Written by Otaku Apologist
I haven’t spoken much about the diversity of my company because I don’t want that to be a selling point. The absolute only aspect that should matter is that we produce media you enjoy. Our competence as media creators is the only thing that should matter, in an ideal world that will never exist.
Despite my very deep antipathy towards leftist ideologes, I’ve found myself doing things in the way they should consider ideal. Holding people to the same standards, giving chances to everyone, allowing them to show their abilities and express their unique personalities in their work. None of that requires as much ham-fisted force as leftists think.
I have been running this freelance network since 2015. Without even trying to fill quotas, roughly half my staff has become women. Various sexualities and religions have a good representation too, with gay and trans people just accidentally slipping into the roster. Despite the fact that I’m a very, very white middle-class man with strong views leaning on rightwing-conservative thought. Because I value competence over race or sex or ideological leanings.
It doesn’t require force, quotas, penalties. Diversity happens naturally in a competitive free market.
However, in a rigid corporate environment, governed by strict laws set by society, the threat of legal penalties and other incentives and social dynamics create the very framework where intervention may seem necessary, to reach this otherwise natural ideal. When leftists argue for more diversity and inclusion in the business world, they talk about corporations. They couldn’t possibly be talking about small businesses, as anybody can start one. There is no glass-ceiling for a self-appointed CEO.
If you can’t get through interviews because the recruiters are, in your opinion, racist, sexist, or whatever, then you should start your own business. If you are as competent as you believe, that the recruiters are idiots for not hiring you, finding success in the free market should be a piece of cake for you.
In fact, if you are truly competent, the rigid corporate environment will only hold you back. And if you feel that most media is racist, sexist, homophobic, or whatever, and diverse voices are being silenced, you should create your own media.
What you should not do is usurp other people’s intellectual property, to clandestinely push your fringe ideological views. Respect the goddamn source material. There is no mass market for that. You won’t be successful. The very diversity you love so much is the obstacle. People will not resonate with your message, because it’s targeting too small of a group.
In a liberal democracy, the value of people’s individuality is elevated to a ludicruous degree, meaning, almost everyone finds themselves struggling to find like-minded people they have something in common with. A sense of isolation, like nobody really understands your depth, is a natural product of the liberal democracy system that overvalues individuality.
This is a feature, not a bug, in the western democratic model. You will deviate from encompassing social norms, because you have the freedom to do so.
You will evolve as a personality so far-off from any common standard, that in order to combat your sense of isolation, you will formulate socially insulated cliques, or an intense few friendships. Problem is, such friendships are often emotionally dependent, and may turn toxic over time, as will communities where people circle-jerk with like-minded people. You’ll find yourself needing constant social affirmation for your outside-the-norm identity, and that’s not healthy.
Your unique voice is valuable in the larger societal conversations. But in order to participate properly, so that your views are heard and understood, you cannot be a fucking fanatic. You can’t be pushing so aggressively that you piss people off. And you cannot insulate yourself from the backlash on the excuse that everyone is ignorant and bigoted. In isolation, you will become ignorant and bigoted yourself, unable to even entertain another perspective.
A broad media diet is the antidote to impractical fanaticism. Talking, arguing, debating with people who hold different views than you, is the only shield against your own latent bigotry, which in darkness, will grow like a cancer.
