The Danger In Today's Excessive Focus On Representing Women & Racial Minorities In Entertainment To Build Self Esteem

I watch a lot of entertainment and entertainment industry video blogs nowadays, and I've been wondering if it may be possible to get at least one report in which someone isn't either praised or chastised for their decisions based solely on how many or few female and non-white characters and talent are created and hiredhired. I'm not opposed to diversity in and of itself, but the intensity of this whole issue of representation, if not the actual issue, is getting a bit ridiculous and looks like it could easily backfire and cause even more of the dreaded "divisiveness" everyone talks about... Because I guess it's a tragedy when people disagree nowadays, but I digress. Maybe nobody cares because I'm still a white male, but I've lived all of my life so far with noticeable joint dislocations and deformities as well as a tracheotomy in my neck (though I've met brave souls enduring far worse things), yet not once while growing up or for a majority of my adulthood did I ever think something like, "You know, I might have more self esteem and more easily relate to and empathize with these characters if they looked more and were visibly disabled or handicapped like me... especially the humans and aliens with superpowers that actually don't fully or accurately represent ANYONE on this Earth and in this reality."

Blatant discrimination is one thing and should NEVER be tolerated when and where it obviously exists.  Though not yet in the form of enforceable law, however, this subversive trend of what I can only describe for now as artistic and creative affirmative action is not only imposing and restrictive to and of creators, but I think that - in the case of young people, particularly - it's teaching them to tie too much of their self esteem and how much they may have to something that is otherwise of superficial value and is not only out of their control, but often presenting unrealistic representations, anyway! Furthermore, it risks making representation in Hollywood movies and television shows an unofficial replacement or substitute for the more meaningful and valuable love and encouragement that builds self esteem that is not so vulnerable to outside forces... Not unlike the way that television and video games have been alleged to have replaced parents and/or babysitters just to keep kids occupied and relatively quiet and safe. It's too easy and maybe even manipulative to come back and say something like, "But too many kids in minority, non-white communities lack that kind of support by no fault of their own because of poverty and broken families and communitiescommunities." Yet, even if true for now, simply accepting this and even exploiting it as a perpetually divisive political weapon instead of offering more encouragement as well as possible incentive and accountability is, I think, devious as well as hypocritical.

Wonder Woman was created to be something of a feminist icon and, given the times surrounding the character's creation, it's understandable how even her fictitious existence might have inspired great confidence and even some much needed social change. The same could be said for great characters like Black Panther and the John Stewart Green Lantern. In today's world, however, diversity, tolerance, and equality of rights is not only encouraged, but mandated by law while ideas and the promotion of multiculturalism and globalism are (as far as I know) even baked into a good deal of at least public school curriculums from start to finish. Thus, when I read that the existence and emphasis upon fictional characters like the immortal goddess Wonder Woman, who is raised on a hidden island of only women, and a lot of the more powerful and extraterrestrial characters in the STAR WARS universe are so socially important, I worry that the goal is no longer EQUAL treatment, but perhaps what some seem to believe is and see as a statistically and historically justified policy of special treatment and even privilege. If so, then how is that NOT ultimately divisive and even just a little vindictive? It's as if the underlying problem has become more valuable to certain groups than a solution that truly, literally levels the proverbial playing ground even while the latter is still what is most often, yet perhaps disingenuously called for and demanded.