Prejudice

So, something happened with a friend of mine who had worked at the same gas station for more than twelve years. This friend is the only employee to have ever worked there that long - not even the manager has been there that long. Yet, my friend was fired a couple of weeks for making a supposedly derogatory comment.

It was something that was a joke, maybe an inappropriate one, but the person my friend said it to found it funny. And the only reason it got back to the bosses, was because some nosy jerk was listening in rather than doing their own job.

My friend was within seven years of their retirement. And to be treated like that, to be fired, with no warning and no chance to defend themself... I find it truly disheartening.

This leads me to a topic that's becoming very relevant in today's world. And that is how every comment and opinion of late is being almost immediately esqueed as being racist, bigotist, sexist, etc.

Over and over recently, I've noticed this.

Now, let me be honest. I was raised with very prejudiced parents, and to this day that effects me. I often struggle to not react with my first instinct. There's so much that I was raised believing, and a lot of that, now that I'm an adult, I find really hard to not perpetuate.

It's not something that you can just decide and then get over with a snap of the fingers. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. I wish it did.

Now, here's the truth. There's been a lot of things (mostly movies) that have been coming out in the last few years that have been bugging me. But I thought I'd talk about the most relevant ones.

So, let's begin with Jason Momoa. I'm not a hundred percent certain what the first thing was I saw him in, though I remember finding him to be complete eye candy for the few episodes that he was in GoT. I stand by that opinion. I think he's hot. But I do not like him as Aquaman. Now I grew up reading the comics and used to watch the show, so I wanted a lean blonde actor to play the role  - who, yes, should have been white. Is it racist that I dislike him as Aquaman? I don't think so, but maybe.

Another one that has bugged me is Will Smith as Genie. Now let me make this clear, this is all about the role and him. There are plenty of black actors who I think could have made a great Genie (Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Chris Young, etc... just to name a few). Will Smith isn't one of them.I do like Will Smith, I find him to be a great actor, with amazing skill, but I don't find him to be the slightest bit comedic.

And perhaps the most recent upset, almost the entire cast that has so far been announced for The Little Mermaid. Now, I will say this, I really don't like who they've case as Ariel, and I'm not a hundred percent sure why. Is some of it about color, possibly like five percent, but that's really not my biggest issue with her - though I can't pinpoint what it is. Would I have preferred someone who was looked more like the  original Ariel, yes. But I also would have been happy with a handful spanish actresses or asian, or even someone like China Anne McClain playing her (though I freely admit, with her playing Ursula's daughter in the Descendants movies, that would have been a bit confusing). Like I said, I can't pinpoint what it is that I don't like about Halle Bailey, I just don't. And who knows, she may surprise me. I will say this, if Idris Elba is cast as Triton, I'd absolutely adore that. There's also talks of Melissa McCarthy being on the short list for The Little Mermaid, and while I love her, I got to say, I don't think she's a good fit for the role (maybe because I don't think I've ever seen her play a villain).

But I want to go one step farther and say, I really haven't liked any of the Disney Live Action Remakes so far, except Maleficent (and that was all because of Angelina Jolie... okay, maybe two percent of it was about Elle Fanning). I also flat-out despise the silver screen DC extended universe. In my opinion the movies (on both fronts) so far have sucked. Sorry.

.... .... ....

Anyways, I got off topic, or maybe I didn't. The fact is that prejudice isn't always the reason a person has an opinion about something. As humans, we have a right to be upset if we don't like something. We have a right to express that opinion too. We shouldn't immediately be attacked because we voice that opinion.