Canada’s University of Ottawa proves being PC isn’t all it’s cracked up to be after they cancelled a string of free yoga classes over cultural appropriation concerns.
Now’s the time to get all up-in-arms about how society is going down a dark, politically correct black hole.
Jen Scharf has been teaching free yoga classes at the university’s Centre for Students with Disabilities for the last seven years, but things changed when she checked back in with the student union in September. According to CBC, Scharf was told that her services would no longer be needed “because some students and volunteers were uncomfortable with the ‘cultural issues’ involved.”
You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me with this, right?
“I guess it was this cultural appropriation issue because yoga originally comes from India,” she said on Sunday. “I told them, ‘Why don’t we just change the name of the course?’ It’s simple enough, just call it mindful stretching.… We’re not going through the finer points of scripture. We’re talking about basic physical awareness and how to stretch so that you feel good.
“That went back and forth… The higher-ups at the student federation got involved, finally we got an email routed through the student federation basically saying they couldn’t get a French name and nobody wants to do it, so we’re going to cancel it for now.”
In case you were wondering, cultural appropriation is when a culture that’s seen as an oppressor borrows or steals elements of a culture they’re oppressing. An official from the center argued that various cultures that practice yoga “have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy,” and that us westerners have essentially stolen what was once theirs.
But according to Scharf – along with anyone else reading this with half a brain – “people are just looking for a reason to be offended by.”
Agreed 100%. It’s YOGA, can everyone relax?! Not everyone trying to get their Downward-Facing Dog on do it to oppress other cultures… they just want to sort out their back problems.
So what do you think? Is anyone anti-yoga for discriminatory reasons? Or is this just a pawn because yoga actually sucks? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
