I was recently watching this video about whitewashing in films, and it started me on a chain of thoughts that I'm slightly confused about. I'd like to get some alternative viewpoints on the matter, to hopefully clear up some issues I'm having.

In this video, the person presenting the opinion goes on to define whitewashing as:

[...] when Hollywood takes a character who is a person of colour in the source material, and casts a white actor for the final portrayal we see on screen.

This definition is good, and I agree with it. I can also clearly see how "Whitewashing" is a problem. However, later on in the video she says:

But this thing some people like to call "Blackwashing", is not a problem. It's not even a thing.

This is what I have trouble agreeing with. If we take the definition provided for whitewashing as a good source, how can "blackwashing" not be the opposite, where a person of colour plays a traditionally white character?

She provides some examples from comic book movies, such as Nick Fury from the MCU. I think that Samuel L. Jackson does a great performance as Fury in all the MCU films; I wouldn't cast any other actor for the part. However, I do have a problem accepting that "Whitewashing" is a problem, but "Blackwashing" is not. Logically, would not either one or both of these be a problem? I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about this, as I'm pretty clearly confused myself.

A lot of the time people will by default mark a game being buggy as a negative, and on the one hand I do understand this. But, at the same time, some of my most memorable gaming moments will be stuff like walking entering the wasteland to find an old barrel just spinning violently on the floor. Now, obviously a GAME BREAKING bug will always destroy an experience, but if you look at a civilian floating up a wall in spider-man PS4 and you're too worried about your immersion to find humour in it, I'm sure you're very fun at parties.

I was having a conversation with one of my coworkers who mentioned that her child showed a fascination with scary, Halloween-type stuff starting around age 6. She and her husband had a hard time with whether they should let him enjoy it or limit it. They weren't sure whether to let him read scary books or watch spooky stuff on YouTube, particularly because it's the type of content that can very easily be age-inappropriate--especially for a 6 year old. Nevertheless, it was relatively easy for them to keep it to stuff like Jack-o-Lanterns and black cats since he was so young.

The boy is now older but has retained his interest, and the parents are still struggling with decisions about allowable content, especially because he is starting to age into books and movies that deal with much darker stuff, particularly ideas about death/violence.

I'm not a parent, but I am a teacher, and I have to admit that I'm uncomfortable with some of the stuff my students are exposed to. Over the years I've heard students as young as twelve discuss horror movies like the Saw series or The Human Centipede. I've had middle school students bring books like Gone Girl and 50 Shades of Gray to class. On one hand, I think kids are resilient, and I think a lot of the more difficult or disturbing stuff doesn't quite land for them because they don't really have a context into which to put it yet. I also believe that fictional media is a mostly safe way for us to explore troubling or disturbing ideas.

On the other hand, I think the internet has caused our children to grow up a lot faster than they used to, as they are exposed to mature content (whether intentionally or accidentally) from a very early age. When I was growing up the worst I could do was check out a slightly-risqué book from the school library and hope my parents never found it in my backpack. Now kids are watching violent (often real-world) and pornographic content starting as young as elementary school. Nothing can make your heart sink quite like sixth graders talking excitedly over lunch about a video of a real person getting crushed to death.

What I genuinely don't know is if this has any negative developmental effect. Am I just clutching my pearls here? I'd love to hear some parents talk about how they've handled the decision of what's right for their kids and whether they've had fallout from their kids consuming content that's not appropriate for them.

Hi all,

I've been trying to transition to an anti-consumption and zero-waste life for a year or two now. Just a disclaimer that I'm using "anti-consumption" and "zero-waste" really loosely here. The changes I've made so far are all pretty small, but I'll like to think, consistent and sustainable (at least for me).

Today, I wanted to specifically talk about my hobbies. I play video games, board games, read, write, paint, and do a variety of crafts (jewelry making, crocheting, sewing, card making and more). As you can imagine, my hobbies have been a very consumption and plastic waste heavy part of my life. I had games I never got to or played only once, shelves of books I never read, paint supplies I never opened, boxes of crafting material I never used and more.

My hobbies were also a very easy part to let go off. I had very limited hours in a day, so acknowledging there was no reason to buy anything in advance was already a huge change. Now, I never get anything I'm not immediately using (even if it's on sale or the last one). I also try to only buy second hand, which is really impossible when you need a specific paint colour or something, so I usually end up just making do or doing without. I also stopped watching YouTube tutorial or product comparison videos because I found they all felt like advertising. (I do still watch YT when I'm looking for something specific, like how to fix a X, just no longer browsed).

...until last night. I don't know why, but I started watching a bunch of watercolouring technique videos. Little history, I went from watercolouring pretty much every day and then sort of just stopped around March this year. Life got busy and I just didn't find the time.

And I couldn't help my notice that consuming these videos, and wandering around art supply shops and buying new paint was a huge motivation for me to paint. I wanted to try new techniques or new products. Browsing let me daydream about what I could do, what I could make. Buying something new gave me a certain excitement to be creative, to get to work.

So now I'm thinking maybe I need to adjust my balance a bit and give myself a treat a bit more than I have. Though the idea of basically buying motivation doesn't sit all that well with me...

So, I'm done babbling, anyone else feel this way? Any tips?