The Doctor Strange controversy — combined with thepush to cast an Asian American actor as the title character Danny Rand aka Iron Fist — has been buzzing for the last couple months. With the release of the first official trailer for Doctor Strange, Marvel’s next would-be blockbuster movie after Captain America: Civil War, the controversy has reached an all time high. So much so that a Marvel spokesperson gave this statement to Mashable regarding the casting of Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One in Doctor Strange:
“Marvel has a very strong record of diversity in its casting of films and regularly departs from stereotypes and source material to bring its MCU to life. The Ancient One is a title that is not exclusively held by any one character, but rather a moniker passed down through time, and in this particular film the embodiment is Celtic. We are very proud to have the enormously talented Tilda Swinton portray this unique and complex character alongside our richly diverse cast.”
Is this statement true though? Has Marvel Studios really pushed diversity in their movies? Have they increased the visibility of marginalized peoples in their film franchise or television properties? Has Marvel Studios subverted stereotypes? Enough to supposedly excuse recent controversies surrounding Doctor Strange and Iron Fist?
Native Americans weren’t allowed US citizenship until 1924.
Let that sink in. We lived here first…for thousands of years. And less than a hundred years ago we were finally given citizenship.
We also fought in WWI despite not being US citizens.
In Arizona, natives weren’t granted the right to vote until 1948. Think how that type of neglect ties into resource colonization as infrastructure was developed within years prior.
In addition: the indigenous peoples of Canada were not recognized as Human Beings until the year 1960. Now let that shit sink in.
In the US it wasn’t until 1968 that the Indian Civil Rights Act was passed and allowed for the right to freedom of speech / assembly / press, a jury trial, the right to an attorney etc. It’s so fucking frustrating.
and it wasn’t until 1978 that we were legally allowed to practice our own religions. in a nation founded on religious freedoms, it was illegal to practice our own religions. in our own country. how fucked up is that?
Aaaand Native Americans weren’t entitled to their own languages (had no legal rights to teach them in their schools, use them in business) until the Native American Language Act of 1990.
I teach this to my students, because NONE of it is in a single textbook. This is and act of indoctrination
Boosting because I didn’t know any of this.
These facts should be known by all.
One of the biggest problems with religion is that people stubbornly, insistently reduce God to their own size; they imagine that God loves the same people they love, and that God hates the people they hate. This is not just insidious theology; it’s actually idolatry, because people are just worshiping a blown up version of themselves. So let me say it simply: God’s love transcends all of that.
When your parents reject you, God loves you; when your friends or classmates make fun of you, God loves you; when your priest, minister, imam, or rabbi tells you that you are an abomination, God loves you; when politicians cater to people’s basest prejudices, God loves you. No matter how many times and in how many ways people make you feel less than human, God knows otherwise, and God loves you. When you feel frightened, or abandoned, or humiliated, I hope the unshakeable conviction that God loves you can help hold you and enable you to persevere.
if u think teenage girls are crazed and hormonal and irrational you should see what happens when you tell a grown ass man “no”
I brought this up to my mom recently and my brother overheard and he was like “NO, WOMEN ARE FUCKING PSYCHOS” and I kind of just looked at my mom like point proven.
1. white racists (like you “good” whites’ uncles, grandmas, neighbors, and friends) only change their behavior when they are confronted by other whites with more status.
2. when Black people confront the racists attacking us, they just pile on harder because they get a kick out of knowing they’ve gotten to us.
tl;dr – just like Black people have been telling you for decades, it’s up to whites to end racism and you can’t do it by remaining friends with your cousin and grandma who voted Trump because “fuck political correctness”.
Overall, I had four types of bots: High Follower/White; Low Follower/White; High Follower/Black; and Low Follower/Black. My prediction
was that messages from the different types of bots would function
differently. I thought High Follower/White bots would have the largest
effect, while Low Follower/Black bots would have only a minimal effect.
I
expected the white bots to be more effective than the black bots
because all of my subjects were themselves white, and there is evidence
that messages about social norms from the “in-group” are more effective
than messages from the “out-group.” Race does not always define
in-group/out-group status, but because these subjects were engaged in
racist harassment, I thought that this was the most relevant group
identity.
The primary behavior I hoped to change with my
intervention was the subjects’ use of racist slurs. I tracked each
subject’s Twitter use for two months and calculated the change in the
use of a particular racial slur.
Only one of the four types of
bots caused a significant reduction in the subjects’ rate of tweeting
slurs: the white bots with 500 followers. The graph below shows that
this type of bot caused each subject to tweet the slur 0.3 fewer times
per day in the week after being sanctioned.
Roughly 35 percent of subjects provided some personal information on
their profile. The effects of my messages on this subset — that is, non
anonymous Twitter users — were strikingly different. Tweets from white
bots with 500 followers did not cause a significant change in these
users’ behavior, but tweets from black bots with few followers (the type
of bots that I thought would have a minimal effect) actually caused an increase in the use of racist slurs.
For those wondering “what more can I do?”
Here’s an idea for speaking up upside our echo chambers, that sounds like it might do some good.
Based on the findings in the study – and I would be the first to tell you that people behave differently online than off, and anonymity adds another layer to that – I actually think this study supports the personal findings of many white millennials with racist family members: if the racist acquaintance doesn’t consider you higher status than themselves, anything you say to them is ignored or met with worse behavior.
People who regularly say this crap (online, with anonymity) apparently care about status, so now is the time to put your privilege to good work.
So maybe racist grandma or uncle won’t change because you call them out, but your 10 year old cousin who is parroting your uncle might well take your opinion to heart. You’re unlikely to get your boss to stop being such a dick, but your coworkers and peers you may be able to herd into better language, or at least better language in public (which is still a small win). You might not be able to tell the coach that that isn’t okay, but you can get your teammates to not use that word anymore.
My bet would be that this viewpoint on status and marginalized group membership extends to quite a few other categories, too. Those of us in the marginalized group – another ethnic subgroup, or queer, or disabled, chronically ill, neurodivergent, etc – speaking out against bigoted language are likely to be met with unchanged or worse behavior, but someone with status from outside the marginalized group can say hey, that’s not cool, let’s find better words here.
Look to your peers, especially the older you are. We can’t put all of this on millennials when older generations perceive them as so low status. Look to your subordinates and followers, especially the more popular you are, the more people seem to value your opinion. This is the one instance where punching down seems to be the way to actually help.
In the Netherlands, abortion is freely available on demand. Yet the Netherlands boasts the lowest abortion rate in the world, about 6 abortions per 1000 women per year, and the complication and death rates for abortion are miniscule. How do they do it? First of all, contraception is widely available and free — it’s covered by the national health insurance plan. Holland also carries out extensive public education on contraception, family planning, and sexuality. An ethic of personal responsibility for one’s sexual activity is strongly promoted. Of course, some people say that teaching kids about sex and contraception will only encourage them to have lots of sex. But Dutch teenagers tend to have less frequent sex, starting at an older age, than American teenagers, and the Dutch teenage pregnancy rate is 9 times lower than in the U.S.
I endorse evidence-based medicine, and evidence-based activism.
I feel like an important message is trying to be communicated to me but I have no idea what it is
Our forests are being cut down 3x faster than they can grow! One acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees!!! This is super useful for so many things, especially paper production! In addition, hemp takes in carbon dioxide 4x as fast as trees do, which makes it especially valuable in the act of reducing CO2 emissions/greenhouse gases! 🌲🌲🌲 source
Important reminder that industrial hemp can’t be used as a recreational drug, so if anyone tries to pull that card you can just stop them then and there. There are no real arguments against using industrial hemp, even if you’re rigidly against the legalization of any recreational drugs.
also, hemp can be used for a comfortable and breezy fabric, and requires WAY less water and fertilizer than cotton.
Steel Phoenix Studios 