OK, the US population of 334 million consists of 57.8% white, 18.7%
Latino, 12.1% Black and 11.4% Asian or other. (I had no idea thatLatinos are half again as many in the country as Blacks.) LBGTQ etc.adds up to another 5.6% or thereabouts. (Could be higher since noteveryone in all those groups, which include gays, lesbians, transgenders,and a bunch of assorted other small subgroups) has declared themselves;although in this time it seems most such individuals are not hesitant atall to speak out frankly.Several recent examinations of the advertising we see on TV (includingone I did myself one night watching a long movie with a lot of commercialbreaks with up to 10 commercials in each!) all indicate that from one wayof looking at it, Whites not only are no longer the great majority of thepeople you see, they are now either barely at their fraction of thepopulation or may be below it. Blacks make up no less than 30% of peoplewho appear in the commercials, and both gay partnerships and biracialmarriages are regularly encountered. The least group to be found arestraight White men who appear reasonably intelligent or capable. When wedo see White men, the are often in their 60's to 80's and were pushingmedication for debilitating diseases, reverse mortgages (Tom Selleck) orMedicare plans.One can argue that reaching a more level ground in representation incommercials is long overdue, and that's certainly valid. On the otherhand we now see articles from actors in CA complaining that as Whiteindividuals their opportunities to work have been seriously reduced. Dotwo wrongs really make a right?Hollywood issued guidelines for film makers last year, demanding asubstantial level of BIPOC on the sets, a minimum of 30% or so of them aswriters, with a goal to surpass that in a few years. United Airlines ispushing very hard to get women and BIPOC as pilots and has pledged tohave half the pilots belong in that category within a few years. We'reseeing the same kind of quota decrees in lots of other places.Apparently the condemnation of the imperialist/colonialist/Westernconcept of meritocracy has really taken hold. Whether you are a greatpilot or not is secondary to your gender, skin color, sexual orientationor whatever else they use as criteria to put people in the cockpit. Allof this drive to "fix" the injustices, real or perceived, of society byramming "equity" (at least) down the throats of every organization isgoing to result in a whole bunch of counter productive things. Therampant stupidity of it is mind boggling, but it appears to have hugemomentum and will drive things along until the wheels fall off. Unlesswe get lucky and there's some kind of revolt and the tide of idiocystarts to recede. I sure hope so.Del