To think society is too focused on equal representation?

[Confusedabouttheworld23]

Watching the news today, I saw how there is outrage over a lack of BAME winners at the BAFTAs. As an Indian heritage person myself, I fail to see how this is a huge problem from a few key reasons.

Firstly, , statistically the UK is predominantly a White country and therefore it is not statistically significant if one year there were no BAME winners. In fact a statistician tweeted that you need to look over a period of 5/6 years to see if there is systemic racism in the BAFTAs. In fact in 2021 or 2022, half of the winners were BAME, showing that you cannot read too much into such a small sample size.
As a subpoint, BAFTA voters are predominantly going to be White if this is representative of the UK Population. If it is true that people resonate with those who predominantly look like them, it is no surprise and not a huge issue that the majority of UK award winners are White. If one were to go to India for example, most if not all award winners would be of Indian heritage, this is completely fine and reflective of a country’s demographics,

Secondly, with so many other issues in the UK, I feel that a focus on equal representation is being totally blown out of proportion. We need to focus on just working hard, trying to better ourselves and get through the tough economic times we are experiencing at the moment.
A lack of diversity in acting seems almost trivial compared to other significant issues affecting the UK population - I am much more concerned about rising inflation, housing costs than the number of people who I feel represent me in film.

Thirdly, it is argued that we need to encourage more people from diverse backgrounds to go into film and other arts in the UK, and the main way to do this is to award and recognise BAME artists/actors. However, is it really a huge issue if those from BAME backgrounds go into other sectors of the economy. For example, Indian heritage people often go into STEM, finance etc, rather than the Arts which has resulted in them being one of the most economically successful groups in the UK. This is not a huge issue therefore, and hence there is not a need to push for increased diversity in the Arts to the extent that we are doing so today.
I just feel that everyone needs to just work hard and get through life, rather than focus on issues which in the grand scheme of things are not that significant.

Are you not displaying your privilege as a white person who is able to have a career in the arts in spite of what you have mentioned? I know many more Black and Asian artists/producers/directors than I do White equivalents who have left the arts because of the lack of opportunities and systemic discrimination that exists. I include myself in this. I do recognise that there have been changes. There are now major theatres both in and out of London that have a Black or Asian AD but it's really slow.

Definitely. I totally agree OP. Everything should be ruthlessly based on merit. How many exceptionally talented people miss out on top jobs, or places at Oxford, or publishing contracts, etc, because they don’t tick certain boxes? A hell of a lot I should think.

In any case, positive discrimination backfires horribly. For a start, people doubt that X or Y has got to where they’ve got on merit. Second, it is in itself highly offensive, since is suggests people can’t do it on their own.

Take literature. Harold Bloom, the literary critic, warned that the arts would be destroyed by political extremists. Back in the 1980s, he complained that writers from minority backgrounds were being overpraised, while geniuses from the canon were being attacked and ignored. Today, things are even worse. There is now a sinister plan to “de-colonise the canon,” which is code for getting rid of great, established writers (who don’t tick the right boxes) and replacing them with mediocre, or even bad writers (who DO tick the right boxes). Soon we’ll have a new canon, based not on quality but on the desires of woke Guardianistas. I even had an email from my old university informing me they plan to “de-colonise” the library. I mean wtf are they talking about?!! Again, it means stocking the library with books written by people from minority backgrounds, regardless of quality.

The consequence of all this is that I pretty much ignore contemporary literature. I rarely read books published today. I can no longer trust the academics and arts journalists, so I stick to the classics instead, to books that have stood the test of time - to Jane Austen, Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, the Brontes, etc. Today, books no longer get published, or win awards, because they are good, but because they were written by the ‘right’ people. And that cuts me off from new voices. Because I would like to read books by people who are different to me. And I do want their voices heard. But I want them to get there on merit alone.

Yes, but I think that we're barking up the wrong tree calling this racism. The problem is more that the arts are off-putting for anybody without independence means. Ironically, the reason why I've survived is because I was supported by my partner who is an immigrant and therefore had the sense to get a proper job! My own family couldn't have given me the money.

Don't get me wrong. I want to see mire diversity. What I see is the next generation being more focused on 'what do I want to do with my life' rather than 'people like me go into finance' attitude that you see in the OP. I'm just not sure how dar you can socially engineer that. I think it will be more a case of third and fourth generations being more fully embedded in British society and seeing all the opportunities as being equally open to them.

YABVVVVU. Representation matters. What do you as an 'Indian person' (Your words) know about the importance of representation for black Caribbean people, let alone any other ethnic group. What about how structural and systemic racism (Windrush anyone?) impacts representation for black communities. To say the everyone needs to just work hard shows ignorance and privilege. Stay in your narrow lane.

Christ, have a day off. Your ethnicity is now over represented in relation to the population - especially in the arts. Just take a look at any advert on tv at the moment.

I am all for representation from all sectors but it should be representative of the amount of people in percentage terms that there are in a country
Every single company can’t have 50% representation from a group if there is only 10 or 20 or 30 or 40% of that group in the country.

Trying to get to that 50% you will have to discriminate against the larger group because of the colour of their skin.

Is that you Priti? springs to mind

Christ's sake, you black people have the adverts. What more do you want? Actual respect, get out of here! 🤔

Your ethnicity is now over represented in relation to the population - especially in the arts.

Is it? Can you provide the figures please?

There is a weiredness with the ads but who cares. Black is black, right?

Over represented in adverts and The Arts! Yes, The Arts and adverts the holy grail of representation! Lets ignore ongoing structural and systemic racism, because inky1991 has had their fill of ethnic people in Adverts and in the Arts! Why don't you have a day off from waving your privilege around.

Tell me you think we all look alike, without telling me you think we all look alike...

People like the OP are exactly why 'BAME' and 'POC' is such a terrible catch-all. The problem with dancing for white people like this is you'll be the perfect sacrificial lamb when time comes.

There does seem to be a view that only some of the ethnicities experience real racism, the experiences of other ethnicities aren't "real".

I completely disagree with your point and think it's lazy thinking.

Firstly, positive discrimination is still discrimination, and it's illegal. There's absolutely no evidence to state that exceptionally talented people are missing out on top jobs, places at Oxbridge etc. What is happening is institutions are taking steps to widen the pool from which they select, thus allowing MORE exceptionally talented people the opportunity to apply and be selected. This is a good thing. There's nothing inherently wrong in sharing the secrets of the arcane Oxbridge application system with children in an inner-city school, the old boy network has been doing that for years. Why shouldn't another group get a bite at that cherry, unless your own unconscious bias tells you taht they are inherently less worthwhile than certain types of people who attend certain types of schools.

De-colonising the canon doesn't mean your favourite authors are banned. It just means the criteria for what becomes 'canon' - a whole subject in its own right - are questioned. Canon only became canon because somebody decided it was canon. Now, other people are remaking canon with different criteria - which is how it's always been.

It's like when I did a casual-ish course in contemporary writing and a couple of participants were astonished we weren't doing Browning, et al in the poetry module. 'The clue is in the title. We're studying contemporary writers.' Courses in Victorian literature will always study Victorian literature. This is about what we want the people who'll be studying early 21st century literature in 50 years to be reading. Maybe with a side of 'how do we contextualise those Victorians on a 21st century reading.'

And OK, hands up, I'm not aware of Harold Bloom's work. But who is he to decide what's 'good' literature?

And really, it's 'ruthlessly basing things on merit' that has got us into this shitshow in the first place, isn't it?

I did some freelance work for an oil company who were desperate to not hire carbon copies of who had gone before, because those were the chumps who'd let the oil run out...

Seeing as All Quiet On The Western Front had 14 nominations and won 7 BAFTAs, I would have immediately thought that would mean White European Males would be over represented. Germany has a much smaller non-white population in comparison to UK/USA, and it's hardly surprising that a film about German soldiers in WWI would have no black or female actors.

Isn't this a bit like the (male) argument that feminists should shut up now because they've got everything.

Why don’t you read the books and decide for yourself? As opposed to seeing a brown or female name and deciding they must be shit. Try thinking for yourself, trying new things, it’s fun!

A lot of exceptional people don’t get into Oxbridge because there’s not that many places, and a lot of young people are clever. It’s to do with numbers, not sure if numbers is too foreign for you mind, a bit middle east aren’t they!

Hope my low level brown person explanation helps you. Except you won’t be reading this because you only read Brontë right?

I think it was Eamon Holmes (sp?) who recently said it's very difficult to be a white male in your 60s on TV these days