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I’ve seen a few comments around C-D about diversity being forced on people. There was even the recent online controversy about the new Star Trek show that’s coming out. I wanted to approach the topic from a logical point of view.
In the beginning, the land mass that we call America was populated by people that we call “Native Americans.” Then folks from Europe arrived. So, from day 1, America was never truly a “white” country.
Then consider that the land that comprises the states of Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Wyoming was once owned by Mexico. Thus, there were Mexicans and “Mexican Indians” in America.
Of course, Black people came with slavery and some immigration. Then, there was an influx of Asian people when the Chinese began coming to America in the 1830s. This means that before the turn of the century, America was very diverse.
Jumping forward in time to the age of TV, magazines, and modern media. For a variety of reasons, these media outlets chose to focus on shows and images that primarily featured white people. Workplaces seemed to follow suit. However, as stated above, America was populated by people of all races, colors, and sexualities. These people had lives that were never displayed in popular media.
We are now starting to see things change. For some people, this may seem jarring and unfamiliar. Thus the criticism that this is all being forced on people.
So, how about this? Instead of being upset that TV and workplaces are “forcing” diversity on people, should people instead be upset at TV and workplaces for making people believe that all of these diverse people didn’t exist? It created a belief in an artificial reality that was NEVER real.
So, how about this? Instead of being upset that TV and workplaces are “forcing” diversity on people, should people instead be upset at TV and workplaces for making people believe that all of these diverse people didn’t exist? It created a belief in an artificial reality that was NEVER real.
Agreed.
They forget the fact that the reason most of their favorite heroes (or whoever they are whining about being portrayed as something other than carbon copies of themselves) are white males is because THAT IS WHAT SOLD. There is no key reason to the plot that most comic book heroes or whoever need to be white males; that decision was made based solely on economics or the whims of the white male (big shock) writer... because only white male writers could get stuff published back then. Well, guess what - people other than white males can publish their works and have money now, too, so it should be no shock when characters are portrayed as something else.
I'd have some respect for them if their whining wasn't so outlandish and unreasonable. Prime example - the most recent Star Wars movies. I've run into several right-wings who are ticked off that both movies had a strong female lead. Oh, the horror! Women should clearly be barefoot and in the kitchen - or wearing a gold bikini as a slave girl - and not actually relevant to the plot. The stupid part - in both movies (Episode 7 and Rogue One), strong male leads still outnumbered women vastly, and there was only 1 or 2 non-alien, non-white guy in both movies (Finn, black, Episode 7, and the black cyborg and the Asian blind force user in Rogue One.) When they lose it over ANYBODY other than white males being shown as heroes or leaders in popular entertainment, you know it's just bigotry, and can't be respected as a serious opinion. Heck, I'd bet Lando Calrissian didn't see this level of hatred when he debuted; sad how far things have shifted back towards crazy in recent years.
I’ve seen a few comments around C-D about diversity being forced on people. There was even the recent online controversy about the new Star Trek show that’s coming out. I wanted to approach the topic from a logical point of view.
In the beginning, the land mass that we call America was populated by people that we call “Native Americans.” Then folks from Europe arrived. So, from day 1, America was never truly a “white” country.
Then consider that the land that comprises the states of Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Wyoming was once owned by Mexico. Thus, there were Mexicans and “Mexican Indians” in America.
Of course, Black people came with slavery and some immigration. Then, there was an influx of Asian people when the Chinese began coming to America in the 1830s. This means that before the turn of the century, America was very diverse.
Jumping forward in time to the age of TV, magazines, and modern media. For a variety of reasons, these media outlets chose to focus on shows and images that primarily featured white people. Workplaces seemed to follow suit. However, as stated above, America was populated by people of all races, colors, and sexualities. These people had lives that were never displayed in popular media.
We are now starting to see things change. For some people, this may seem jarring and unfamiliar. Thus the criticism that this is all being forced on people.
So, how about this? Instead of being upset that TV and workplaces are “forcing” diversity on people, should people instead be upset at TV and workplaces for making people believe that all of these diverse people didn’t exist? It created a belief in an artificial reality that was NEVER real.
What's amusing is that males are about 48.5% of the population, non-Hispanic whites are 64% of the population, and non-LGBTQ are perhaps 95% of the population. Do the math, and less than 30% of the U.S. is straight, white and male. And yet the gnashing of the teeth starts long, long before the television SWM ratio falls that low.
They can always turn off the television if it isn't white and male enough for them.
Disclaimer: I'm straight, white and male. But I'm not so insecure as to constantly need to be reassured by seeing a preponderance of straight, white, male faces on television.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rambler123
I'd have some respect for them if their whining wasn't so outlandish and unreasonable. Prime example - the most recent Star Wars movies. I've run into several right-wings who are ticked off that both movies had a strong female lead. Oh, the horror! Women should clearly be barefoot and in the kitchen - or wearing a gold bikini as a slave girl - and not actually relevant to the plot. The stupid part - in both movies (Episode 7 and Rogue One), strong male leads still outnumbered women vastly, and there was only 1 or 2 non-alien, non-white guy in both movies (Finn, black, Episode 7, and the black cyborg and the Asian blind force user in Rogue One.) When they lose it over ANYBODY other than white males being shown as heroes or leaders in popular entertainment, you know it's just bigotry, and can't be respected as a serious opinion. Heck, I'd bet Lando Calrissian didn't see this level of hatred when he debuted; sad how far things have shifted back towards crazy in recent years.
They can practice suspension-of-belief enough to buy into faster-than-light travel, galactic empires, and the Force. But powerful women? No way!
Charlygal, I like the way you stated your premise.
I would just add that for many small town Americans in the 1950s (for example), experiencing only White people had nothing to do with any kind of prejudice. In many small towns there were no racial minorities. Take my home town of Palmyra, NY, 21 miles east of the city of Rochester. Until about 1960, there was not a single Black in our village or township. Not a single Latino. We had one Jewish family. So on a day-to-day basis, we didn't see any racial minorities except in the media. There was a form of subtle persecution in our town...very subtle...it was the birthplace of Mormonism, and the Mormons who were in Palmyra (very few) were mostly looked on as being "odd".
Then, in the first half of the 1960s, something happened in our town -- change. A single Black family moved into town. There was a sudden realization that the main insurance agent was gay. Later one Latino family moved into town, although I would have to say they were marginally Latino (in terms of culture). A foreign student in our high school was from Thailand. The Methodist minister brought African students from Cornell University to visit and sometimes stay with Methodist families for holidays and vacations. And then, the biggest shock of all, was when our town really only had one full-time practicing doctor, and he was obviously gay.
I imagine this type of transformation happened in many small towns throughout America, perhaps (just guessing) in parts of the Midwest and mountain states.
I’ve seen a few comments around C-D about diversity being forced on people. There was even the recent online controversy about the new Star Trek show that’s coming out. I wanted to approach the topic from a logical point of view.
In the beginning, the land mass that we call America was populated by people that we call “Native Americans.” Then folks from Europe arrived. So, from day 1, America was never truly a “white” country.
Then consider that the land that comprises the states of Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Wyoming was once owned by Mexico. Thus, there were Mexicans and “Mexican Indians” in America.
Of course, Black people came with slavery and some immigration. Then, there was an influx of Asian people when the Chinese began coming to America in the 1830s. This means that before the turn of the century, America was very diverse.
Jumping forward in time to the age of TV, magazines, and modern media. For a variety of reasons, these media outlets chose to focus on shows and images that primarily featured white people. Workplaces seemed to follow suit. However, as stated above, America was populated by people of all races, colors, and sexualities. These people had lives that were never displayed in popular media.
We are now starting to see things change. For some people, this may seem jarring and unfamiliar. Thus the criticism that this is all being forced on people.
So, how about this? Instead of being upset that TV and workplaces are “forcing” diversity on people, should people instead be upset at TV and workplaces for making people believe that all of these diverse people didn’t exist? It created a belief in an artificial reality that was NEVER real.
The only pushback is against those who have an agenda to destroy everything that isn't like them,
aka: radical Islam. They refuse diversity and are more than willing to murder children in their quest for their brand of Islam for all.
The only pushback is against those who have an agenda to destroy everything that isn't like them,
aka: radical Islam. They refuse diversity and are more than willing to murder children in their quest for their brand of Islam for all.
When are liberals going to get a clue?
When are you going to get a clue that you can't stereotype all liberals. Bill Maher and a number of his liberal guests have long brought this situation to the forefront. And I agree with them.
The only pushback is against those who have an agenda to destroy everything that isn't like them,
aka: radical Islam. They refuse diversity and are more than willing to murder children in their quest for their brand of Islam for all.
When are liberals going to get a clue?
When right-wing loon stop calling for somebody to "nuke the Middle East and kill them all!" perhaps, or maybe when they stop supporting the Bigot in Chief and his desire to ban all Muslims because some of them are bad people. Maybe we'll take right-wingers seriously when they stop behaving with the same malice and bigotry as the people they hate.
You are far more likely to be harmed or killed by a "Christian" male in America than a "Muslim" terrorist, but nobody cares about that. No, instead they just want to hand out more guns to everyone - even the mentally ill, violent, and irresponsible - and then act surprised when something bad happens. It's nothing but willful stupidity on the part of the far right.
Finally, there is NO difference between a bunch of violent, right-wing "Christian" thugs waving guns around and terrorizing Muslims attending services and a bunch of violent "Muslims" terrorizing non-Muslims. Misrepresenting a different holy book for your excuse doesn't justify it.
I could go on, but it won't matter in the right-wing cesspool of these forums. Don't whine about "the left" until you get the bigoted crazies in your own party under control.
I had the same upbringing as Phetaroi. Grew up in a small town in Florida where the only black person I came in contact with was our cleaning lady. Every black person lived in this one section of town, many still do although my town is completed integrated now.
My Catholic school had two black students. A few years later if we saw an interracial couple it was talked about but now people barely bat an eye and the TV commercials are finally getting on board showing interracial couples a lot. The first time we saw that was a few years ago, on a Cheerios commercial I believe, and wow what a big deal it was to some people.
The media stirs the pot on a regular basis by bringing race into almost every news story. Personally, I don't care what color someone is as long as they are a decent, law abiding member of society. They could be polka dotted for all I care.
When right-wing loon stop calling for somebody to "nuke the Middle East and kill them all!" perhaps, or maybe when they stop supporting the Bigot in Chief and his desire to ban all Muslims because some of them are bad people. Maybe we'll take right-wingers seriously when they stop behaving with the same malice and bigotry as the people they hate.
You are far more likely to be harmed or killed by a "Christian" male in America than a "Muslim" terrorist, but nobody cares about that. No, instead they just want to hand out more guns to everyone - even the mentally ill, violent, and irresponsible - and then act surprised when something bad happens. It's nothing but willful stupidity on the part of the far right.
Finally, there is NO difference between a bunch of violent, right-wing "Christian" thugs waving guns around and terrorizing Muslims attending services and a bunch of violent "Muslims" terrorizing non-Muslims. Misrepresenting a different holy book for your excuse doesn't justify it.
I could go on, but it won't matter in the right-wing cesspool of these forums. Don't whine about "the left" until you get the bigoted crazies in your own party under control.
Christianity is low on the morality scale when it comes to human ideologies - it compares poorly to humanism, and is very low compared to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Islam is even worse, demonstrably so (despite the nonsensical idea that all religions are somehow equivalent in their human effect). People left and right switch off their brains when the ideology is labeled "a religion." It gets a free pass. You've pointed out the hypocrisy of the right. Its as comical as the woman in a burka (a voluntary symbol of a homophobic and sexist ideology) speaking out against hate and bigotry at the university campus when a speaker from the wrong side of the PC fence has been invited.
Voluntary ideologies (religions) are not genetic and innate, but people sure act like they are. As though ideologies are somehow on the same level as sex, race and sexuality. They confuse respect for someone's right to believe something with respect for the beliefs themselves (however repugnant).
For those who still read books, there is an excellent American history book that tells the story of America from the perspective of "the people." American history, or sometimes known as His--Story, is usually taught from the perspective of those who were in power, or those who became wealthy, or famous, etc. But nary a word about the reality of the daily lives of the populace at large.
The book, titled, "The People's History of The United States," was written by Howard Zinn, an accomplished scholar who saw the need for a better understanding of this nation and it's often very brutal history. Getting a better understanding of how this nation was formed up politically usually calls for a truthful account of the treatment of the native population, the treatment of women, the landless, the workers who were often indentured, or outright slaves, the terrible treatment of the early day arrivals from the eastern European nations, the Chinese, and the truly unspeakable, the gays.
We've come a great distance with respect to these terrible times, but reading through the posts on CD lets us know there is much left to be concerned with. We still have Troglodytes in our midst, but "we," those who know the truth of positive change push on and hope for the rest to catch up. Yes, people should be questioning the notion of exclusion, and we as Americans should understand our own sordid history relative to that exclusivity that once was seen as normal...
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