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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1078 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 5, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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"Representation" should be defined for this comment thread as people of diverse backgrounds being seen as protagonists, deuteragonists, and antagonists in fiction, being elected representatives, and being hired for visible jobs at management/executive levels.

Is Representation a primary goal of the progressive project? Or is it a secondary goal, a virtue signal for societal diversity, since it can be seen as a sign that oppression has ceased, a sign that diverse people should be expected walking around in public, using services, present in labor jobs, and other signs of diverse social integration?

Unsurprisingly, the replies you've gotten are not particularly charitable to the progressive project.

The progressive project is anti-hierarchy and believes in equality of all humans, that no person or demographic should have power over another. The other replies are mostly some variety of assuming that that's a lie and obviously it must be about instituting some replacement hierarchy to the one currently in place.

In that view, Representation is not the primary goal but serves multiple purposes. The primary purpose is merely a proxy for the success of that project: if all demographics are truly equal then their visible Representation should be equal. Although also if you're talking about elected representatives, the power part is pretty direct, not just about visibility. There's also a secondary purpose of visible Representation being a role model / propaganda for showing that better world is possible (or, as Bombadil points out, accurately depicting the existing world).

Thank you, Actual Progressive. I intuit, then, that unrepresentative depictions/hiring/election results are taken as evidence (not proof) that oppression or bullying has kept the depiction from being representative?

not a prog but yes, my understanding is that its an equality of outcome type phenomenon. If people were truly equal then the outcomes would also be equal and the fact that they are not is representation of some hidden inequality that we just can't see yet.

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