I merely wish to ask somethin' today:

Why is it that we complain that a certain group is underrepresented in fiction?

We speak as if the individual represents the whole group, that an offensive Jewish stereotype is an offense to all Jews, instead of dismissing that particular Jew as an asshole. I've heard cries and moans about writers and developers being racist or insensitive, but the truth is: just because I am Norwegian, does not mean that I represent all Norwegians. Fiction should be the same, but for some reason is not. So, we often hear bitch fits about how fiction isn't "inclusive" enough, and that there isn't enough gay/transgender/black/asian/etc. people, and although I agree that these characters can sometimes be a rarity... I do have to wonder how the inclusion of a character merely to represent a group isn't ass backwards, as racism *is* judging an entire group of people without knowing the individual. When I write a black character, I am not writing him to represent black people, because that'd be absurd - he is an individual with his own personality and motives who just happens to be black. There's no agenda behind it, at least not from me. I cannot speak for all writers and artists, obviously.

So, my question is to the people who watch me still, even though I'm inactive as all hell - why *do* we take individuals in fiction, and force them to represent a group?