# University yoga class canceled because of 'oppression, cultural genocide' **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 24, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452 "2015-11-24T17:30:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/21 "2015-11-24T21:14:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It would be the equivalent of somebody describing Christianity as a system of kneeling. So if rename the exercise something other than yoga we would be okay? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/22 "2015-11-24T21:29:58Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > So if rename the exercise something other than yoga we would be okay? OH! Sure, the cultural imperialist steals the oppressed peoples signifiers and makes them their own! When will it ever stop! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/23 "2015-11-24T21:30:49Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Suppose I think First Nations people are amazing. I love the way they respected the land and their ancestors, etc, etc. So, I dress up as a First Nations person for Halloween. Simple: they wouldn’t believe that there’s the slightest connection between the first two sentences and the third. Just look at the Washington football team controversy. Not that I can dispel it off the top of my head, but in threads like this, there seems to be a lot of assuming what people mean by X instead of trying to find out what they actually mean by X and, more importantly, why. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/24 "2015-11-24T21:31:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My understanding is this isn’t generally true. The physical activities which are called yoga in the western world are only an insignificant portion of what yoga is in Indian culture. My understanding is that yoga a whole lifestyle that is supposed to being a person closer to divine enlightenment. One portion of this is meditation and one portion of meditation is getting your body in the right position. And as an aid to help people get their bodies in the right position some yoga teachers described some stretching routines. And these stretching routines somehow became identified as the whole of yoga to the western world. It would be the equivalent of somebody describing Christianity as a system of kneeling. But ultimately the terms and focus of the activity will evolve. Whether or not the source culture _likes_ the evolution (assuming you can find anyone entitled to speaking for an entire culture) is irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/25 "2015-11-24T21:52:55Z")
Well the solution is obvious. Show those Canadians what it feel like when someone appropriates your culture. Everybody get a moose, a hockey stick and ride around saying “Excuse me, excuse me,excuse me” ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/26 "2015-11-24T22:15:06Z")
Does this mean we can make Italians give up their tomatoes now? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/27 "2015-11-24T22:16:02Z")
Actually, the kind of yoga Westerners tend to dig - _asana_, i.e. posture yoga - isn’t exactly an ancient, purely Indian practice for spiritual growth. Some of its roots is in Scandinavian gymnastics (!), of all things, and doesn’t stretch back much rather than the early 20th century. In Sweden, you had Pehr Henrik Ling, and in Denmark, Niels Bukh and I.P MĂŒller, all of whom developed systems of gymnastic exercises to keep oneself healthy and fit. The Brits introduced these exercises to their armed forces; these, in turn, introduced them to the Indians. The Indians, in some cultural appropriation of their own, incorporated these exercises into yoga. So without cultural appropriation - without a series of crude cultural borrowings, gross distortions, mistranslations, oversimplifications, wilful misunderstandings and outright thievery - yoga as we know it today _wouldn’t even exist_. [Source.](http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Body-Origins-Posture-Practice/dp/0195395344) > [@ivylass](#): > > So if rename the exercise something other than yoga we would be okay? [Actually, they considered changing the name from “yoga” to “mindful stretching,” but ran into problems when trying to come up with a proper French translation, eventually said “fuck it,” and gave up.](http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/11/20/free-ottawa-yoga-class-scrapped-over-cultural-issues) ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/28 "2015-11-24T22:20:14Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > [Actually, they considered changing the name from “yoga” to “mindful stretching,” but ran into problems when trying to come up with a proper French translation, eventually said “fuck it,” and gave up.](http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/11/20/free-ottawa-yoga-class-scrapped-over-cultural-issues) That is so Canadian :D. Oh, speaking of Canadians getting miffed about cultural assimilation, ask a Canadian what they thought when the NHL tried to expand to Southern US cities ;). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/29 "2015-11-24T22:27:14Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Simple: they wouldn’t believe that there’s the slightest connection between the first two sentences and the third. Just look at the Washington football team controversy. > > Not that I can dispel it off the top of my head, but in threads like this, there seems to be a lot of assuming what people mean by X instead of trying to find out what they actually mean by X and, more importantly, why. No, the point is that what you mean doesn’t actually matter all that much. Is it considered acceptable to do blackface because you admire black people? No, because blackface is offensive. So, too, is appropriating the headdress of American Indians. **They have to work their entire lives to earn every single feather.** You just put it on like a costume. You do it on Halloween, as a way to have fun. It’s trivializing something that is really important to them, no matter what your intentions. If you truly admire them, why are you so completely ignoring their belief systems? Why are you not honoring their wishes and treating the headdress like a sacred object? Why are you unaware that it’s offensive to them and why? And, no, that doesn’t apply to yoga. It’s just naive students trying to apply the rules they’ve learned without fully understanding them. Yoga wasn’t really appropriated. It was brought over by the very people who practiced it, not stolen from them by a colonial power. And, just like it has been adapted over centuries to different beliefs, it was adapted to a secular belief system. Cultural appropriation is about stealing. It is about taking something that is important in one culture and trivializing it. It inherently involves a lack of respect. It doesn’t matter that you don’t mean to disrespect them– **the action of turning something culturally significant into a costume is inherently offensive**. You want to show your admiration, take the headdress and go explain to people what it means. Put it in a museum. Don’t just wear it. Don’t go to a culture that has been historically oppressed by you and act as if you have the right to do whatever you want with their culture. If you really honor them, you’ll treat them as equals. And then cultural artifacts will cross over naturally. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/30 "2015-11-24T22:29:34Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Some of its roots is in Scandinavian gymnastics (!), of all things, and doesn’t stretch back much rather than the early 20th century. In Sweden, you had Pehr Henrik Ling, and in Denmark, Niels Bukh and I.P MĂŒller, all of whom developed systems of gymnastic exercises to keep oneself healthy and fit. The Brits introduced these exercises to their armed forces; these, in turn, introduced them to the Indians. The Indians, in some cultural appropriation of their own, incorporated these exercises into yoga. This is my understanding, too. Yoga is basically a European practice, with just enough “eastern” connection to give in a patina of ancient mysticism. As noted in this fine journalistic [publication](http://www.cracked.com/article_19283_7-ancient-forms-mysticism-that-are-recent-inventions.html). As for the UOttawa thing, I doubt the actual reasons the class was cancelled resemble the reasons being reported. People just love a “PC gone too far \” story. ETA: Has anyone seen anything written by a source other than the yoga teacher whose class got cancelled? She seems to be the only one talking. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/31 "2015-11-24T23:04:09Z")
UOttawa Long distance running club will be next. Don’t want to offend the Kenyans. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/32 "2015-11-24T23:04:28Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > No, the point is that what you mean doesn’t actually matter all that much. Is it considered acceptable to do blackface because you admire black people? No, because blackface is offensive. What if I choose to artificially darken my skin by using a sun bed or fake tan because I like the look of darker skin? Cultural appropriation is a nonsense term invented by people with far too much time on their hands in search of something to be offended by. No-one “owns” the right to any cultural practice, nor should they have a say in who gets to create a variation on it. Specific physical objects of importance are a different matter but copies and variations thereof
no. That’s all fair game. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/33 "2015-11-24T23:11:39Z")
The instructor offered to change the name of the class to “mindful stretching,” and that was turned down because they couldn’t agree on a French translation.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/34 "2015-11-24T23:14:27Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Wait till they see what we’ve done with zeros, just shoehorned them willy-nilly into our computers all smushed up against our ones. Just as bloody well zero is out of copyright. Imagine the royalties we’d all owe. ---
**Author:** ![Cardboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Cardboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardboard)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/35 "2015-11-24T23:19:10Z")
I envision the current crop of college kids have all the makings of a new Red Guard. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/36 "2015-11-24T23:25:29Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > [Here’s the story.](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-yoga-genocide-university-of-ottawa-20151123-story.html) > > I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It seems that all it takes these days is for a few lunatics to cry ‘Oppression, racism!’ and the universities instantly fold and do whatever these idiots tell them. The Western academic world is in danger of disappearing up its own politically-correct orifice In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Novels, universities and professors exist for the reason of providing entertainingly ridiculous behavior for the amusement of others, and not for any other purpose. More and more, he’s looking like a prophet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/37 "2015-11-24T23:46:22Z")
> [@Cardboard](#): > > I envision the current crop of college kids have all the makings of a new Red Guard. No, that’d be cultural appropriation. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/38 "2015-11-25T00:00:00Z")
“I farted in cultural appropriation class” just doesn’t sound the same. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/39 "2015-11-25T00:12:16Z")
Didja ever see photos (or in real life) of businessmen and politicians in places all over the world wearing neckties and other accoutrements of traditional Western attire? People all over the world have stolen our Western wear! Y’all should read [_Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin_](http://www.amazon.com/Touching-The-Human-Significance-Skin/dp/0060960280) by Ashley Montagu. The main subject matter is parenting issues and how parents should raise babies. He describes a wide variety of cultural American parenting activities that have been stolen by other cultures around the world. Ah, but the joke’s on all of them! He also argues that everything about American parenting is just about the worst possible way of doing anything, and all those other cultures are just trashing themselves by glomming onto everything American! Serves them right, those cultural thieves! In other news: The al-jabr that we stole from those Ay-rabs or whoever they were, we’ve desecrated and mangled beyond anything that [al-Khwārizmī](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Musa_al-Khwarizmi) would ever recognize! We must all demand that our schools cancel all Algebra classes forthwith! ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452/40 "2015-11-25T01:08:17Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > [Actually, they considered changing the name from “yoga” to “mindful stretching,” but ran into problems when trying to come up with a proper French translation, eventually said “fuck it,” and gave up.](http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/11/20/free-ottawa-yoga-class-scrapped-over-cultural-issues) Way to exclude the mindless community. #EndTheOppression [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-yoga-class-canceled-because-of-oppression-cultural-genocide/738452.md?page=3)