The Tibetan fox for me has a permanent ‘done with this shit’ look that I love.

  • Speiser0@feddit.de
    27·
    1 year ago

    I like the sand cat:

    It looks like it gets distracted all the time and starts new side projects.

  • RustedSwitch@lemmy.world
    2010·
    1 year ago

    I have used this phrase a lot, but in the last couple of years I’ve seen usage of this phrase by folks who aren’t Native Americans start to come under fire. I think it’s because it appropriates and makes light of Native American culture.

    • inspxtr@lemmy.world
      102·
      1 year ago

      I think what and how it is used for or interpreted as should be a factor to determine whether it is appropriation of Native American culture.

      I’m not a native english speaker, and often times the term in my mind can mean zodiac animals. I’m not saying they are the same thing. English is a common language, and people from other cultures may interpret the word differently.

      Hence I sometimes wonder whether there are other cultures across the world that use similar terms (eg totem symbolism), or whether such term can mean different things to other cultures. A blanket ban of the specific combination of these two words in english based on one some cultures may seem unfair to others if this is true. If anyone knows or has issues with the logic, please correct me.

      EDIT: see the discussion in the comments https://lemm.ee/comment/1954510

      EDIT 2: per below comment, Native American shouldn’t be treated as 1 culture.

      • gowan@reddthat.com
        10·
        1 year ago

        Native Americans are not one culture BTW. We treat them as one because the USA’s history towards non-northern protestant European people is pretty much always racist but they are no more similar cultures than the French and Slovenians are.

        • inspxtr@lemmy.world
          3·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, I agree, my bad, just edited it. Do you know whether the concept/word of spirit animal exists in only a small subsets of Native American cultures, or in all cultures related to Native Americans?

          • gowan@reddthat.com
            2·
            1 year ago

            Honestly I don’t know. I suspect that different groups have it and others don’t but like most Americans my understanding of the cultures we killed off isn’t great and most of it is in context if our genocides against them.

    • livus@kbin.social
      71·
      1 year ago

      It’s definitely not used with the same level of meaning in pop culture, so maybe we need to call it something else.

      Zeitgeist Animal?

    • NataliePortland@lemmy.ca
      21·
      1 year ago

      Which Native American tribe specifically? Native Americans aren’t one single culture. Are you offended on behalf of someone you can’t even name?

      • livus@kbin.social
        41·
        1 year ago

        I’m going to answer this in good faith.

        Not wanting to cause someone else discomfort or pain, is not about being “offended” on their behalf. We need to get away from this “offfence” paradigm and back to the human. We are all people. Let’s treat each other with respect.

        If you genuinely want to know “which tribe specifically”, start here with the big picture:

        Individual totemism is widely disseminated. It is found not only among tribes of hunters and harvesters but also among farmers and herdsmen. Individual totemism is especially emphasized among the Australian Aborigines and the American Indians.

        Group totemism was traditionally common among peoples in Africa, India, Oceania (especially in Melanesia), North America, and parts of South America. These peoples include, among others, the Australian Aborigines, the African Pygmies, and various Native American peoples—most notably the Northwest Coast Indians (predominantly fishermen), California Indians, and Northeast Indians. Moreover, group totemism is represented in a distinctive form among the Ugrians and west Siberians (hunters and fishermen who also breed reindeer) as well as among tribes of herdsmen in north and Central Asia.

  • Achaeminus @lemmy.world
    91·
    1 year ago

    “Lobster, because lobsters live for over one hundred years, are blue-blooded like aristocrats, and stay fertile all their lives”

  • littlecolt@lemm.ee
    51·
    1 year ago

    Just remember, if you’re white, that’s not your spirit animal, that’s your fursona!