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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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I very much doubt anyone in the head offices of Amazon or Sony or Disney is saying "Fuck next quarter's earnings, we need more diversity in this place, dammit!"

The thing is, I think they really are saying that, they just don't realize they are saying that. I'll skip RoP, because, while not great, I'd say it's also not awful (although it's trending downwards). Instead, look at Wheel of Time, which was a major shitshow, and one where the woke aspects really ruined the story. Isolated village where exceptional character stands out now looks like a NY subway stop. Central tenet of the entire magic system and primary plot point depends on differences between the magic of men and women, and they undermine that, claiming the dragon can be a woman. Some of the most noble characters are undermined so the women can look better.

It really really hurt that show, and I think it must have been somewhat clear it would.

Diversity within the different groups really screws with the story. It seems especially silly since there are so many different groups which were already represented in the source material.

An actual faithful telling of the story would be very diverse and show a substantial amount of gender equality without undermining the story.

In the source material there are several intercultural and interracial relationships that just vanish if there aren’t any different cultures or races to begin with.

In this particular case it really feels like they used dei as a weapon to rub it into the fans’ noses instead of either telling the story or making any valuable points about gender/race/culture.