I'm a big fan of The Last Airbender Series, and The Legend of Korra has really been ramping up these past few episodes. But as I've been discussing the show with my friend, something struck me: Do the equalists have a point?
Let's break it down: The entirety of the known world is ruled by benders to the point that each nation is actually named after the element of the predominant bender population there (fire, air, water, earth). Now there is a United Republic featuring elements from all four, however -again- the ruling council consists entirely of benders: One Fire representative, One Earth, One Air (interesting note: there are less than a dozen Air Benders in the world at this point), TWO Water, but no non-benders.
Historically (save for just a few exceptions) each nation has been ruled by a bender (Fire Lord Zuko/Azula/Ozai/Azulon/Souzin, Earth King Bumi, Long Feng [of the Ba-Sing-Sei Dai Li], and even Avatars themselves [Kiyoshi Island]). Everything from attire to sports is pretty much defined by the bending prowess of the host nation.
Furthermore, aside from the 'simple' vanilla control over Earth, Fire, Water, and Air; some benders can 'kick it up a notch' in a variety of ways. For example: a Water Bender's power increases during a full moon and -for some- so much so that they can 'blood bend' (turn another person into an unwilling slave by bending the water in their body) some blood benders are so powerful that they can control groups of people even during the day. A centennial comet increases a fire bender's power several hundred fold (nearly allowing a fire lord to burn an entire nation to the ground in a matter of hours [with help]).
Until now, a non-bender had little recourse to resist any abuses of power by benders apart from 'give them no reason to notice you'. Also, until this point, the world has been dependent on benders for major industrial work. However, now the world has reached circa 1920s-1930s era technology. Machines and motors can no start to do the jobs benders used to, and there is of course: Amon. Amon is the head of the 'equalist' movement and has a unique ability to remove one's bending permanently and means to do just that to every bender around the wold until there are none left. The act is brief (and may be slightly painful) but appears to render no permanent harm to the former bender (also, it remains unclear if they can pass on the bending power to their offspring after undergoing this).
Now this is no idle bigotry. Benders can and do pose a real and quantifiable threat to each other and non-benders if they have a mind to, and they rule over non-benders almost absolutely. The show has displayed that once the government (even the ostensibly 'peaceful' ones like the United Republic) decides to kill a protest, just a dozen or so benders are required to put it down.
So what's to be done? Do NBs sue for governmental representation within the existing nations? Do they try to carve out a piece of the world to call their own nation (perhaps risking a brief war)? Or do they say 'screw it, the threat's too big' and 'equalize' everybody.
Let's break it down: The entirety of the known world is ruled by benders to the point that each nation is actually named after the element of the predominant bender population there (fire, air, water, earth). Now there is a United Republic featuring elements from all four, however -again- the ruling council consists entirely of benders: One Fire representative, One Earth, One Air (interesting note: there are less than a dozen Air Benders in the world at this point), TWO Water, but no non-benders.
Historically (save for just a few exceptions) each nation has been ruled by a bender (Fire Lord Zuko/Azula/Ozai/Azulon/Souzin, Earth King Bumi, Long Feng [of the Ba-Sing-Sei Dai Li], and even Avatars themselves [Kiyoshi Island]). Everything from attire to sports is pretty much defined by the bending prowess of the host nation.
Furthermore, aside from the 'simple' vanilla control over Earth, Fire, Water, and Air; some benders can 'kick it up a notch' in a variety of ways. For example: a Water Bender's power increases during a full moon and -for some- so much so that they can 'blood bend' (turn another person into an unwilling slave by bending the water in their body) some blood benders are so powerful that they can control groups of people even during the day. A centennial comet increases a fire bender's power several hundred fold (nearly allowing a fire lord to burn an entire nation to the ground in a matter of hours [with help]).
Until now, a non-bender had little recourse to resist any abuses of power by benders apart from 'give them no reason to notice you'. Also, until this point, the world has been dependent on benders for major industrial work. However, now the world has reached circa 1920s-1930s era technology. Machines and motors can no start to do the jobs benders used to, and there is of course: Amon. Amon is the head of the 'equalist' movement and has a unique ability to remove one's bending permanently and means to do just that to every bender around the wold until there are none left. The act is brief (and may be slightly painful) but appears to render no permanent harm to the former bender (also, it remains unclear if they can pass on the bending power to their offspring after undergoing this).
Now this is no idle bigotry. Benders can and do pose a real and quantifiable threat to each other and non-benders if they have a mind to, and they rule over non-benders almost absolutely. The show has displayed that once the government (even the ostensibly 'peaceful' ones like the United Republic) decides to kill a protest, just a dozen or so benders are required to put it down.
So what's to be done? Do NBs sue for governmental representation within the existing nations? Do they try to carve out a piece of the world to call their own nation (perhaps risking a brief war)? Or do they say 'screw it, the threat's too big' and 'equalize' everybody.
