this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
305 points (93.4% liked)

Asklemmy

49075 readers
550 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The Tibetan fox for me has a permanent ‘done with this shit’ look that I love.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Speiser0@feddit.de 27 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I like the sand cat:

It looks like it gets distracted all the time and starts new side projects.

[–] Sailing7@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Litany@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

It looks like there is a camouflaged cat snuggling next to the real cat in the picture.

[–] SouthFresh@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 years ago
[–] MrBubbles96@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] davefischer@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

The screaming hairy armadillo is also good.

[–] MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.com 12 points 2 years ago
[–] wheelie@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] manned_meatball@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

the body is round

[–] davefischer@beehaw.org 10 points 2 years ago

Cisco 2600 router.

[–] RustedSwitch@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I have used this phrase a lot, but in the last couple of years I’ve seen usage of this phrase by folks who aren’t Native Americans start to come under fire. I think it’s because it appropriates and makes light of Native American culture.

[–] inspxtr@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I think what and how it is used for or interpreted as should be a factor to determine whether it is appropriation of Native American culture.

I’m not a native english speaker, and often times the term in my mind can mean zodiac animals. I’m not saying they are the same thing. English is a common language, and people from other cultures may interpret the word differently.

Hence I sometimes wonder whether there are other cultures across the world that use similar terms (eg totem symbolism), or whether such term can mean different things to other cultures. A blanket ban of the specific combination of these two words in english based on ~~one~~ some cultures may seem unfair to others if this is true. If anyone knows or has issues with the logic, please correct me.

EDIT: see the discussion in the comments https://lemm.ee/comment/1954510

EDIT 2: per below comment, Native American shouldn’t be treated as 1 culture.

[–] gowan@reddthat.com 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Native Americans are not one culture BTW. We treat them as one because the USA's history towards non-northern protestant European people is pretty much always racist but they are no more similar cultures than the French and Slovenians are.

[–] inspxtr@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah, I agree, my bad, just edited it. Do you know whether the concept/word of spirit animal exists in only a small subsets of Native American cultures, or in all cultures related to Native Americans?

[–] gowan@reddthat.com 2 points 2 years ago

Honestly I don't know. I suspect that different groups have it and others don't but like most Americans my understanding of the cultures we killed off isn't great and most of it is in context if our genocides against them.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] livus@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

It's definitely not used with the same level of meaning in pop culture, so maybe we need to call it something else.

Zeitgeist Animal?

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Which Native American tribe specifically? Native Americans aren't one single culture. Are you offended on behalf of someone you can't even name?

[–] livus@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'm going to answer this in good faith.

Not wanting to cause someone else discomfort or pain, is not about being "offended" on their behalf. We need to get away from this "offfence" paradigm and back to the human. We are all people. Let's treat each other with respect.

If you genuinely want to know "which tribe specifically", start here with the big picture:

Individual totemism is widely disseminated. It is found not only among tribes of hunters and harvesters but also among farmers and herdsmen. Individual totemism is especially emphasized among the Australian Aborigines and the American Indians.

Group totemism was traditionally common among peoples in Africa, India, Oceania (especially in Melanesia), North America, and parts of South America. These peoples include, among others, the Australian Aborigines, the African Pygmies, and various Native American peoples—most notably the Northwest Coast Indians (predominantly fishermen), California Indians, and Northeast Indians. Moreover, group totemism is represented in a distinctive form among the Ugrians and west Siberians (hunters and fishermen who also breed reindeer) as well as among tribes of herdsmen in north and Central Asia.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Achaeminus@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

“Lobster, because lobsters live for over one hundred years, are blue-blooded like aristocrats, and stay fertile all their lives”

[–] Shurimal@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

That was a good movie!

[–] Tordoc@beehaw.org 8 points 2 years ago
[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago

Find your soul mate, Homer!

[–] dan@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago

Some kind of angry potato

[–] deven@kerala.party 4 points 2 years ago
[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago
[–] the_itsb@midwest.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

the_itsb = the Ill-Tempered Sea Bass, and though it's a batfish and not a sea bass, I've always thought this guy conveys the ill-tempered part beautifully.

Who I actually am as a person is a little more like some kind of crab. There's the strawberry crab, who is "small, brightly-colored ... known to be quite toxic," which sounds just like me without medication. 😂 And then there's the black-eyed hermit crab, who "often inhabits shells left by massive moon snails ... often covered with colorful pink anemone-like hydroids, making this critter even cuter."

[–] doot@social.bug.expert 2 points 2 years ago

nice lipstick on that first one

[–] thelsim@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

An octopus. Weird, inquisitive, and can hide when I don’t want attention.
I’d probably taste delicious when deep fried and battered.

[–] MrShankles@reddthat.com 3 points 2 years ago

I'd like to say penguin, because I love them; but my experience keeps pointing me to a deer, whether I agree or not. My wife's seems to be a bee, for whatever reason. Just weird, coincidental observations that really made us wonder. But c'est la vie, I'm cool with a deer if it is what it is.

But damn, do I love penguins

intercontinental nuclear ballistic missile bean launcher system

[–] littlecolt@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

Just remember, if you're white, that's not your spirit animal, that's your fursona!

[–] FunzioneSperimentale@feddit.it 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 2 points 2 years ago

Cat

Grumpy Cat

[–] d4rknusw1ld@artemis.camp 2 points 2 years ago

Mark Wahlberg

[–] folkrav@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

In my mind, I'd probably like it to be something a bit noble. But my wife would probably say a Golden Retriever. All over the place energy that jumps between couch potato and hyperactive, pack/family oriented, and a bit dumdum. Can't say I totally disagree.

[–] szczur@szmer.info 2 points 2 years ago
[–] spare_muppet@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago
load more comments
view more: next ›