Maybe they didn't count as consumers?
Well, if they didn't count, then I wonder why. Could it be because of racism?
But difference itself is a very good thing. I don't think we want to be colourblind in every aspect. Of course we do when it comes to equal opportunities.
I think different
should be a good thing, but the world tells me it's not. Too many homophobes, too many misogynists, too many racists and too many rich looking down on the poor. As a teacher, I hear more than enough from pupils that tell me they would not like to be different from others.
I think that
if everyone agreed that different is good, we wouldn't have this much hatred towards people who are different.
I don't think we should be colourblind, but I also don't think that it should be pointed out so much that people who are black are (add qualities), people who are from a poor neighbourhood are (add qualities) and people who are gay are (add qualities). Black person A can be a whole lot more like White person A rather than Black person B. Just because they are both black doesn't mean they have anything in common. A lesbian woman doesn't necessarily look butch. And a woman who looks butch mustn't naturally be lesbian. But people tend to ascribe qualities based on colour, sexual orientation, gender etc. Probably not even on purpose, but just because it's what society has taught them. No one is born a racist after all. I think logically we can say it and think it, but we are taught something else by patterns in society that we don't analyse or think twice about.
I think we have free will to some extent, but since we were born, we have been drilled by the society we live in and it has shaped us as humans. So as much as I would like to think I am 0% racist, 0% homophobic, 0% misogynist etc, I really don't think that I am. I have barely scraped the surface of social studies that try to uncover hidden patterns in society, but the little that I have read and been educated about makes me doubt it. It's not like I would be labelled those unflattering names, but I grew up in a society where the white straight rich man has all privileges possible. I check most those boxes myself except "rich" and "male". How could that not have formed me? How could the "normal" when I grew up not have shaped me? Social studies and psychology tell me that people don't like being different in a way that will cause others to look down on me. We are not encouraged to be too different. If we are to be different, we must be better different. Better than the normal. French philosopher wrote books about how we all self-police to fit in as good as we possibly can so society won't judge us as deviants. It was true in the 1970s and it's true now. Social media screams it. We don't post pictures of ourselves where we think we look bad. We want to show off our happiness and how nice we are. We post pictures of our food only when the food looks good or is special to humble brag.
But......... what is the solution? I only really write about all the problems I see as though I knew what the solution is. But I really don't have a clue. If I did, I'd write a book. But I am convinced the solution isn't easy and that the problems are so deeply rooted in society that no one has uncovered it all.
To tie it back to the topic of TV Series, I don't blame the showrunners for their ignorance. I think we are all ignorant, me included. But I do have a problem with showrunners casting one black actor among all white actors and thinking that shows that they so awesome and upstanding people for showing diversity. Keep on casting people of colour, but don't think you're angelic for it. No one will pat you on the back for getting up from bed in the morning. No one should pat you on the back for hiring a person of colour either. You're not the Messiah for doing so. Especially not if you will keep on pointing out that the person is of colour, or worse - writing the character as being different from the "normal" whities. Like Raj on The Big Bang Theory as an example.
