On US TV there is a commercial for a genealogy website of a guy talking about how he grew up wearing lederhosen and doing German folk dance, but after getting his DNA tested, his ancestors weren't German at all! So now he needs to get tricked out in a whole kilt & etc, cause the family was "Scottish"

Balderdash. He's American, and like most of us, probably has a melting pot background. While some groups are clannish and tend to associate and preferably marry those of their own ethnic origin, this is becoming a more difficult way to live. Europe seems to becoming more sensitive to changes in their nationality mix as immigrants and refugees pour in. As fewer and fewer "pure" this that or the other group exist, it is going to be much harder to complain of "cultural appropriation" when each person may have legitimate claims on a dozen different cultures.

It saddens me some, as this process isn't always kind to cultural tradition bearers, but it makes me hope that in the wholesale mixing of races, cultures, and nationalities, what is gained is a wider appreciation of the value of all. Yes, it angers me some when significant elements of a culture are degraded, commercialized or lampooned - the stupid or mean spirited deserve to be called out.

I just think that diffusion is the tide, and appropriation the tip of the wave that gets attention. We can't stem the tide.

Joanne in Cleveland