Comfortable Nightmares
I have taken just about all I can of our current culture in the US. Everyone thinks they know what’s best for everyone else. What ever happened to live and let live?
For example, my mom swoons for the Orange Clump. I love my mom, so I don’t talk to her about it. Sometimes she’ll bring it up, and things will get tense, but I’m not going to not have a relationship with my mother over it.
And yet, I have seen so many people trashing new shows/movies over their selection of non-white-male actors for their characters. Their motto is “Go woke, go broke,” as if Hollywood relies on the dollars of narrow-minded twats how can’t seem to realize that straight, white men only make up about 25% of the population of the United States, and therefore, should only be represented about 25 percent of the time.
What kills me is that these same people claim that “the woke crowd” are always bringing up “identity politics.” How is being pissed that a mermaid is black not about race? How is feeling emasculated by a strong female superhero who doesn’t wear skimpy outfits and who talks about the real bullshit that women deal with on a daily basis not about feeling threatened by women?
People are literally demonizing Disney because they’re trying to be more inclusive.
Remember the Great American Melting pot? I remember being taught about it in grade school, but the only time I ever remember seeing any example of it was when I began teaching at my own alma mater, and our school hosted International Week. All nationalities were represented and celebrated.
The America that I learned about in the 70s does not exist. I’m not sure that it ever did.
I’m tired of it.
I miss the America I grew up believing in.
Hey Cuz! Whenever The Little Mermaid thing came out and people were upset, I saw on Twitter that people were discussing the “Gingercide.” As a ginger, I was curious. The whole thing is they claim that redheads are being recast as people of color, so they are wiping out the redheads in tv and film. I rolled my eyes.
I would just love it if people noticed the hypocrisy. The same people who whine when some jerk gets banned from Twitter are the same people trying to get books banned.
I would like people to wait and judge based on the final product. I wasn’t sold on Robert Pattinson as Batman and I ended up loving his version. When I heard Daniel Radcliffe was going to be playing Weird Al in a movie, I was confused. Once I saw the trailer, I thought it looked amazing. I need to watch that trailer again.
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OH! And I think the most difficult part of things is reminding ourselves that people can have “bad” beliefs and still be good people. Your family seemed extremely pleasant and nice. I enjoyed talking with them. So no part of me thinks your mom is evil, right? Most of my family have different political beliefs than I do and I know they’re not bad people. Life is very gray, not black and white.
@heffay yep!
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I’m real glad the 1970s went away. It was fun as a teen but I grew up where “n” words were not allowed. There was ONE black child in the whole school and they moved away pretty quickly because of threats and harassment. In the 70s my father fondled a high school student and was allowed to retire (after four years) and nobody batted an eye. A girl in the grade below me was impregnated by our High School English teacher… nothing was said. She probably seduced him… yeah I’m glad those days are gone.
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America in the ’50s was a melting pot. Despite segregation and voting rights, there was a positive spirit. Those in my town were reaching out embracing diversity before it was hip to do that. I look at my 11th grandchild who is blind to color, race, creed, sexual orientation. He is 10. He gets it without mentioning he is autistic and has his own challenges. 😎
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Yeah, I miss that America too. But was it ever “real”? Is it “real” now? I like that our society is inclusive (or more so anyway) and get frustrated when others want to perpetuate stereotypes.
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Schoolhouse Rock and the Great American Melting Pot! Love it. I still sing that song in my head sometimes because it reminds me that once it did exist, but not anymore. And yet, we are more of a melting pot in America than ever before. It makes me sad that people can be so narrow in their thinking.
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