I can always enjoy a good homo-superior story.
I'm excited about the possibility of a good villain this go 'round.
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Legend of Korra |OT| - Saturday Mornings Just Got Better
- Thread starter Wiseblade
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I can always enjoy a good homo-superior story.
I'm excited about the possibility of a good villain this go 'round.
Yeah I agree. Besides benders seemed to be able to work with non-benders in the previous show. It's not nearly as intense as the racial segregation we've had throughout human history, especially when you consider the fact that benders give birth to non-benders and vice versa so people do have a stake in protecting each other. Yeah they have had to face some oppression but I think Amon and others are going overboard.
CornBurrito
Member
I prefer Naga over Appa.
Also, IIRC it was said that energybending existed long before other forms of bending. It is possible Amon doesn't consider it a form of bending, especially if it is true that he got help from the spirit world to learn it. So he may use energybending as a tool against benders, as hypocritical is it may seem.
I don't buy the "I was a kid on a farm" stuff.
Not like he is committing a genocide though. It seems to be strictly neutralization of bending rather than murder.
Also, IIRC it was said that energybending existed long before other forms of bending. It is possible Amon doesn't consider it a form of bending, especially if it is true that he got help from the spirit world to learn it. So he may use energybending as a tool against benders, as hypocritical is it may seem.
I don't buy the "I was a kid on a farm" stuff.
Not like he is committing a genocide though. It seems to be strictly neutralization of bending rather than murder.
Net_Wrecker
Member
I don't know how anyone could think what Amon wants to do is anything but wrong. Just because he tries to justify his reasoning doesn't mean it's morally right to strip benders of their natural born abilities.
Yo, my parents got killed by someone who got an A on his science test so Imma go make every scientist dumb. Dey created nuclear weapons, yo. They bad.
Yo, my parents got killed by someone who got an A on his science test so Imma go make every scientist dumb. Dey created nuclear weapons, yo. They bad.
Foxy Fox 39
Banned
Maybe, but at least he's not trying to kill them....for now.
Now you see Amon's point?
Net_Wrecker
Member
I SEE his point, but that doesn't mean it's not wrong or that he isn't insane. You just don't strip everyone of their natural abilities because of the actions of one...
.....if that story is even true.
CornBurrito
Member
Probably because benders stripped of their powers can still lead a fulfilling life. Amon probably doesn't see bending as being part of their identity. In his mind being a normal person isn't some traumatic experience.
And yeah, the use of force is arguably wrong. Though that's only because of the side the story is being told from. You could watch an alternate universe series where all benders really are fucking evil.
I'm not saying he's as bad as Ozai/Sozin, but there are better ways to get his point across.
Shrennin
Didn't get the memo regarding the 14th Amendment
My guess for this one is, if it is indeed energybending, that he got the ability from a spiritual source - no real way to pass down the knowledge. I don't think energybending is Amon's endgame, right now I think it's just a tool for fear and, pardon the pun, an equalizer for what he believes is an inevitable war between benders and non-benders.
I can't think of a good argument against it, though I agree he is insane.
Imagine a society where everyone is born with either one or two arms. Most people have one arm, but some people have two arms, and this naturally confers a ton of advantages over the one armed people. What's worse, most if not all of the highest levels of government, military, and law enforcement are two armed people, while one armed people are basically at the whims of the two armed people.
As long as the two armed people are nice and manage themselves, everything is alright, but what happens when they don't? What will the one armed people do? It's not like the two armed people will want to pass legislation that limits their own powers, what's to stop them from enslaving the one armed people?
Now also imagine if there was some way to take away that "extra" arm from someone without endangering that person's life. You must admit that, next to giving all the one armed people an extra arm, this is the best possible solution to the problem of inequality.
PR move is PR, doesn't really diminish its meaning and purpose whether it's true or not.
The problem is the simple fact that in the Avatar universe, some people have an ability - a very powerful ability - that other people don't.
As we can see, in an earlier era of history these abilities formed the nucleus of nationalism (due to their geographic uniqueness - bender cultures did not form in intermingled states). But as nationalistic barriers broke down, larger issues emerge. Benders have almost always been the elites of nations, but bender v non-bender issues were largely subsumed by larger international wars (either soft wars of cultural identity or all-out war as in the case of the Hundred Years' War). Republic City, as a cultural melting pot that so far appears to have effectively displaced divisions along nationalistic lines, has given rise for the inequalities between benders and non-benders to emerge.
Something like that, anyway. My main point is that, as in any fiction where random people are gifted with powers beyond the norm, this is a universe where unfairness is built-in.
As we can see, in an earlier era of history these abilities formed the nucleus of nationalism (due to their geographic uniqueness - bender cultures did not form in intermingled states). But as nationalistic barriers broke down, larger issues emerge. Benders have almost always been the elites of nations, but bender v non-bender issues were largely subsumed by larger international wars (either soft wars of cultural identity or all-out war as in the case of the Hundred Years' War). Republic City, as a cultural melting pot that so far appears to have effectively displaced divisions along nationalistic lines, has given rise for the inequalities between benders and non-benders to emerge.
Something like that, anyway. My main point is that, as in any fiction where random people are gifted with powers beyond the norm, this is a universe where unfairness is built-in.
Obviously, if your intention was to phase Bending out of people's lives, you'd do it gradually so society has time to readjust and adapt to their new non-bending life.
He must have some plan to remove bending on a wide scale, or else he wouldn't attempt to wage war on all of Republic City's benders.
It's likely he has a plan that has yet to be revealed.
There may have been an implication in the rally that the ability was teachable, but that didn't seem particularly apparent.
It's interesting to think about how the world would have turned out if benders hadn't developed culture in relative isolation from different types of benders. If tribes had had firebenders, airbenders and waterbenders all together... would nationalism be even more pronounced?
It's interesting to think about how the world would have turned out if benders hadn't developed culture in relative isolation from different types of benders. If tribes had had firebenders, airbenders and waterbenders all together... would nationalism be even more pronounced?
It probably similar to our nationalism. Nationalism based on country specific instead of bending specific.
IrrelevantNotch
Banned
Does anyone see this series ending with Korra learning how to give people the power to bend, thus creating true equality?
It's certainly a possibility. Or everyone loses their bending and thus ends the cycle. (Until they make killing machines)
That or the end of the avatar cycle and bending. *shrugs*
I can envision an ending that just plain sidesteps all these issues though :| I hope it doesn't come to that.
It'd be interesting because the end of bending doesn't mean the end of the world. I mean, I don't think it really even did back in the Aang era.
I can envision an ending that just plain sidesteps all these issues though :| I hope it doesn't come to that.
It'd be interesting because the end of bending doesn't mean the end of the world. I mean, I don't think it really even did back in the Aang era.
I think it is possible. I mean, if energybending can taketh, perhaps it can giveth. So to speak.
Net_Wrecker
Member
All of that is fine and dandy, but it still doesn't make it right to strip benders of their abilities. I'd be pissed the hell off if some one armed fool wanted to remove one of my arms because I was fortunate enough to be born with 2. He can fight, politically, for equal treatment and representation of one armed
Amon is defeated, Korra goes avatar, everyone lives happily ever after.
Except the non-bending peasants but who cares about them?
What if you were enslaved by a bender because of your inability to fight back? What if they killed your family?
At what point do you accept the inherent unfairness of being born in the world of Avatar and strive to fight back?
Or do you just shrug your shoulders and roll over?
Except the non-bending peasants but who cares about them?
And if you weren't a bender, you'd still vilify Amon?
What if you were enslaved by a bender because of your inability to fight back? What if they killed your family?
At what point do you accept the inherent unfairness of being born in the world of Avatar and strive to fight back?
Or do you just shrug your shoulders and roll over?
too early to call, this series moves so fast
amon could be a good guy by the end of this season to some greater evil
CornBurrito
Member
What's odd is that cars and shit have been invented, but not guns.
The fuck is a bender (except maybe super master level metalbenders) gonna do against that?!
Sometimes you need to crack a few eggs to make a more equal society. I think the ends can justify the means in some cases.
Not that I think Amon's plan would actually bring about equality.
The fuck is a bender (except maybe super master level metalbenders) gonna do against that?!
Sometimes you need to crack a few eggs to make a more equal society. I think the ends can justify the means in some cases.
Not that I think Amon's plan would actually bring about equality.
IrrelevantNotch
Banned
You know what else would be cool? If Amon took away Korra's powers in the next episode and she had to get them back by travelling to the spirit world.
edit ^^ you just answered your own question
Oh yea, also if Amon was smart he'd convince the government to let him take away the bending abilities of repeat offenders.
edit ^^ you just answered your own question
Oh yea, also if Amon was smart he'd convince the government to let him take away the bending abilities of repeat offenders.
The peaceful way doesn't always work.
It's pretty damn unlikely that there will ever be the peaceful abdication of unfair advantage on a massive scale, though. Obviously that doesn't justify spiritual mutilation (they really need to coin a cool word for bending removal), but it makes violent revolution somewhat understandable.
The Bending Illuminati is preventing the invention of firearms using their global influence.
I really hope the series explores this fully. Amon actually does raise some legitimate points.
CornBurrito
Member
The problem is that a non-bending society isn't necessarily a more equal one. If it weren't bending it would be whoever had guns, germs, and steel.
Bending is basically another tool. Take away bending and a new one will take its place.
Beelzeboss
Member
I want benders turning against the avatar and willing giving their powers away for the equalists.
All glory to Amon
All glory to Amon
Metalbenders appear to still need to touch or have physical contact on some level with metal to bend it though (I think that's how the coils work). That limitation doesn't yet appear to have been exceeded.
Guns would be a significant step in this world... I think it might even hit plot arc territory. (Though scientifically speaking there's almost no way you can discover combustion without figuring out guns...)
Well you can redistribute resources.
Bending not so much.
And it's not like resources aren't already horded in Avatar world, bending just makes social equality even more difficult to achieve.
I mean, look at us, we're still squabbling over oil and land and whatnot. Imagine if 10%-20% of us could throw fire at each other.
Social progress would never get anywhere.
Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that. China had gunpowder for centuries and never really thought to mount it on a handheld tube until the Europeans did it first.
cartoon_soldier
Member
I agree. It looks is obvious that the benders have a better chance to succeed than the non-benders in the current world.
Bending is, like, built-in though. The others are acquirable (perhaps not in a real sense, but at the least a theoretical). Bending is magic, basically.
CornBurrito
Member
Yeah I guess.
I guess you can't really plan out scientific progress. Then again, it only takes one guy and good communication skills to propagate...
And it's in the bending elite's interest to create a military based around bending, and not mass weaponization.
It's understandable that there would be very few researchers willing to or able to work on such potentially dangerous projects in the world of Avatar.
It's understandable that there would be very few researchers willing to or able to work on such potentially dangerous projects in the world of Avatar.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Buncha tree huggin, chi blockin' equalists up in here. The universe of Avatar is inherently unfair. Okay. Amon's point is understandable in that "Yes, I can see where he's coming from." Fine. Peaceful way doesn't always work. Agreed.
Still doesn't make Amon morally right in forcibly stripping benders, many of whom won't have a bad bone in their body, of their naturally born abilities.
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