All the talk of cultural and spiritual piracy, and loss or abandonment of core aspects of heritage to the unique assimilation that occurs after the dive into the American melting pot, has brought to mind for me a similar situation that exists within our very own pagan aggregate.
Gerald Gardner, the creator and publicist of Wicca, now classified as British Traditional Witchcraft, began his practices on the British Isles. He was the first to use this word to apply to a certain body of lore and defined set of symbols and ritualistic practices (though he may have himself taken some of those from other viable magical and cultural entities).
To an extent those practices later passed onto the American shores. His tradition is known as the Gardnerian tradition, with a subset called Proteus. Their lineage descends from the originator of Wicca, IE, Gerald Gardner. They do not, usually, make `insta-wiccans'. They have a well defined body of lore, systems, etc, and have a system of degrees. Though there were definitely Witches prior to Gerald's trad, there were not Wiccans.
However, there are a vast number of people who call themselves Wiccans who are not trained, or initiated Gardnerians. Nor are they initiates of any of the other branches of British Traditional Witchcraft. Gerry used the word, gave it the name, Wicca, but, once the craft came to America, it experienced the same religious awakening and transformation (assimilation?) as did every other religious system that came to this country. Even the conservative Protestants that were those uptight Puritans fell victim to the same piracy: upstarts and radicals who took the original version and discarded what they did not like, kept what they did like, gave it a personal spin, and then started talking about it with others. (Anne Hutchinson is a more distant example of that). Think of all the revival movements that swept the southern and western parts of the continent in the 1800 and early 1900's.
There is an element in the pagan collective that hold a view that truly, to be a Witch who can call oneself a Wiccan, you must, at the very least, be initiated by a lineaged witch. And, there are some who feel that to call yourself a Wiccan and not a witch, you must be descended in some way, a very close way, to the tradition of Gerald and company. Once you get away from the main elements, you are part of pirated and polluted practices, that while they may have meaning for you, are not part of the pure intent and form, and therefore, really not the genuine article.
Some have strayed from the trad roots, because Gerry himself commandeered many elements from ceremonial magical practice, and the strays feel that it somehow limits the authenticity and connection they seek to establish with deity trough a Wiccan, or, Craft practice. Some were never on that path, but call themselves, quite comfortably, Wiccan. Some differentiate, and prefer Witch.
The belief is also prevalent amongst more old timer witches in the craft for a while, both traditioned, and not, that those people who have come to the craft through the plethora of watered down piratical works created by Ravenwolf, or Dunwhich, or any other of the pop-witch lit movement, are not necessarily serious practitioners, and are wannabes, posers, and, for want of a better word, spiritual pirates. Not the genuine article.
This explosion of softcover converts has lead many of the more traditional teachers and practitioners to voice rumblings of jumping back into the broom closet to `preserve' the traditions, to maintain the `heritage'. They see wannabes as `not real witches'.
So the same stands for those of Celtic roots when they see non-Celts, especially ethnically obvious non-Celts, cleaving to a Celtic tradition. There are those of non-Germanic descent who attempt to recreate Asatru practices from supposition and limited primary source material, and they are deadly at odds with those non-Germanic who have been called by the old Gods, who are not actively attempting recreation, but instead practicing cultural and spiritual relativism while connecting to the Gods to whom they have been called. Kind of like the Brit Trads vs. the home grown vs. the softcovers, vs. Stregas, vs.you name it. (Are you starting to see a theme here?)
And you know, come to think of it, plenty of folks have started hard core in one tradition, only to abandon it for another that better speaks to them. Dianics have been Gards, Wiccans have gone Asatru, Celts have left the island for Santeria, Santerians have moved into Efa, one tradition has been left at the wayside for another, and don't even get me started on the Druids. So just as we purloin, so we discard, to assimilate from one identity into another. Which is more often called transformation, that word having a better wrap sheet than the former.
I know the argument is, we're pagan, we're free thinkers, we take what works, and reject what does not. Believe me, as a solitary, and very un-traditional, non-lineaged witch, I knowingly fly the pagan equivalent of the Jolly Roger, and I could give a damn. But, I also know the other side. I've heard people complain Scott Cunningham is not Wicca. That argument can be taken further: if that's the case, then, unless you descend from Brit Trad, you're not Wiccan either. You're just another pirate, sailing the high seas on the look out for spiritually sound booty, just like the rest of us reavers. And, being Americans, and of diverse cultural backgrounds, we are also at times guilty of both cultural petty theft, and abandonment of heritage.
In our travels through so many systems, one thing seems consistent: The search for more meaningful connection to deity, the desire to be closer to a more authentic way of life. And in that search, we repeatedly find recurrent symbols, themes, and actions, regardless of the cultural, spiritual , or ethnic system with which we work. Perhaps it's why the most meaningful symbols, themes and meanings go beyond cultural and ethnic borders and ownership, beyond the limits of time, to become archetypes. Since people seek what is meaningful, and seek archetypes, one person may connect better to that sky God, the Great Spirit, another to Odin the All Father. Great Mother might be Yemaya, Kwan Yin, Freya, Cerridwen, or, dare I say, Mary.
In effect, we are ourselves spiritual and cultural pirates, and spiritual and cultural victims. We are, sociologically speaking, a microcosm of the world in which we live. None of us is without a bit of a black past when it comes to adopting activities in our religious and spiritual lives that are not elements of our original birth and culture/heritage. We have taken things that had one meaning, and at some time, attached other significances. We have adopted ceremony, symbol, and spiritual connection all that were once the original province of another. Sure, we've done it in the name of all that's good and light, but, technically, we are guilty of the same deal. We've all a house of glass, so to speak, if you pull off enough of the siding.
If we're going to sit in judgment of those who `take', we need to look first, then, to our own practices, because I can bet everyone out there: If you trace the symbols and actions of your particular brand of spiritual/religious path back far enough, you'll find someone got there first, planted a flag, and gave it name. Fact is, probably a whole lot of someones throughout the ages made a claim. Who is to say past destiny isn't rearing it's head when someone out of a cultural or spiritual norm is drawn, nevertheless, to that identity? Who are we to say that only those of ethnic or cultural purity can hear the call of a certain God? Are we to tell the Gods, now, who they may and may not speak to?
True, we all know a poser: someone who professes to have a credential that they in truth, do not have. (Trained Gardnerian that can't point to lineage; Lakota Shaman never been further west than Duanesburgh, Master of the Dark Arts doesn't own the Necrinomicon or a Slayer album). Call out the wolf clothed as sheep when you can, because there, you've got supportive evidence of actual conscious fraud. But to all else, back up, take a breather, and don't be so quick to judge.
It's time we stop thinking so much about who has first rights to the brand and bragging, and start thinking about allowing people to pursue spirit in the venue that has for them, not you, the strongest connection and most relevant personal meaning.
Of course, your milage may vary.