Saving Tiki Bars From Racism and Cultural Appropriation

Who are these people that think anyone cares about Tiki bars during COVID?

I love a good Tiki drink and enjoyed Tiki Bars in the past but we have bigger fish to fry right now. We can't go anywhere.

I consider myself as woke as the next guy, but seriously -Tiki bars??? Kitsch is not cultural appropriation.

The top reader comment:

"Rum was the primary spirit in tiki cocktails because it was cheap, due to historic use of slave labor on sugarcane farms"

But the article states that Tiki came about in 1933. More than a few years after slavery was abolished. So if rum was still cheap it wasn't due to slavery.

I get that some community adoptions go way over the top. No one's culture should be reduced to a tacky, money grubbing caricature.

But using slavery 70 years after it was over and the testing of bombs as arguments are perfect examples as to why eyes roll when "cultural appropriation" is screamed.

Just because you can't go out doesn't mean you can't enjoy a Tiki bar!

R1 In Iowa we’re allowed to go anywhere we want. Doesn’t mean it’s in the best interest of epidemiology, but in the middle of the country freedom at any cost is most important. 20% positivity rates? Meh who cares? 🤷‍♂️

Tiki bars are LITERAL violence!

(I've always wanted to do that!)

Dean Baquet should be jailed, though the slide began even before he got his slimy hands on it.

What about the Trans Tikis of Color??

R8, you mean the ones that really did Stonewall?

Anyone remember that cool little Tiki bar on Sunset in Silverlake?

One night I had too many of those sweet Oceanic drinks and threw up in the bushes outside the bar.

#AllBarsMatter

The article is currently prominently shown on the home page under Editors' Picks. No words.

[quote]In 1960 when the Mai-Kai, a tiki restaurant in Florida, sold 10,000 “Mystery Drinks” presented by half-dressed “Mystery Girls,” the U.S. military was using the Pacific Islands to test nuclear bombs. Fantasy was a far cry from reality.

Fantasy is supposed to be a far cry from reality. Journalism isn't.

These are the people who need to be forced to join the military. They have way too much time on their hands and no perspective.

OP specifically mentions racism but the article doesn’t.

[quote]A Maori word for the carved image of a god or ancestor, tiki became synonymous in the United States and elsewhere for gimmicky souvenirs and décor.

...

[quote]Donn had four Filipino bartenders, whom he called “the Four Boys,” making all these drinks behind the scenes.

...

[quote]Both restaurants served Chinese food, because it was considered “exotic” yet was identifiable to American palates.

...

[quote]Restaurants transformed religious idols into kitschy artifacts and even drinking vessels, known as tiki mugs.

Okay, yeah, that’s appropriating multiple cultures.

i googled the history or rum and it’s a lot more interesting than OP/NYT’s article:

People like this make me wish we'd take away money from the police and military and invest in mental health facilities. At least if we did that a lot of these terminally offended people could congregate together and leave the rest of us alone.

I got a NYT basic subscription when Covid started to keep up with news on it in NYC. They then made that news free but I have kept the subscription just in case. When this crisis is over it's the first thing I cancel.

I’M SHAKING MY GRASS HULA SKIRT IN ANGER

[quote]But tiki bars can often reinforce the idea that Oceania is just a place to vacation, which belies America’s history with the region.

This made me pause. I'm from Oceania, and yeah, it's more than just a place to visit, but I honestly cannot imagine why Americans who just want to unwind and relax would need to know anymore than "this is a place to kick back, have a few drinks and relax". Are people meant to carry the weight of colonization on their shoulders when they go to a bar? Are they meant to be thinking about all this while drinking? I'm sorta confused as to what the problem is here. As one of the comments says: "I very much doubt consumers are craving political education with their delicious cocktail. Who wants to live like that?"

Reading on, I thought some of the ideas that people had to reinvent the tiki bar seemed pretty cool and positive and I don't see why they shouldn't. I just don't know if it has to be dressed up as being so altruistic. And the article makes it sound less fun too. This tone of "it's so offensive that people just enjoy themselves" is weird to me. But some of the entrepreneurs seemed cooler about it. I liked this part:

[quote]"“I have to give it to Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic because their daring approach to mixology was over the top. I don’t know if we would still have American cocktails were it not for them,” Mustipher says. In describing a new wave of tiki bars, Mustipher notes, “It’s not about thatch and bamboo or dancing girls. It’s about the level of craft and hospitality, the attention to detail.” Tiki, she adds, is a “deeply considered, well-executed, high production value cocktail experience.”

So, like taking something from the past and reinventing it? I think that sounds really interesting and positive!

[quote] No one's culture should be reduced to a tacky, money grubbing caricature.

Why not? This is exactly what capitalism is -- money has no moral dimension, nor does money-making. I'm not a Tiki aficionado but I don't see anything disrespectful in it. If you just want to have a fruity tasty drink then that's the place to go. One shouldn't need to do homework to order a drink.

We have white nationalists actively trying to overthrow the government and start a new civil war...but tiki bars are the problem?

Call me when people start bitching about Indian people selling pizza.

What about all the Albanians who own Italian restaurants?

Speaking of Italians, they've never jumped on this cultural appropriation bandwagon and good for them.

[quote]No one's culture should be reduced to a tacky, money grubbing caricature.

Italians are just like "whatever, bitch. We're fine with it."

NYTimes has become like the TV Guide of "news." But I'm all for rum, and never knew until recently that Desi Arnaz Sr.'s mother's family oversaw the Bacardi Rum business and fortune, before he and his dad escaped Cuba.

[quote] Does anyone at the NYTs have any sense how childish, idiotic and largely irrelevant they've become?

They don't. They live in their own world. R14's suggestion is brilliant.

R21 "We have white nationalists actively trying to overthrow the government and start a new civil war"

Um, no we don't. We have radical leftists who have already taken over our media, universities, and tech and are starting a race war.

When will the New York Times report on the imperialism and genocidal behavior of the Maori toward their other Polynesian Island neighboring peoples?

How about this? On the grand Boulevard on the Lido in Venice there was this café that served the most amazing hot chocolate. It was creamy and frothy and so delightful. (Mary!) I actually looked forward to it whenever I was planning a trip. The last time we were there a Chinese couple or family had taken it over, and I asked for a hot chocolate. They boiled water, threw in a packet of dry mix, and charged me one euro more than I had previously paid. No one busts them on their rapacious appropriation.

What does Tiki Barber have to say about this?

The Mai Tai cocktail was created in Oakland Ca

Lots of so-called Asian cuisine was invented in the US--chop suey, orange chicken, fortune cookies ... the list is endless. Same can be said for many Italian-American dishes.

Cancel America then, R32.

Cancel the racist, imperialistic appropriators of American culture around the globe!

Hmmm, I'm Māori and on the one hand, the commercialisation of parts of our culture is gross.

But on the other hand, I really don't think this writer really gives a fuck about any of this, and is looking to garner clicks for this new invented outrage.

On the third hand, I feel like drinking some rum. Yum.