In my belief, in the present day more often than not, cultural appropriation is used blindly by people in order to victimize themselves over the actions of others. Personally, I believe that culture is an important foundation of all communities and thus should not be disrespected or in any way exploited; however, I don’t agree with most cases of ‘cultural appropriation’ in the modern society. In addition, I do not think culture is limited to those born into it, and that one must be given ‘permission’ to be allowed to experience another’s culture; culture is collectively owned by the people of its community, therefore how can we know who is entitled to ‘give’ permission? 

However, if one were to blatantly exploit another culture in order to gain benefits such as wealth or popularity (e.g advertisements which us significant cultural symbols) that would be cultural appropriation and should not be tolerated. But if someone simply wears a culturally significant dress despite not being a member of that community, or unbeknownst to them, wears the dress incorrectly; they should not be slandered for their actions as there is no ill-intent behind them. In fact, I believe that cases like these actually somewhat lean towards cultural ‘appreciation’ as opposed to ‘appropriation’. As it can spread awareness and thus can cause others to also become interested in the culture, whilst also educating the wearer themselves.