There is a new documentary called #AmericanBlogger that is getting some (deserved) pushback because it appears that 98% of the subjects are young, attractive, hipster white women. Thankfully, the blogging landscape Ive been a part of for the past 7 years is much more diverse in every way. When called out for the homogeny, the filmmaker said the following: Im not the kind of person whos going to slot someone in there just because I dont want to be accused of something. Im not going to throw in a... he pauses, random person just to be able to check it off my list. Now, I dont believe for a second that he would have needed to throw in a random person. There are plenty of POC bloggers who are kicking ass and taking names online and it wouldnt have been difficult for him to cast some. But here is where an interesting question presents itself: why are people so averse to being intentional with diversity? In his words: I wasnt sure if anybody would try to question my motives on picking people or something. I filmed the women who said yes. Its not intentional if its heavy one way or another, he says. I would hope that nobody would ever look at that and make some political argument out of it. How is it political to notice race? And how is it unintentional if all of the subjects he chose are white, young, and attractive? Is it only intentional if a person veers from that? I dont understand the defensiveness or the reluctance to be intentional about diversity, as if its a negative thing.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 17:05:10 +0000
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