Unpopular opinion: Representation, Diversity, and Inclusion

Before I begin, please note that the following is just my opinion. It is not my intention to offend anyone, incite violence, or worse.

So, last year, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor started a national “awakening”, if you will. People were finally noticing how African Americans were being treated in this “free” country. Changes were made. One big one has been that only African American actors voice African American characters.

I have two points on this. First, it is amazing how quick this unofficial edict (this isn’t something that has to be done, it’s just looks good, i guess?) went into action. Yet, here we are nearly a year later and nothing has been done about institutional racism, disproportionate income equality, unarmed black me being gunned down by police ,etc, but sure making sure black characters are only voiced by black actors was something that just HAD to be done ASAP

The next point I want to make is how ridiculous it is to exclude actors of any color from voicing other races. Have I mentioned that this whole thing seems to only apply to African American characters? There has been no movement for Asians, Indians (save for Apu on The Simpsons), etc., and those roles tend to be far more stereotypical and/or offensive. My thought this whole time is that the best actor gets the role. If we want to make sure only black actors voice black characters, then shouldn’t it be the same for every race? Shouldn’t we also have aliens voicing aliens, robots voicing robots, demons voicing demons, animals voicing animals? Where is the proverbial line drawn?

I also want to spend a little time talking about (over)representation. Look, I’m all for diversity and inclusion but, if TV/movies are to be believed, every other person you meet is either gay or trans, redheads don’t exist, males…particularly straight white males…are the root of all evil, etc.

Every show I watch these days has random gay/trans characters inserted in for no good reason. Look, I’m all for being yourself and letting your truth be known and all, but in terms of representation, there aren’t as many LGBTQ+ people as the media would have us believe. A friend of mine, who happens to be the B in the alphabet, brought this up to me the other day. Look at your friends. Chances are maybe…just maybe….1 out of 20 of them identify as something other than straight, compared to the estimated 1 out of 3 that we see in entertainment these days.

I have a thing for redheads, so this next part of my post hurts my hearts. Quietly, our beloved ginger characters are being erased. For some strange reason, casting directors are replacing them with African American actors. I don’t know what that’s about, but I want answers!!! Why are the redheads being wiped out? What kind of Hollywood conspiracy is this?

Hollywood has pretty much determined that straight white males are the devil. No, seriously, look at anything that has come out in the last 5- 10 yrs. There may be a straight white guy starring in it, but you can all but be assured he will be assisted by a female (who will likely take the spotlight), a minority of some sort, and possibly a member of the LGBTQ+ community. In the last few years, it seems as if films and TV shows are going out of their way to vilify white males. What is the purpose of this? Is it in the name of diversity? 

When it all comes down to it, we cannot have diversity and inclusion the way Hollywood is trying to steer us. They seem to want to erase redheads and have everyone believe the white man is the devil. Also, with all this talk of representation, why is it that Native Americans are only mentioned when there is talk about offensive sports team nicknames? To be truly diverse and inclusive, all races, creeds, colors, religions, species, etc need to be included as equals and, as anyone who knows US History will tell you, that is just something that this country has never…and possibly will never…get on board with.

As I said before, is it really necessary for black actors to voice black characters? No. Seriously, there are people who lost their jobs over this ridiculousness. People who have been voicing their characters for longer than the twitter mob that called for all this have been alive. Yes, their hearts were in the right place and I get what they were going for but, again, there are much more pressing problems affecting the African American community than if Cleveland Brown is voiced by a white man. Maybe they should have jumped into looking at those problems instead of trying to “fix” the “problem” of voice actors who aren’t the race of their characters.

Thanks for reading!

Mystery Man

Unpopular opinion: 9/11

As we all know, yesterday was the anniversary of 9/11. As we get further and further away from that day, I have noticed less and less reverence, for lack of a better word, for the events that transpired on that fateful day. Sure, there are moments of silence, wreaths laid on tombs, bells rung in memoriam, and the president takes a break from sending out tweets attacking celebrities for no reason to visit the site…at least I think he did, not sure if it actually happened, though.

This came across my facebook feed this morning

This got me thinking, following those attacks we, as a country, were the most united we’ve been since WWII! There were no republicans and democrats. No liberals and conservatives. No one mentioned how rich or poor they were. No one cared about Popeyes vs Chick-Fil-A. We truly were the UNITED States of America.

As anyone in the world can see, we are from those days now. Gun control, immigration, emboldened and resurgent racism spurned on by that Cheeto currently holding office. Coincidentally, before 9/11, George W. Bush wasn’t exactly the most popular man in politics, either, mostly because many feel he stole the election, but in the face of a national tragedy, he stepped up and led. I am no fan of W, but I give credit where credit is due.

All this leads me to an opinion that is sure to be controversial, or maybe even unpopular. To bring this severely splintered country back together, we need another 9/11.

Hear me out! I am not wishing to go through that horror again. Nor am i advocating it so that Cheeto (can you tell I am not a fan of the guy in office?) can get a boost in approval, thus guaranteeing his re-election. I am, however, saying we need some sort of event to happen that brings more of less hits the reboot button on the country.

We have become a bit too complacent in our existence. The slogan, “Make America Great Again”, may have sounded good and looked great on merchandise, but when was America ever truly great? We have a history of slavery, murder, corruption, late night lynchings and rapes, blacklisting, not helping those less fortunate, genocide, etc, etc. Is it any wonder we were attacked? I’m just surprised it hasn’t been done before and/or more often.

With all this said, everything happens for a reason. What was the reason for us enduring such horrendous acts that killed thousands of people, forever changing this country? I do not know, but there is a plan behind it all and we must trust in it the process.

Ok, this was a bit of a serious post. If I do more of these unpopular opinion things, they won’t all be like this.

Thanks for reading!

Mystery Man