appreciation isn't cultural appropriation

in the last year on social media I have seen so many people talking in a superficial and not very verbose way about cultural appropriation, more than an opinion or a speech I have seen real accusations being made, often senseless and unfounded.

I have been wanting to express myself on the matter for months and I would start by saying that a good part of the people who have expressed themselves on the matter have done nothing but demonstrate their lack of knowledge regarding cultures and subcultures.

a recurring "discourse" (since it is often limited to two rather threatening sentences without any explanation) is that of braids, I would like to clarify, for those who are wondering, that no, having braids as a non-black person is NOT offensive in any way to black people and their culture, to help you understand better I will lead you to ask yourself a couple of questions:

how can it be offensive to a black person if I have braids if it was a black person who did them to me (whether at the beach or in a salon)?

or also, how can it be offensive for me to wear a kimono (in a respectful way) if when you go to japan it is the japanese themselves who make you wear it? how can it be offensive to appreciate cultural aspects of a country?

i also want to share my vision as a southern italian, i live in a town near naples, and every time i go there i see a lot of tourists with naples football team jerseys but especially with a "curniciell" charm around their neck. (the "curniciell" is a traditional neapolitan lucky charm that resembles a chili pepper, even if it is not). this case what should i do? get indignant because foreigners wear such an important cultural symbol? absolutely not! because those who truly care about their culture are happy to share it with others!

 don't be afraid to get dreadlocks (yes, i've heard controversy about that too), to do tribal goth inspired makeup, to get braids, to wear lucky charms or anything else in a respectful and conscious way.

remember that those who complain have a closed mind, they believe in a curtense culture, that does not accept being "infected" by foreigners, the reasoning of "you are not Japanese, you can not be gyaru" or "you can not do this because you are not black" does not remind me of anything other than a conservative mentality, worthy of extremism.

true cultural appropriation is a symptom brought by colonialism, taking a place in its culture and making it your own, not appreciating other cultures.

I'm not saying that cultural appropriation doesn't exist or isn't a problem (all the RCTA thing is in fact embarrassing), I just wanted to clarify my thoughts

You might also have noticed that I have a rather different opinion about "gatekeeping" in cultures than in subcultures, it's a topic I'll be addressing shortly, so don't start screaming about inconsistency already because these are two very different things that should be distinguished and will be discussed soon :P