So what you're saying is you have no objective measure of theft occurring.
You're basing your entire position on an opinion that is very, very clearly not shared by most of reality.
As I said, there are very clear instances of "appropriation", but most occurrences I've seen aren't, in my opinion.
Example: Paolini's elves are clearly appropriation. I also hated the elves in Inheritance because of that, for what it's worth. The elves in The Elvenborn, as another example, aren't. Both instances resemble Tolkien elves visually, but one copies a large amount of cultural overtones and racial "personality", and the other's written by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.
You're basing your entire position on an opinion that is very, very clearly not shared by most of reality.
As I said, there are very clear instances of "appropriation", but most occurrences I've seen aren't, in my opinion.
Example: Paolini's elves are clearly appropriation. I also hated the elves in Inheritance because of that, for what it's worth. The elves in The Elvenborn, as another example, aren't. Both instances resemble Tolkien elves visually, but one copies a large amount of cultural overtones and racial "personality", and the other's written by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.