Sunday, November 22, 2015

"Free Ottawa yoga class scrapped over 'cultural issues'"


Student leaders have pulled the mat out from 60 University of Ottawa students, ending a free on-campus yoga class over fears the teachings could be seen as a form of "cultural appropriation."
Staff at the Centre for Students with Disabilities believe that "while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students ... there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice," according to an email from the centre.
The centre is operated by the university's Student Federation, which first approached Scharf seven years ago about offering yoga instruction to students both with and without disabilities.
The centre goes on to say, "Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced," and which cultures those practices "are being taken from."
The centre official argues since many of those cultures "have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy ... we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practising yoga."
The concept of cultural appropriation is normally applied when a dominant culture borrows symbols of a marginalized culture for dubious reasons -- such as the fad of hipsters donning indigenous headdresses as a fashion statement, without any regard to cultural significance or stereotype.
But Scharf, a yoga teacher with the downtown Rama Lotus Centre, said the concept does not apply in this case, arguing the complaint that killed the program came instead from a "social justice warrior" with "fainting heart ideologies" in search of a cause celebre.
"People are just looking for a reason to be offended by anything they can find," said Scharf.
"There's a real divide between reasonable people and those people just looking to jump on a bandwagon. And unfortunately, it ends up with good people getting punished for doing good things."
There were about 60 students who participated in the free program.

20 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

Oddly, Indian yogis have prided themselves on evangelizing and spreading the practice.

I watched a biopic of Yogananda a couple of weeks ago. He was one of the first media star yogis. He became the yogi to Hollywood stars, back in the silent film era.

It's interesting that those who could claim ownership of the practice are so eager to offer it to everybody everywhere in the world.

I think it's a source of pride to most Hindus that the ideas and practice of yoga have triumphed worldwide. They seem to believe that they've improved the world by evangelizing the practice and philosophy of yoga.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If the yoga instructors aren't safe...

rhhardin said...

Where do you go to pick up girls now?

bagoh20 said...

I think "cultural appropriation" is what we used to call learning. The tender snowflakes are doing their best to stay within the culture they were born with, which is limited to crying for stuff, waiting for others to bring it, wetting oneself at will, and shitting on everything.

bagoh20 said...

This standard requires that nobody listen to any music. Give me those damned ear buds you imperialist bastard!

bagoh20 said...

Where is everyone gonna go now to release their gas?

bagoh20 said...

Words like "omnipotent or omnibus," likewise are micro-aggressive appropriations. From now on use "nipotent or "nibus", and we got to shut down the Hare Krishna here. Those people are all White appropriators. Of course Christians have to go to, unless they were born Jews.

G Joubert said...

In the end socialists will eliminate everything that normal everyday people want and choose to do, and replace those things with other things, things people don't want or choose to do, but what socialists want them to do. All by force of course.

AllenS said...

I'm witnessing the end of Western Civilization. It's been taken over by imbeciles.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Where do you go to pick up girls now?

OMG... I've stumbled into a big tobacco/alcohol plot to destroy healthy living ;)

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

When you gotta depend on wingnuts to defend yoga classes, you know you've jumped the shark, kids.

Jumped the shark? Fonzie?. Happy Days?, oh, never mind. You went too far, assholes.

chickelit said...

Who invented yoga pants?

Rabel said...

In this instance I fully support the anti-appropriators. Picture Hillary in her yoga pants and tell me that you disagree.

Also, I am in favor of shoot on sight orders for any white guy seen practicing Tai Chi in public.

rhhardin said...

Who invented yoga pants?
The camel industry.

Rabel said...

And Yogi Berra. You New Yorkers think the rules don't apply to you? I know he's already dead but it's time to either tear down the monuments or change his name back to Lawrence. Just don't spell it Laurence. That's faggy.

chickelit said...

The camel industry.

Just toeing the line?

Methadras said...

Leftism is a disease, the symptoms are complete and utter retardation. Oh and death.

G Joubert said...

"Just don't spell it Laurence. That's faggy."

Laurence Tribe comes to mind.

Methadras said...

G Joubert said...

"Just don't spell it Laurence. That's faggy."

Laurence Tribe comes to mind.


There's another Lawrence that comes to mind as well.