I always find it so funny when people bitch about ‘forced diversity’.
because, like, once you work retail you start to see just how different everybody is.
for example, the other day I greeted a woman I was ringing up and started asking her the usual questions we’re supposed to ask (if they have a rewards card, etc) and she made a gesture pointing to her ear and mouthed ‘I’m deaf’.
and I was just like ‘Oh’, and so I skipped over the questions and just gave her a nice smile instead of the usual schpiel we’re supposed to give. she thanked me in sign language and smiled back before walking away.
and that’s just one tiny example. she was just one customer of hundreds that shift. that’s not even mentioning all the other types of people I ring in a day, of all ages, body sizes, races/skin colors, and gender expression.
it’s like…that’s how the world is.
when people say having diversity in a fictional universe seems ‘false’ or ‘forced’, that says to me that they must exist in a very homogenous, sheltered environment. because even working for a company that has a rather disproportionately-high white middle-class customer demographic, I still see more diversity on any given day than I tend to ever see in books and movies and TV shows.
it’s just kind of laughable to me when people say a movie/book/franchise has “too much” diversity. because there’s no such thing.
When they say diversity is being ‘forced’ they are saying “It’s bad enough I have to tolerate your existence here in this world. I don’t want to have to ever think about you in a fictional one.”
