there's another interesting thing that i think has triggered a lot of the utterly undeserved "backlash" against the pitt, and the insane amount of hate posts and smear campaigns occurring (specifically towards dr robby, and also against noah wyle), and this is the fact that some people don't know how to act when they can't consider themselves as Morally Better than media that they watch.
this subsection exists in every fandom, whether it's noticeable or not. the difference is that in most shows, it's easy for these people to feel comfortable and progressive- in fact, most of the time, simply headcannoning a character as gay will make them feel Better than the media, because it will contain no queer characters. making one post about how "it's weird there aren't any POC in this show" will be enough to establish themselves as a pillar of inclusion and righteousness within that fandom (and yes, a lot of the time these posts are correct- why *aren't* there any POC or queer characters in many shows? but this isn't the point of this post).
it'll often be a "one-and-done" thing for them, as opposed to any actual effort to drive inclusion (genuine efforts to drive inclusion will always be important and welcome, as i feel i need to constantly disclaim unless i want people to deliberately misunderstand me), but it will leave them with enough of an "earnt" sense of moral superiority over the media that they can mostly behave normally.
they can't do this with the pitt. why? because the pitt, like it or not, is overtly progressive. in every way that being genuinely woke is a good thing, it's woke. the majority of characters in the show are female, and the majority of those women are WOC. with only minor exceptions, these women are given well developed and carefully crafted storylines even though they aren't the main characters (the only "main" character is robby- it's not intended to be a truly ensemble show, all characters aren't supposed to have the same air time, and it's never pretended otherwise. you're watching the robby show.).
aside from immense casting diversity inkeeping with a realistic healthcare environment, the show draws attention to conditions and social issues like PCOS, sickle cell, trans access to healthcare, anti-fat bias in care, neurodivergence in a medical setting, realistic portrayals of abuse and more. many of these things have been specifically chosen because they receive no attention or funding, or are largely misunderstood even within the medical world. they go out of their way to showcase the most vulnerable among us, and actually do something to hopefully increase the understanding and compassion that these people are treated with.
the show also has numerous canonically queer characters like santos and garcia, and they are unafraid to address this directly and not hide it behind subtext or guesswork. they're gay and you know they're gay, and the show embraces that. we also have overt discussions of characters being christian, muslim and jewish, and there being respect and peace between them all.
so why does this make the backlash and witch-hunting and accusations of mistreatment and racism *worse* than those for a show that has none of the accolades of the pitt? it's because it's so much harder for those who need to feel Morally Better than the show to achieve that status in their minds. suddenly headcanoning a character as gay means nothing- there are actual gay characters. complaining about a lack of POC or women is misplaced- they're represented to a better level than any other show i've seen, and with more engaging storylines. so how can these people get their fix of superiority? how can they feel Better than the media when the media is setting a precedent for inclusion?
it's simple. create problems where there are none, and then pretend to fix them. robby's unconscious bias that is included to be a minor display to the audience that even overtly good men will still be products of their societies, is suddenly inflated by fandom to a degree simply not present in the show at all. suddenly he's an evil, evil misogynist who wants to kill all women, and we must start a hate campaign against him and tell him to kill himself and discredit his mental health! thank goodness! we're Better than the media again now!
something that was simply a poor writing choice that ended up with an actress leaving the show who *happened* to be a woc, is suddenly framed as a moment of intentional, targeted racism that surely tells us that all the shows creators are secret racists who want all POC to die and be jobless! we must start a smear campaign against one of NINE writers and send him and his family death threats! thank goodness, we're Better than the media again now! (of course, ignoring the realities that half the shows writers are woc themselves, and the actress in question said she would return to the set immediately if asked...)
there aren't any actual problems within the show- there's no lack of diversity, no lack of nuance, no lack of research.... and so in order to claim their place as Better and Smarter, people have to invent problems that don't exist. robby isn't evil. supriya wasn't fired in a racist, sexist tirade (if we're getting technical, she wasn't even "fired" at all). none of that is real.
being put in a position where this section of people are no longer able to so easily claim superiority over a piece of media makes them clutch at straws to find a way to gain that place, rather than just accepting that maybe they should be happy they don't need to play that role here. and that maybe they might actually learn something new about other communities if they sat there and actually watched the show, rather than nitpicking it for errors and injustices that aren't there. i know i for one learnt a lot about conditions like pcos and sickle cell, and a lot about institutional medical racism and sexism that haven't impacted me personally as a white man.
so if someone from that section of the fandom is reading this, and has miraculously made it to the end of this post without blocking me, then maybe think about it. you don't need to be Better than the media. you don't need to be Smarter than the media. you just need to watch it, enjoy it, and understand it. and also not send death threats to actors because of things that didn't happen. that might be nice too.
learn to enjoy and praise good media when you see it, okay?
