I think this story is emblematic of the problems of our youth. Not because of any moral judgment I have on this cultural appropriation thing and whether wearing the dress was right or wrong. But because the assumption is that there is such an absolute right or wrong, and being on the side of right grants license to dehumanize. Social media makes that a whole lot easier.
Isn't a degree of dehumanisation inevitable, in a context where we are interacting with vastly greater numbers of people than evolution has equipped us to be socially in contact with?
And doesn't social-media make that even worse as it turns private choices into publicly-broadcast statements?
Looking at the pictures in the twitter link, I do find myself sympathising more than I expected with those objecting, because it triggers my own prejudices - they look so posh as well as white, _and_ they are doing those weird hand-gestures that seem like a combo of black culture and Nemasti gestures. That bugs me way more than just wearing a dress. I find myself thinking 'what are they thinking when they do that? What is it supposed to mean?'.
But normally that would be their private affair and give absolutely no offense because it wouldn't be directed at anyone who wasn't actually present, in their social group. But posting the pictures publicly has turned it into a public statement.
Social media seems to have made that issue of more social interactions than our brains can handle even worse.
