I’ve seen and commented on this before, but it is still wild to me.
It explains so much about the collective mentality that Americans in almost exclusively in majority groups (white, Christian), and why they constantly feel under seige. They have been convinced that while they are unlikely to meet a Muslim, Jewish person, or trans person, there is the secret huge population of them (obviously all hiding in NYC) ready to come invade their church in their town.
Actual percentages:
Trans: >1%
Muslim: 1%
Jewish: 2%
Black: 12%
Live in NYC: 2%
Lesbian, gay, or bisexual: 4%
In addition, Americans believe 20% of the population make $1 million or more a year (actually >1%). Americans also think that 30% live in Texas and 32% live in California, meaning to the average American, 92% of the country live in 1 of 3 places.
Meanwhile, Americans tend to underestimate the size of majority groups (estimate in blue, actual in red)
“You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,”
– John Ehrlichman, (Richard Nixon domestic policy chief, 1968)
it wasn’t about drugs.
adding that it’s also a way to deny financial aid for college. One misdemeanor is enough to cut college FAFSA/scholarships/grants funding in many places. In addition to everything else.
And what communities are more likely to need scholarships, grants and loans? 👀 Where weed and other drugs are more likely to be found in the same communities because police are looking for it? 👀 It all comes together!
So much of Faith’s self-image and growing isolation and self-hatred in Season 3 (and beyond!) is tied up in the idea that, above all else, she isn’t Buffy. The idea that she is in fact defined by being not-Buffy. That Buffy is the “good Slayer”, that Buffy gets a family and friends and a Watcher; that Buffy plays by the rules; that Buffy doesn’t ever get too emotional or let herself have too much fun. By the fear that – however much Faith tries to persuade Buffy of the opposite – they really aren’t alike in a way that matters. (“You’re not me”, as Faith will grimly tell Buffy after her coma).
But imagine if Faith had somehow had the chance to meet Kendra; imagine if Kendra had somehow survived into Season 3 even while Faith was Called.
Kendra is – while far less defined as a character, barely appearing in three episodes before her untimely death – also defined within the narrative by not being Buffy. She loves studying and reading ancient texts and has apparently memorized a Slayer Handbook which Buffy’s Watcher gave up on even using for his Slayer; she knew about her potential destiny from a very young age and trained for it for years before being Called; while Buffy has to constantly hide her activities as the Slayer from her mother, Kednra was raised directly by her Watcher and doesn’t even remember the parents who gave her up to be a Slayer.
Yes, Kendra and Faith have many things in common Buffy doesn’t – no real friends or life outside Slaying in particular – and maybe they would (eventually) bond a little over those if they ever got to meet. But consider things from Kendra’s perspective.
From Kendra’s point of view, Buffy is the wild and unpredictable Slayer. The loose cannon who doesn’t follow orders or report back to her Watcher the way she’s supposed to, the reckless girl who spends time in places she shouldn’t with people that she shouldn’t, who parties and has fun and tempts Kendra into doing the same. The Slayer who spends less time training and studying, but is convinced she’d beat Kendra in a fight anyway because she’s more in touch with her emotions and is willing to use her anger to her advantage in a fight.
Imagine how cathartic it would be for Faith if she could meet her predecessor, another young girl who knows what it’s like to be a Slayer and to have long given up on any chance of a normal life, only for that other Slayer’s first reaction on meeting her to be an appalled recognition that “oh no, you’re just like Buffy Summers”.
amhrancas 