Reminds me of a thing that I learnt a few years ago: There is no such thing as an average person. As soon as you look at more than a handful of statistics, noone is within 1 sd of the mean in all of them. The US air force found this out when trying to design a cockpit for the average person, and then found that noone could use it effectively. That's why you should always design for the extremes, and then the design is better for everyone (see curb cut effect).
I see what theyâre going for and I think itâs good to have diverse perspectives represented, but if you actually said this to a âwhite cis guy is the defaultâ person they would just tell you âthis is America, not China, and white cis guy is the default here. Just look at who is rich and successful.â Itâs not the gotcha the original poster thinks it is because itâs appealing to a greater view of the world than the racist, sexist person wants to have.
If someone told me the protagonist should be a white guy I wouldnât directly tell them theyâre wrong, Iâd express my own counter opinion that I donât want to see the same thing over and over again, I want to see new stuff, and seeing another white dude is boring and therefore kinda lame. Maybe point to accessible movies like how Annihilation has cool action and visuals but also a distinctly feminine aspect that distinguishes it from something like Oblivion. Or how Everything Everywhere All at Once has a scene about someone giving up the life they had to emigrate to another country and the feelings that came from that which a standard white dude wonât feel.
Edit: Sorry, I missed which community this is. Feel free to remove my comment if itâs not appropriate.
Yeah it's so ableist to imply that any deviation from the ""default"" is somehow less privileged to consideration, like that's a good and natural thing.
It's also fascist imo: like you can leave the others, the exceptions, the odds, the weak, etc, all behind because well of course it's natural to only consider your platonic standard virtual person thing and discard anyone who can't fit into that mold
I remember that. It was a thing in that people said it and appeared to believe it. It was not a thing in that Harry Potter was not ever at any point in history the "only role model" for boys.
Absolutely not. I recall Chuck Palahniuk saying there weren't enough male role models for the average guy once and thought he was full of shit, too.
I grew up idolizing male role models because there weren't enough strong women in popular media. Then 28 Days Later came out and I was like... holy fuck - a woman with a machete who does not fuck around. It opened my eyes to more kick ass women in history and media.
24 Comments
TechieDamien@lemmy.ml · 43 pts · 40d
Reminds me of a thing that I learnt a few years ago: There is no such thing as an average person. As soon as you look at more than a handful of statistics, noone is within 1 sd of the mean in all of them. The US air force found this out when trying to design a cockpit for the average person, and then found that noone could use it effectively. That's why you should always design for the extremes, and then the design is better for everyone (see curb cut effect).
Float@startrek.website · 34 pts · 40d
The average human is a Chinese guy named Mohammed Wang
ZDL@lazysoci.al · 8 pts · 39d
The average married couple is Mohammed Wang and his wife Mary Li.
GalacticSushi@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 38d
With slightly less than 1 testicle
LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone · 25 pts · 40d
I think this says a lot about how non white people are literally whitewashed out of the world. white isn't average it's just dominant
sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 40d
And it's not even genetically dominant! đ
birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 40d
The average human also has more than 206 bones
Palerider@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 40d
And less than two legs and two arms...
birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 38d
Depends, are there more fetuses/feti/fetodes/fitice than people who lack one or more limbs?
Wren@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 40d
And that number fluctuates, like right now I have chicken wings in the freezer.
somethingsnappy@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 40d
Thank you for reminding me to take my bones out of the freezer. I like you!
fartographer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 39d
Y- ... Your own bones?
Jaycifer@piefed.social · 7 pts · 39d
I see what theyâre going for and I think itâs good to have diverse perspectives represented, but if you actually said this to a âwhite cis guy is the defaultâ person they would just tell you âthis is America, not China, and white cis guy is the default here. Just look at who is rich and successful.â Itâs not the gotcha the original poster thinks it is because itâs appealing to a greater view of the world than the racist, sexist person wants to have.
If someone told me the protagonist should be a white guy I wouldnât directly tell them theyâre wrong, Iâd express my own counter opinion that I donât want to see the same thing over and over again, I want to see new stuff, and seeing another white dude is boring and therefore kinda lame. Maybe point to accessible movies like how Annihilation has cool action and visuals but also a distinctly feminine aspect that distinguishes it from something like Oblivion. Or how Everything Everywhere All at Once has a scene about someone giving up the life they had to emigrate to another country and the feelings that came from that which a standard white dude wonât feel.
Edit: Sorry, I missed which community this is. Feel free to remove my comment if itâs not appropriate.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 40d
Yeah it's so ableist to imply that any deviation from the ""default"" is somehow less privileged to consideration, like that's a good and natural thing.
It's also fascist imo: like you can leave the others, the exceptions, the odds, the weak, etc, all behind because well of course it's natural to only consider your platonic standard virtual person thing and discard anyone who can't fit into that mold
Zos_Kia@jlai.lu · 6 pts · 40d
Isn't that kind of the point of everything everywhere all at once?
arcine@jlai.lu · 5 pts · 39d
Suggestion : Draw characteristics of your characters randomly, weighted by how common they actually are in our world.
Taleya@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 40d
I remember when people were decrying the fact "The only role model our boys have is harry potter!" Because everything else was too female or foreign
Wren@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 39d
I don't remember that. When was it a thing?
ZDL@lazysoci.al · 4 pts · 39d
I remember that. It was a thing in that people said it and appeared to believe it. It was not a thing in that Harry Potter was not ever at any point in history the "only role model" for boys.
Wren@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 39d
Absolutely not. I recall Chuck Palahniuk saying there weren't enough male role models for the average guy once and thought he was full of shit, too.
I grew up idolizing male role models because there weren't enough strong women in popular media. Then 28 Days Later came out and I was like... holy fuck - a woman with a machete who does not fuck around. It opened my eyes to more kick ass women in history and media.
Taleya@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 39d
Turn of the century. I'm old 'n shit.
JustTheWind@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 39d
Tell me you have never consumed any form of Chinese media without telling me.
Soup@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 39d
Wren@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 37d
Did you see the rules for this community?
Soup@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 36d
Came from all, didnât notice, deleted.