Suicidesoldier#1
sole to soul
Suicidesoldier#1
Ang didn't blame all the fire benders just for being fire benders.
He isolated Fire Lord Ozai for his actions, for himself, and then he went on to replace the old Fire lord with a new one and incorporated the old fire people into a new Fire bending union, getting rid of the bad soldiers and keeping the good ones.
I mean he didn't just say "All fire benders are bad" he specifically isolated a single man for his crimes and his particular method of action and removed him from power replacing him with another individual.
It's different from seeing a threat, it's declaring everyone a threat for an arbitrary quality.
They could be a huge benefit, potentially, if they used their powers properly, or simply no threat at all.
As Ang said, "No, that's wrong. I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at al. Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone is capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance."
Is it right for them to do this? No. But is it all right for the corruption to continue? No. And it's damn foolish to think someone with the proper mindset and ideals can just wave his hand and bring peace to everyone. It's going to take understanding on both sides of this battle to come to any sort of peaceful conclusion.
All I wanted to point out is that you're judging the non-bender revolution a little harshly. Just as there are good benders and bad benders, who says all of the people involved in the revolution necessarily agree with Amon's methods? We're only three episodes in. The conflict can't be resolved yet, or there's not going to be much of a show. And if the plot is as simple as Korra taking out all the Equalists - thereby proving the point that benders have too much power, and are not concerned for the well-being of non-benders - I'm going to be severely disappointed.
Being concerned for the well being of non-benders as well as benders would require more policing, more organization, getting rid of crime etc.
I'm sure there are plenty of criminals who don't bend.
The idea would be the cooperation among people- I'm not sure that the regular people really care too much that they can't bend though, only that some of them do.
The equalists in particular view the benders as oppressive, but I'm sure there are many other factors at play.
I think Korra said it best, they are oppressing themselves.
But I imagine there could be "good" equalists and more bad ones.
They are based around an ideology, so it would be difficult to say that there was say, a good Nazi for instance, as an ideology and a basis for actions aren't really arbitrary to determining a person's character.
I suppose some may simply believe that bending and not bending isn't equal but not really agree with taking bending away.
I'm sure there are non-bending criminals, but non-bending criminals aren't nearly dangerous as bending criminals.
Which are you more likely to survive: being mugged by a guy who can ******** crush your internal organs with bloodbending, being mugged by a guy who can drop a giant rock on your head, being mugged by a guy who can burn your ******** face off, or being mugged by a guy with a knife?
Not to mention that benders are more likely to have their power get to their head and take advantage of it... be honest, if you could shoot fire out of your fists, would it
really never occur to you to use this to your own advantage at the expense of others who can't?
Also, let me say that
not everybody can bend. That's just how it is. If everybody could just start bending whenever, many,
many plot points in ATLA make absolutely no sense. If everybody could bend, there would be gaping plot holes in both ATLA and TLOK.
Some benders are oppressive, others aren't. The problem is that the ones who are oppressive aren't as low-key as the ones who aren't, so they'll play a more active role in the nonbenders' lives and eventually make them resentful. Eventually, they reach a snapping point, and honestly, is there
any other way to deal with the problem?
Hell, everyone on the city council is a bender!
Korra's line about oppressing themselves wasn't
supposed to be right. It was supposed to highlight an important aspect of her character: that she views her bending as her identity (like Sokka with his boomerang, but not played for lulz). Because she's lived her entire life as the most powerful bender and grown up knowing that mastering all 4 elements is her life's work (not to mention she really has no way of knowing the social issues that even caused the equalist movement), she can't really comprehend the other side. When Amon comes and threatens her bending, it completely terrifies her because that's all she sees herself as: a bender. Part of her character growth will likely be overcoming this.
Oh no, not the Nazi analogy. -_- Ever heard of Godwin's law?
The difference between Nazis and equalists is that the former have no logic, but the latter are just sick and tired of oppression.
To the Nazis, Jews being successful in a poor country = Jews are evil = Jews must DIE. Erm.
To the equalists, Benders being more successful AND terrorizing them AND completely dominating the political arena = Benders are the root of all our problems (which may or may not be true, depending on the original) = Benders must become like us. Somehow, that seems a lot more logical.
Also, I'd like to point out that the conflict is intentionally being set up as morally ambiguous to differ Korra's situation from Aang's. You know how Korra's struggling with airbending? This symbolizes the fact that the main conflict of the season, like airbending, isn't something she can just attack head-on. In fact, the only way the whole equalist problem can really be solved realistically is if a peaceful solution is found. If all the equalists are killed or arrested, more will take their place because they'll see it as "holy s**t, they were right! we ARE being oppressed!".
