Vox on how the wellness and new-age health industry is kinda sort very racist, and Orientalist in particular:
"Cultural exports are a complex, inevitable result of globalization, and cultural appropriation doesn’t always carry negative effects. As Asian-inspired practices and treatments edge toward the mainstream, the problem isn’t necessarily appropriation. It’s what appropriation can produce: an Orientalist perspective toward non-Western practices that can be misrepresented to further a political agenda.
The process by which this happens is likely familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, although this type of appropriation predates the brand by decades. It usually begins with an influential (usually white) Westerner who encounters a practice with origins in East or South Asia. The person integrates the tradition into their lifestyle, publicly touts its benefits, and helps disseminate a version of the practice to their own community. (Such was the case for acupuncture in 1971, after a New York Times reporter wrote about the benefits of his treatment in China.)"
As always, there's nothing wrong with "borrowing" from other cultures but it takes a hell of lot of work to fully understand the context and history and what you're borrowing.
Of course, read the whole article which is very good and gets into the overlap between right-wing Nazis and ostensibly "left" New Age hippie, anti-vaccine types.
