PSA:DC Universe Supports, Encourages, & Stands for Diversity AKA, DC The Street

Greetings, people of earth!

A quick housekeeping update, and some information below.

Any topics regarding meta discussion about the value of diversity and representation will henceforth be removed.

We are all deeply fortunate to be a part of a brand that exposes us to ideas we might not have otherwise explored. These fandoms represent all walks of life, and we, as members of DC Universe, have the extra good fortune to be a part of a service that works tirelessly to add even more dimension and complexity to these stories and characters. This can be anything from main characters of color in hijab asking about the nature of their identity, to casting minority transgender actors in a society otherwise struggling to cast even people of color, or featuring sentient, gender-neutral, non-binary streets.

To best reflect our brand and service, we aim to foster a community of people from all walks of life. This community welcomes anyone who has felt like they donā€™t belong. In some form or another, we gravitate here because we feel like this is a place where we are safe to be ourselves. And in order to sustain a welcoming environment, we must maintain some guidelines.

The best way we do this is Community Guideline #1:

:star2::star2::star2: 1. Be respectful of fellow members. We all have our favorite DC characters and stories and our community should celebrate that diversity amongst our fans and properties. Please share your opinions in a constructive way and refrain from rude, insulting, demeaning, or inflammatory posts. Participate in good faith; criticisms are a part of the greater conversation, but users that participate solely to denigrate the community or its interests will be acted upon. Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, rabidly political, and religiously discriminatory posting are not permitted here. :star2::star2::star2:

With this in mind, we are taking a firm stance that this is not a matter of debate on DC Universe. Diversity is accepted and celebrated. We encourage those looking to have meta conversations regarding the concept of diversity to seek out forums or other community sources dedicated to social change and human rights.

We all want to respect each other and different values. The nature of our hearts is not in question. But the capacity for misunderstanding on a digital forum that lacks the nuance of body language, tone, and facial expressions often makes us forget that we have each otherā€™s best interests at heart.

Please join us in agreeing to put aside our differences and agree to focus on the reason weā€™ve been brought together - because DC Comics is the freaking best!!

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DC: Diverse Content

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Hear, hear!

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I am so proud to be part of this community. :heart::blue_heart::green_heart::yellow_heart::purple_heart::black_heart:

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AppleJack is a perfect representative. Applejacks are both orange and green!

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There are more words I could say to express my gratitude for this policy, but the simplest is thank you. It lets me know that regardless of who I am, where I am at in this life, I have a place at the DC Universe table.

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So, the policy is, keep your private matters private?

If you feel the need to share your thoughts on diversity, the lack thereof, the desire for more diversity, or the desire for less diversity, then you should find a different forum.

This is a great policy. No sarcasm here. I agree that throwing your devisive opinions in other peopleā€™s faces is just asking for trouble.

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ā€œNot a matter of debateā€. Micdrop.

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Truly hoping Midnighter and Apollo get a series as well. Danny Patrol is my favorite episode so far!!!

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Well said :slight_smile: Thank you for making this thread!

I saw that Applejack cleaned up those 2 threads and issued a public warning to all on both of those threads.

Unfortunately, last night those same two threads got even more out of hand. Links to statistics were being shared, and many offenses were made.

I love DC and diversity, as Iā€™ve stated before in both those threads - if we were all the same, things would be boring, Iā€™d hate to live in a world of robots.

Hereā€™s to peace and love, CHEERS!!

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I participated in what I think was one of the threads in question. I hope I didnā€™t say anything to upset people, I really didnā€™t want to. And I have no problem embracing the notion to leave topics of that nature of this forum. I get enough of those debates everywhere else so am all for this moving forward.

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Thank you DC for embracing diversity. I strongly believe that its important to gain a multicultural view of the world and think that the only place to get there is through seeing experiences. Series like Black Lightning and Supergirl are doing fantastic jobs tackling real world issues. Thank You! I canā€™t way to watch the diversity of films from DC and am curious how a Southern Gothic Tale will go with Swamp Thing.

P.S. Thank you for casting a gender-neutral non-binary street!! Great acting!

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ā€œThese fandoms represent all walks of lifeā€

Correct

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The only acceptable intolerance is that for intolerance itself. Thatā€™s not hypocrisy, itā€™s necessity.

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I am glad to see that DC taking a definitive policy stand on this issue.
The only thing that makes me a little sad, is that nearly 50 years after Stonewall, this still needs to be an issue that requires having such a policy.

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From How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

  1. Donā€™t criticize, condemn, or complain. Human nature does not like to admit fault. When people are criticized or humiliated, they rarely respond well and will often become defensive and resent their critic. To handle people well, we must never criticize, condemn or complain because it will never result in the behavior we desire.

  2. Give honest and sincere appreciation. Appreciation is one of the most powerful tools in the world. People will rarely work at their maximum potential under criticism, but honest appreciation brings out their best. Appreciation, though, is not simple flattery, it must be sincere, meaningful and with love.

  3. Arouse in the other person an eager want. To get what we want from another person, we must forget our own perspective and begin to see things from the point of view of others. When we can combine our desires with their wants, they become eager to work with us and we can mutually achieve our objectives.

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From How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Six Ways to Make People Like You

  1. Become genuinely interested in other people. ā€œYou can make more friends in two months by being interested in them, than in two years by making them interested in you.ā€ The only way to make quality, lasting friendships is to learn to be genuinely interested in them and their interests.

  2. Smile. Happiness does not depend on outside circumstances, but rather on inward attitudes. Smiles are free to give and have an amazing ability to make others feel wonderful. Smile in everything that you do.

  3. Remember that a personā€™s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language. ā€œThe average person is more interested in their own name than in all the other names in the world put together.ā€ People love their names so much that they will often donate large amounts of money just to have a building named after themselves. We can make people feel extremely valued and important by remembering their name.

  4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. The easiest way to become a good conversationalist is to become a good listener. To be a good listener, we must actually care about what people have to say. Many times people donā€™t want an entertaining conversation partner; they just want someone who will listen to them.

  5. Talk in terms of the other personā€™s interest. The royal road to a personā€™s heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most. If we talk to people about what they are interested in, they will feel valued and value us in return.

  6. Make the other person feel important ā€“ and do it sincerely. The golden rule is to treat other people how we would like to be treated. We love to feel important and so does everyone else. People will talk to us for hours if we allow them to talk about themselves. If we can make people feel important in a sincere and appreciative way, then we will win all the friends we could ever dream of.

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From Verbal self-defense section on Wikipedia

Leading authors in the area of verbal self-defense and defensive communication styles offer several different techniques for defusing potentially volatile and/or abusive situations of conflict.

Avoidance
Being aware of situations that will likely lead to verbal conflict or abuse and making an effort to avoid them.

Withdrawing
Once engaged in an argument, situation of conflict, or when being verbally attacked, making an excuse and exiting the area.

Deflecting
Changing topic or focus on the interaction as a means of avoiding any disagreement or negative reaction on the part of the aggressor.

Compromise
Openly offering ideas and seeking ways to placate the attacker and/or their reasons for the abusive communication.

Verbal Aikido
A means of communication that is based on the aikido philosophy and martial way, created and propagated by Morihei Ueshiba during the 20th century. It is a style of conflict management and resolution that involves treating the ā€˜attackerā€™ as a partner rather than an adversary. The techniques practised by Aikidoists aim at restoring a balanced interpersonal dynamic and/or reaching a positive emotional result in an exchange.[7]

In a common teaching of this communication style, developed by Luke Archer,[8] the approach is simplified into three steps:[9]

Receiving the attack with an ā€˜Inner Smileā€™[10] (a serene inner-confidence)
Accompanying the attacker with verbal Irimi until destabilization[11]
Proposing Ai-ki (an energy balance)[12]
Through the methods and exercises taught in Verbal Aikido training, the practitioner works on developing a sense of self-control, an assertive style of communication, and the practice of deliberate intention.[13]

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If you are using your opinions to attack, slander, or insult another, THAT is the intolerance that is being removed. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but no one is entitled to attack another. Also, using terms like SJW tend to show intolerance of others. How many pro-equality people do you see using that term? Having different ideas is fine, using those to deny or attack another is not fineā€¦

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What is sad is even this conversation has started to devolve into a conversation that isnā€™t needed here on the forums. We are all fans of DC comics and that should be our focus people. I appreciate this policy and that it is here. These forums do not need to be about such hot topic conversations that we have to have in our daily lives. We have to hear the world telling us how to believe all the time. Here should be a safe haven. It should be a place where we can discuss Superman kicking villain butt. Batman turning 80 #longlivethebat. Wonder Woman is having Kristen Wiig play the Cheetah. That is the DC comic side, but on the DC Universe side we have so many beautiful things. For example, We have an awesome book club that goes on weekly here. @HubCityQuestion hosts a wonderful trivia event and now scavenger hunt. There is a discord chat and Facebook group that have been created by fans to come together. All these wonderful aspects of community and togetherness that are because of this forum! These are what I personally want to focus on. We are DC Universe!

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