explaining cultural appropriation using avatar the last airbender, for people who don't quite understand the difference between appreciation and appropriation: a thread
in the avatar comic "the promise: part three" the main characters meet a chapter of the avatar aang fanclub. aang says it's cool how they've dressed as the people who lived at the western air temple. their leader explains they do a lot of studying to make their outfits as-
-historically accurate as possible. aang brings up the arrows they have painted on their forehead, saying they look exactly like airbender tattoos. she says they aren't painted on, but rather they're actual tattoos.
aang understandly gets offended by this. he tries to explain that the tattoos are something you have to earn when you master airbending, not just something you can paint on your forehead.
the people aang meets think they're being appreciative of his culture, but aang explains that it's wrong because airbenders tattoos are sacred and they aren't a costume.
i think this is a really easy way to explain cultural appropriation to someone who doesn't understand it. there's a difference between appreciation and appropriation.
