your differences do not have to be "useful" to be good.

i had to rewatch disney's Hercules for sociology class a few days ago and i realized that part of why i dislike that movie so much is that it follows a trope that i absolutely despise. there'll be some story that just goes "Bigthumb Billy had a really big thumb, and the village people bullied him for it... but when the dam began to leak, Billy and his big thumb saved the day! so, the village people began to love him and call him a hero!!" and every time, the message goes "you shouldn't bully people for being different, because that difference may be helpful!" when in reality, you shouldnt bully people for being different simply because theyre people. stories like this piss me off so bad, because they always assign some value to the protagonist's special trait that makes it "wrong" for people to make fun of, when that's entirely unnecessary. it isnt wrong that the character is bullied because they end up a hero, it's wrong because that character is just as much a person as the rest of the cast. what makes them different doesnt have to be useful or even a positive to be a valid trait, or for you to deserve basic humanity.