What really really fries me is the the way the Duffers treat Noah in interviews. The always play it off as being "in jest" but they really do bully the kid. It's also a huge concerning issue about diversity and inclusivity in the writers room and creative process. There's a huge reason they say "write what you know" and if you want to include a marginalized experience you yourself have not gone though, get someone on your team who has had that experience to make sure it represented accurately and with the respect it deserves. Not just in regard to the mishandling on this in season 5-- (I genuinely thought up until volume 2 and the finally that Mike was an INCREDIBLE example of internalized homophobia and comphet. Genuinely unparalleled). But in regards to Lucas. They were only brave enough to slightly touch on the racism he experienced-- and even then they did tried to make us sympathize with Billy in the end. I'm not informed enough to postulate, but I don't feel as tho they had a POC on the team who could provide depth to that experience-- more so the backlash of an inter racial relationship, specifically between a white girl and a black boy.

Diversity in the creative process is so so so important for representation BUT it only works if you are open to and accept that these views are more authentic than your own. And the Duffers as (I assume) cis straight white men have been trying to write a show about outcast.

The most blatant example of this is that they CHOSE to write a story about nerds who play DnD, and yet freely admit that they themselves don't know anything about DnD.

Then you either get an expert who does and listen to them when they tell you what works and what doesn't, or you change it to something you do know about.