I wish I could have attended the seminar David Mamet describes in his book The Secret Knowledge in the chapter entitled Arrested Development. In it, Mamet, who conducted the seminar, was talking to a group of twentysomethings about dramatic structure.
The class was trying to write a story together and Mamet suggested Arab terrorists as the villains. This sparked a minor furor in the class as all these young politically correct idealists objected to what they viewed as racist stereotyping.
There was a time in the 70s and 80s when movie producers were reluctant to cast black actors in villainous roles. This policy was probably reversed when the producers realized that this was even more horribly racist - black actors were being denied meaty roles - that of the villain - simply because of melanin. Indeed, political correctness is not always our friend. Sometimes it is our enemy.
To quote Mamet: "Everything, it seemed, was political, and [the students'] job was to inform the ignorant of it. The Ignorant, in this classroom, [was] myself... A young Idealist broadened his thesis, it was not only the responsibility of the dramatist, he taught, to refrain from stereotyping, but to use every aspect of the drama to enforce upon the public a humanitarian view of the world. Homosexuals, for instance, he said, should be seen kissing onstage whenever possible, was it not an outrage that the part of Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire was always played by a woman? Why could it not be played by a man?"
I don't know who this young man is but I wish I could get his name so I could make it a point to boycott any play he might write. Later, Mamet demolishes the poor boy by suggesting that "gays are people too" is a boring thesis for a play. The audience is at the theatre to, firstly, be entertained and, secondly, to be enlightened or possibly challenged. They're certainly not there to congratulate a playwright for his non-prejudiced (read: correct) view of humanity.
I'd much rather watch a play by an ardent racist or sexist or homophobe than by one of these hopelessly naive young'uns. At least I would be enraged (or I could amuse myself by watching the audience be enraged) which is always preferable to boredom.
