Students asked if St. Pat's ‘drinking holiday’ is ‘cultural appropriation’ — reactions are priceless

During a recent discussion with Campus Reform's Cabot Phillips, several college students seemed to begin to embrace the idea that celebrating a culture to which you do not belong may not actually be cultural appropriation.

Wait, what?

Phillips visited the campus of New York University recently, where he asked students how they were planning to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Several students said they would likely visit bars or go to parades to commemorate the "drinking holiday."

Many said they automatically thought of alcohol and partying as things affiliated with the holiday.

The conversation was lighthearted and fun until Phillips asked the students if they felt that celebrating St. Patrick's Day as a non-Irish person would be considered cultural appropriation.

How did they respond?

Here are the best responses to Phillips' question, "Do you think that is committing cultural appropriation?":

• "Uh ... what?"
• "I guess it could be perceived as that."
• "I don't like when people do it to my culture, so, it's just kind of, like, how can I say I don't like people who do it to my culture and then do it to someone else's?"
• "Uh ... hm. I honestly don't know."
• "I honestly have never even thought about it."
• "That's, like, a really touchy subject. I don't like, to, like, make an assumption about that when I'm not Irish."
• "Honestly, it might be."
• "If you're not actually, really, like, educating yourself on why it's celebrated, then it could be offensive."

Phillips went on to ask how the students would deal with Irish-American students on campus offended by others celebrating who weren't Irish.

One student responded, "We're not bad people! We don't know a lot about your culture, and we're sorry, but, you know."