Yeah, but wasn't Metal bending even rarer than lightning bending? And now there's an entire police force that does it? i dunno, maybe it's because Toph or her daughter were incredible teachers or maybe benders are getting better and better in a few generations.
I think this is a theme of industrialization that they're playing on. extremely rare, specialized knowledge that is closely guarded becomes common place when literacy, radio, and improved means of movement spread information at an increasingly fast rate. There's pretty much not a single knowledge set or skill in the world that you can't pay a fee to learn how to do if you spend 10,000 hours or whatever trying to do it in the modern world.
toph 'discovered' metal bending and was likely able to teach it. IF she hadn't figured it out, it would likely still be relatively unknown, but it did take one of the most skilled and unique earth benders to originally figure it out.
The way I think of it, it took a genius (and an army of scientists) to figure out how to manipulate electricity safely, now any knucklehead can take some courses and learn how to wire a building
I love Korra as the main character. I love that she's a (freakishly strong) chick, that she has curves and muscles and isn't just "inexplicably good at fighting super model," that she has some pretty understandable flaws for an overconfident teenager born into circumstances she doesn't even realize are privileged, that she looks balls to the walls awesome when they animate her fighting. and also she's BROWN! BROWN! BROWN LADY LEADING PROTAGONISTS IN THE HOUSE!
I really like the original Avatar, but I can't find a place online to watch it ethically, and buying the DVDs would be really expensive. Nickelodeon just doesn't have it available for watching online?
I remember when I first watched Avatar through Nick's website. Their player was so bad. It was always randomly crashing, or locking up, or desynching the audio progressively worse after each commercial break. I'm so glad it's on Netflix now.
I would love a concrete description of how bending is inherited and how all the mechanics work
But on the other hand, I think handwaving it away as "Shuuuush its not important until it is and we want the freedom to break any ground rules we set" is almost better
I like that kind of attitude.
Always be skeptical. never accept "MAGIC!" as the explanation! :P
That's all well and good until midichlorians happens. Be careful what you wish for.
Weren't midiclorians just an indicator species?
A better way to phrase "magic" would be "non-Mendelian inheritance/potential with strong influences by environmental and epigenetic factors."
So far I think the most likely explanation of Amon's power is that he was a student of Aang's. Perhaps Aang tried to spiritbend him into an Airbender and something screwed up, or perhaps he was trained specifically to handle another Ozai situation.
If that was the case, Tenzin would know about him.
I can't see Aang trying to Energybend people into Airbenders; it just doesn't seem like something he'd do.
It's logical Tenzin is keeping (or kept) Amon's presence a secret from Korra. Which is a wise choice given that she's very impulsive, inexperienced and naive in how the world works. Perhaps he planned to reveal what he knows to her once she was in her peak with the abilities to shut him down properly. That's why he wanted her to keep out of Republic City until after he trained her in Air Bending.
This would also set the stage for a Kenobi-style "from a certain point of view" speech from Tenzin. And he could even do a Yoda "unfortunate that you rushed off to face him, that incomplete was your Avatar training" speech right afterwards.
"Well, lying is lying, even from a 'certain point of view.'" - Jedi Exile
Here's what we know about bending heredity:
It is not dominant
It is closely tied to parental nationality
It is not mitochondrial
It is not X-linked
It sure as hell isn't y-linked
It can run in families
Raw power when bending is present can run in families
Power can vary between siblings
Skill can run in families and vary between siblings
Training and disposition can increase skill and possibly power
Large numbers of people can have small scale power in cultures where bending is stressed and likely institutionally trained, even if the culture is confirmed by word of god to have reduced bending receptivity.
I'll also give one very suggestive fact (if memory holds): Katara's grandmother was a highly powerful and/or skilled bender. Katara was a highly powerful and/or naturally skilled bender.
They did say in "The Last Airbender" that humans learned bending. Air bending was learned from flying bisons. Earth bending was learned from badger moles. Fire bending was learned from dragons. Water bending was learned from how the moon changes the tides.
So something must have changed since the ancient days to now if bending was an acquired skill back then but is inherited in the present day.
Unless they just learned to use their innate ability to bend from natural sources.
I find all this speculation kinda silly, though.
If that's the case then anyone with that innate ability should be able to learn any kind of bending, instead of just one element.
It also could have been that back in the day, benders weren't specialized. But then due to inbreeding, that ability was lost and we are left with the current situation.
Metalbending and lightning bending are more common now because they were an incredibly advanced technique discovered by a genius, which could then be taught.
A good analogy somebody made was calculus; it took a mathematical genius to discover it and plot out the rules and technique, but now we teach it in high schools.
So far I think the most likely explanation of Amon's power is that he was a student of Aang's. Perhaps Aang tried to spiritbend him into an Airbender and something screwed up, or perhaps he was trained specifically to handle another Ozai situation.
If that was the case, Tenzin would know about him.
I can't see Aang trying to Energybend people into Airbenders; it just doesn't seem like something he'd do.
It's logical Tenzin is keeping (or kept) Amon's presence a secret from Korra. Which is a wise choice given that she's very impulsive, inexperienced and naive in how the world works. Perhaps he planned to reveal what he knows to her once she was in her peak with the abilities to shut him down properly. That's why he wanted her to keep out of Republic City until after he trained her in Air Bending.
This would also set the stage for a Kenobi-style "from a certain point of view" speech from Tenzin. And he could even do a Yoda "unfortunate that you rushed off to face him, that incomplete was your Avatar training" speech right afterwards.
"Well, lying is lying, even from a 'certain point of view.'" - Jedi Exile
Here's what we know about bending heredity:
It is not dominant
It is closely tied to parental nationality
It is not mitochondrial
It is not X-linked
It sure as hell isn't y-linked
It can run in families
Raw power when bending is present can run in families
Power can vary between siblings
Skill can run in families and vary between siblings
Training and disposition can increase skill and possibly power
Large numbers of people can have small scale power in cultures where bending is stressed and likely institutionally trained, even if the culture is confirmed by word of god to have reduced bending receptivity.
I'll also give one very suggestive fact (if memory holds): Katara's grandmother was a highly powerful and/or skilled bender. Katara was a highly powerful and/or naturally skilled bender.
They did say in "The Last Airbender" that humans learned bending. Air bending was learned from flying bisons. Earth bending was learned from badger moles. Fire bending was learned from dragons. Water bending was learned from how the moon changes the tides.
So something must have changed since the ancient days to now if bending was an acquired skill back then but is inherited in the present day.
Unless they just learned to use their innate ability to bend from natural sources.
I find all this speculation kinda silly, though.
If that's the case then anyone with that innate ability should be able to learn any kind of bending, instead of just one element.
unless each individual is attuned to only one element
I'm willing to buy that before some random shift from learning to it being hereditary
The point is in a world with homeless people and billionaires acting like the main problem preventing equality is that Joe can get a job at the power plant that you can't do falls really obviously flat.
Being rich doesn't keep someone from being treated unequally. Nor is equality centered solely around who has the money and who doesn't. It can certainly make it more enjoyable but there were plenty of rich minorities a hundred odd years ago. I wouldn't think it odd that they fought for equality while richer than many of the group they claimed was oppressing them.
Edit: Hell, right now there are very rich people treated unequally. Neil Patrick Harris has probably a thousand times my net worth and still can't marry.
So far I think the most likely explanation of Amon's power is that he was a student of Aang's. Perhaps Aang tried to spiritbend him into an Airbender and something screwed up, or perhaps he was trained specifically to handle another Ozai situation.
If that was the case, Tenzin would know about him.
I can't see Aang trying to Energybend people into Airbenders; it just doesn't seem like something he'd do.
It's logical Tenzin is keeping (or kept) Amon's presence a secret from Korra. Which is a wise choice given that she's very impulsive, inexperienced and naive in how the world works. Perhaps he planned to reveal what he knows to her once she was in her peak with the abilities to shut him down properly. That's why he wanted her to keep out of Republic City until after he trained her in Air Bending.
This would also set the stage for a Kenobi-style "from a certain point of view" speech from Tenzin. And he could even do a Yoda "unfortunate that you rushed off to face him, that incomplete was your Avatar training" speech right afterwards.
"Well, lying is lying, even from a 'certain point of view.'" - Jedi Exile
Here's what we know about bending heredity:
It is not dominant
It is closely tied to parental nationality
It is not mitochondrial
It is not X-linked
It sure as hell isn't y-linked
It can run in families
Raw power when bending is present can run in families
Power can vary between siblings
Skill can run in families and vary between siblings
Training and disposition can increase skill and possibly power
Large numbers of people can have small scale power in cultures where bending is stressed and likely institutionally trained, even if the culture is confirmed by word of god to have reduced bending receptivity.
I'll also give one very suggestive fact (if memory holds): Katara's grandmother was a highly powerful and/or skilled bender. Katara was a highly powerful and/or naturally skilled bender.
They did say in "The Last Airbender" that humans learned bending. Air bending was learned from flying bisons. Earth bending was learned from badger moles. Fire bending was learned from dragons. Water bending was learned from how the moon changes the tides.
So something must have changed since the ancient days to now if bending was an acquired skill back then but is inherited in the present day.
Unless they just learned to use their innate ability to bend from natural sources.
I find all this speculation kinda silly, though.
If that's the case then anyone with that innate ability should be able to learn any kind of bending, instead of just one element.
unless each individual is attuned to only one element
I'm willing to buy that before some random shift from learning to it being hereditary
Really, there's no reason not to assume bending capability wasn't preexisting but undiscovered previous to learning from wildlife.
My imaginatary reasoning is that the people who live in an area over time become aligned with the spirits of the area such that it becomes a part of their physical body. This physical remnant is what makes up the hereditary part and the spiritual part is learning you can bend, either by being taught by animals or other humans.
I really like the original Avatar, but I can't find a place online to watch it ethically, and buying the DVDs would be really expensive. Nickelodeon just doesn't have it available for watching online?
You could pay $8 and get Netflix Instant for a month. It's all on there.
The point is in a world with homeless people and billionaires acting like the main problem preventing equality is that Joe can get a job at the power plant that you can't do falls really obviously flat.
Being rich doesn't keep someone from being treated unequally. Nor is equality centered solely around who has the money and who doesn't. It can certainly make it more enjoyable but there were plenty of rich minorities a hundred odd years ago. I wouldn't think it odd that they fought for equality while richer than many of the group they claimed was oppressing them.
Edit: Hell, right now there are very rich people treated unequally. Neil Patrick Harris has probably a thousand times my net worth and still can't marry.
But there is no indicator that Benders are in general better off then non benders. We saw plenty of poor benders and rich nonbenders in the original series and we see them here in this show. So far they haven't actually shown any oppression between benders and non benders and that is a problem if they want us to take Amon seriously.
The point is in a world with homeless people and billionaires acting like the main problem preventing equality is that Joe can get a job at the power plant that you can't do falls really obviously flat.
Being rich doesn't keep someone from being treated unequally. Nor is equality centered solely around who has the money and who doesn't. It can certainly make it more enjoyable but there were plenty of rich minorities a hundred odd years ago. I wouldn't think it odd that they fought for equality while richer than many of the group they claimed was oppressing them.
Edit: Hell, right now there are very rich people treated unequally. Neil Patrick Harris has probably a thousand times my net worth and still can't marry.
But there is no indicator that Benders are in general better off then non benders. We saw plenty of poor benders and rich nonbenders in the original series and we see them here in this show. So far they haven't actually shown any oppression between benders and non benders and that is a problem if they want us to take Amon seriously.
Except for the constant fear of attack and destruction.
Which so far nonbenders have been subjected to both episodes Korra's not inside the pro bending ring. To say nothing of them filling the most powerful arm of the police.
The point is in a world with homeless people and billionaires acting like the main problem preventing equality is that Joe can get a job at the power plant that you can't do falls really obviously flat.
Being rich doesn't keep someone from being treated unequally. Nor is equality centered solely around who has the money and who doesn't. It can certainly make it more enjoyable but there were plenty of rich minorities a hundred odd years ago. I wouldn't think it odd that they fought for equality while richer than many of the group they claimed was oppressing them.
Edit: Hell, right now there are very rich people treated unequally. Neil Patrick Harris has probably a thousand times my net worth and still can't marry.
But there is no indicator that Benders are in general better off then non benders. We saw plenty of poor benders and rich nonbenders in the original series and we see them here in this show. So far they haven't actually shown any oppression between benders and non benders and that is a problem if they want us to take Amon seriously.
Except for the constant fear of attack and destruction.
Which so far nonbenders have been subjected to both episodes Korra's not inside the pro bending ring. To say nothing of them filling the most powerful arm of the police.
We know that there are bending based gangs out there. This does not mean that if the shopkeeper had been a bender that he would have been immune from their threats or anything so that's not really oppression. I'm also not sure what you mean by the most powerful arm of the police. They are not necessarily the highest ranking or have the most authority. If you mean that they are the most powerful in that they could win a fight that's true but then you are arguing that the best people in a fight have made up an elite unit and you could just as well argue that it is unfair that only smart people can become doctors.
We know that there are bending based gangs out there. This does not mean that if the shopkeeper had been a bender that he would have been immune from their threats or anything so that's not really oppression. I'm also not sure what you mean by the most powerful arm of the police. They are not necessarily the highest ranking or have the most authority. If you mean that they are the most powerful in that they could win a fight that's true but then you are arguing that the best people in a fight have made up an elite unit and you could just as well argue that it is unfair that only smart people can become doctors.
As I said earlier, intelligence can be cultivated, bending can't. A person can study and improve and attain being a doctor. No amount of effort will let one become a bender. Which means that currently most of the city must keep in good faith that the likely most powerful group of benders, lead by another bender, stay benevolent.
It's also irrelevant whether or not the shop keeper was a bender. Benders destroyed multiple shops and wrecked the street. Korra has also on one occasion threatened an Equalist shill and another attacked him despite him never using, or really even advocating violence against her.
Benders are absolutely both the highest-ranking and most elite members of the police.
Chief Beifong is a metalbender and the head of the police, and the most elite division of the police are the metlabenders. They've been cited as the equivalent of Republic City's SWAT team, I believe.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that a significant portion of Republic City's upper governmental leaders, if not all of them, are benders.
Even if the police and the government are 100% on the straight-and-narrow, mistrust is still understandable, because it's the benders running things.
At the end of the day there shouldn't be any cause to distinguish between benders and non-benders as human beings, but hey, people suck.
We know that there are bending based gangs out there. This does not mean that if the shopkeeper had been a bender that he would have been immune from their threats or anything so that's not really oppression. I'm also not sure what you mean by the most powerful arm of the police. They are not necessarily the highest ranking or have the most authority. If you mean that they are the most powerful in that they could win a fight that's true but then you are arguing that the best people in a fight have made up an elite unit and you could just as well argue that it is unfair that only smart people can become doctors.
As I said earlier, intelligence can be cultivated, bending can't. A person can study and improve and attain being a doctor. No amount of effort will let one become a bender. Which means that currently most of the city must keep in good faith that the likely most powerful group of benders, lead by another bender, stay benevolent.
It's also irrelevant whether or not the shop keeper was a bender. Benders destroyed multiple shops and wrecked the street. Korra has also on one occasion threatened an Equalist shill and another attacked him despite him never using, or really even advocating violence against her.
But most people can't really become a doctor. I mean you can argue that there is no law of nature preventing it from happening but on a practical level it never will. For your next examples that's still not oppression. Members of a group did something illegal and unsanctioned by the government/authorities. If a nonbender criminal robbed a bender walking in the park would you consider that to be oppression?
We know that there are bending based gangs out there. This does not mean that if the shopkeeper had been a bender that he would have been immune from their threats or anything so that's not really oppression. I'm also not sure what you mean by the most powerful arm of the police. They are not necessarily the highest ranking or have the most authority. If you mean that they are the most powerful in that they could win a fight that's true but then you are arguing that the best people in a fight have made up an elite unit and you could just as well argue that it is unfair that only smart people can become doctors.
As I said earlier, intelligence can be cultivated, bending can't. A person can study and improve and attain being a doctor. No amount of effort will let one become a bender. Which means that currently most of the city must keep in good faith that the likely most powerful group of benders, lead by another bender, stay benevolent.
It's also irrelevant whether or not the shop keeper was a bender. Benders destroyed multiple shops and wrecked the street. Korra has also on one occasion threatened an Equalist shill and another attacked him despite him never using, or really even advocating violence against her.
But most people can't really become a doctor. I mean you can argue that there is no law of nature preventing it from happening but on a practical level it never will. For your next examples that's still not oppression. Members of a group did something illegal and unsanctioned by the government/authorities. If a nonbender criminal robbed a bender walking in the park would you consider that to be oppression?
The main issue with benders as criminals is that there exists no real way for a normal citizen in the Avatar universe to defend themselves against a bender.
The normals we see take on benders successfully are all highly-trained, elite martial artists and warriors. Sam Shopkeeper simply cannot attain that level of training or ability. He can buy a knife or carry a cudgel to defend himself against normal muggers, but put him up against a bender and he's utterly helpless.
Therein lies the main issue between benders and non-benders that is becoming ever more acute due to the growing pains of industrialization in the major city; with the absence of modern firearms, non-benders have no recourse for protection against benders. They're completely open to exploitation and abuse at the hands of bender criminals, which means they must rely on the bender police for protection, who in turn answer to the bender government.
Given that particular chain of cause and effect, it's entirely understandable that resentment would arise in the populace.
Benders are absolutely both the highest-ranking and most elite members of the police.
Chief Beifong is a metalbender and the head of the police, and the most elite division of the police are the metlabenders. They've been cited as the equivalent of Republic City's SWAT team, I believe.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that a significant portion of Republic City's upper governmental leaders, if not all of them, are benders.
Even if the police and the government are 100% on the straight-and-narrow, mistrust is still understandable, because it's the benders running things.
At the end of the day there shouldn't be any cause to distinguish between benders and non-benders as human beings, but hey, people suck.
SWAT usually aren't the highest ranking members of a police force. Also how do you know a significant portion of Repubilc City's leaders are benders? We only know who 1 of them is right now and while yes he is a bender I think it is a leap to then conclude that that means a significant proportion of government leaders are. Hell we don't even know what kind of government they have, if there is a mayor, how voting works etc. I just think some people in this thread are making a whole lot of assumptions at how the city works.
We know that there are bending based gangs out there. This does not mean that if the shopkeeper had been a bender that he would have been immune from their threats or anything so that's not really oppression. I'm also not sure what you mean by the most powerful arm of the police. They are not necessarily the highest ranking or have the most authority. If you mean that they are the most powerful in that they could win a fight that's true but then you are arguing that the best people in a fight have made up an elite unit and you could just as well argue that it is unfair that only smart people can become doctors.
As I said earlier, intelligence can be cultivated, bending can't. A person can study and improve and attain being a doctor. No amount of effort will let one become a bender. Which means that currently most of the city must keep in good faith that the likely most powerful group of benders, lead by another bender, stay benevolent.
It's also irrelevant whether or not the shop keeper was a bender. Benders destroyed multiple shops and wrecked the street. Korra has also on one occasion threatened an Equalist shill and another attacked him despite him never using, or really even advocating violence against her.
But most people can't really become a doctor. I mean you can argue that there is no law of nature preventing it from happening but on a practical level it never will. For your next examples that's still not oppression. Members of a group did something illegal and unsanctioned by the government/authorities. If a nonbender criminal robbed a bender walking in the park would you consider that to be oppression?
The main issue with benders as criminals is that there exists no real way for a normal citizen in the Avatar universe to defend themselves against a bender.
The normals we see take on benders successfully are all highly-trained, elite martial artists and warriors. Sam Shopkeeper simply cannot attain that level of training or ability. He can buy a knife or carry a cudgel to defend himself against normal muggers, but put him up against a bender and he's utterly helpless.
Therein lies the main issue between benders and non-benders that is becoming ever more acute due to the growing pains of industrialization in the major city; with the absence of modern firearms, non-benders have no recourse for protection against benders.
But that would be true if the criminals weren't benders. If you get mugged and pull out a knife against 3 normal muggers that probably just means you are going to die instead of just lose your wallet.
Benders are absolutely both the highest-ranking and most elite members of the police.
Chief Beifong is a metalbender and the head of the police, and the most elite division of the police are the metlabenders. They've been cited as the equivalent of Republic City's SWAT team, I believe.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that a significant portion of Republic City's upper governmental leaders, if not all of them, are benders.
Even if the police and the government are 100% on the straight-and-narrow, mistrust is still understandable, because it's the benders running things.
At the end of the day there shouldn't be any cause to distinguish between benders and non-benders as human beings, but hey, people suck.
SWAT usually aren't the highest ranking members of a police force. Also how do you know a significant portion of Repubilc City's leaders are benders? We only know who 1 of them is right now and while yes he is a bender I think it is a leap to then conclude that that means a significant proportion of government leaders are. Hell we don't even know what kind of government they have, if there is a mayor, how voting works etc. I just think some people in this thread are making a whole lot of assumptions at how the city works.
Check the Republic City Tour on the Korra website. They explain that there's a ruling council, and out of the five councilmen,
at least two, Tenzin and the Fire Nation rep, are benders. No word on the others yet.
SWAT aren't the highest-ranking members, but they're the most elite, and the highest-ranking member of the police force is a bender.
We know that there are bending based gangs out there. This does not mean that if the shopkeeper had been a bender that he would have been immune from their threats or anything so that's not really oppression. I'm also not sure what you mean by the most powerful arm of the police. They are not necessarily the highest ranking or have the most authority. If you mean that they are the most powerful in that they could win a fight that's true but then you are arguing that the best people in a fight have made up an elite unit and you could just as well argue that it is unfair that only smart people can become doctors.
As I said earlier, intelligence can be cultivated, bending can't. A person can study and improve and attain being a doctor. No amount of effort will let one become a bender. Which means that currently most of the city must keep in good faith that the likely most powerful group of benders, lead by another bender, stay benevolent.
It's also irrelevant whether or not the shop keeper was a bender. Benders destroyed multiple shops and wrecked the street. Korra has also on one occasion threatened an Equalist shill and another attacked him despite him never using, or really even advocating violence against her.
But most people can't really become a doctor. I mean you can argue that there is no law of nature preventing it from happening but on a practical level it never will. For your next examples that's still not oppression. Members of a group did something illegal and unsanctioned by the government/authorities. If a nonbender criminal robbed a bender walking in the park would you consider that to be oppression?
The main issue with benders as criminals is that there exists no real way for a normal citizen in the Avatar universe to defend themselves against a bender.
The normals we see take on benders successfully are all highly-trained, elite martial artists and warriors. Sam Shopkeeper simply cannot attain that level of training or ability. He can buy a knife or carry a cudgel to defend himself against normal muggers, but put him up against a bender and he's utterly helpless.
Therein lies the main issue between benders and non-benders that is becoming ever more acute due to the growing pains of industrialization in the major city; with the absence of modern firearms, non-benders have no recourse for protection against benders.
But that would be true if the criminals weren't benders. If you get mugged and pull out a knife against 3 normal muggers that probably just means you are going to die instead of just lose your wallet.
Right, but you still have the ability to fight and protect yourself if you so choose. Against a bender, that's not even an option, and benders are capable of far more indiscriminate destruction than normal muggers or criminals in the Avatar world.
Piss off some normal criminals, and they'll smash up your shop. Piss off an Earthbender, and they'll level your entire block.
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Maybe it is an option now. Lots more chi blockers around now, since Mako could recognize it as a common thing - that's equality, imo. Being able to disable a bender's abilities would take a lot of practice and skill, but hey; so does bending.
Benders are absolutely both the highest-ranking and most elite members of the police.
Chief Beifong is a metalbender and the head of the police, and the most elite division of the police are the metlabenders. They've been cited as the equivalent of Republic City's SWAT team, I believe.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that a significant portion of Republic City's upper governmental leaders, if not all of them, are benders.
Even if the police and the government are 100% on the straight-and-narrow, mistrust is still understandable, because it's the benders running things.
At the end of the day there shouldn't be any cause to distinguish between benders and non-benders as human beings, but hey, people suck.
SWAT usually aren't the highest ranking members of a police force. Also how do you know a significant portion of Repubilc City's leaders are benders? We only know who 1 of them is right now and while yes he is a bender I think it is a leap to then conclude that that means a significant proportion of government leaders are. Hell we don't even know what kind of government they have, if there is a mayor, how voting works etc. I just think some people in this thread are making a whole lot of assumptions at how the city works.
Check the Republic City Tour on the Korra website. They explain that there's a ruling council, and out of the five councilmen,
at least two, Tenzin and the Fire Nation rep, are benders. No word on the others yet.
SWAT aren't the highest-ranking members, but they're the most elite, and the highest-ranking member of the police force is a bender.
We know that there are bending based gangs out there. This does not mean that if the shopkeeper had been a bender that he would have been immune from their threats or anything so that's not really oppression. I'm also not sure what you mean by the most powerful arm of the police. They are not necessarily the highest ranking or have the most authority. If you mean that they are the most powerful in that they could win a fight that's true but then you are arguing that the best people in a fight have made up an elite unit and you could just as well argue that it is unfair that only smart people can become doctors.
As I said earlier, intelligence can be cultivated, bending can't. A person can study and improve and attain being a doctor. No amount of effort will let one become a bender. Which means that currently most of the city must keep in good faith that the likely most powerful group of benders, lead by another bender, stay benevolent.
It's also irrelevant whether or not the shop keeper was a bender. Benders destroyed multiple shops and wrecked the street. Korra has also on one occasion threatened an Equalist shill and another attacked him despite him never using, or really even advocating violence against her.
But most people can't really become a doctor. I mean you can argue that there is no law of nature preventing it from happening but on a practical level it never will. For your next examples that's still not oppression. Members of a group did something illegal and unsanctioned by the government/authorities. If a nonbender criminal robbed a bender walking in the park would you consider that to be oppression?
The main issue with benders as criminals is that there exists no real way for a normal citizen in the Avatar universe to defend themselves against a bender.
The normals we see take on benders successfully are all highly-trained, elite martial artists and warriors. Sam Shopkeeper simply cannot attain that level of training or ability. He can buy a knife or carry a cudgel to defend himself against normal muggers, but put him up against a bender and he's utterly helpless.
Therein lies the main issue between benders and non-benders that is becoming ever more acute due to the growing pains of industrialization in the major city; with the absence of modern firearms, non-benders have no recourse for protection against benders.
But that would be true if the criminals weren't benders. If you get mugged and pull out a knife against 3 normal muggers that probably just means you are going to die instead of just lose your wallet.
Right, but you still have the ability to fight and protect yourself if you so choose. Against a bender, that's not even an option, and benders are capable of far more indiscriminate destruction than normal muggers or criminals in the Avatar world.
Piss off some normal criminals, and they'll smash up your shop. Piss off an Earthbender, and they'll level your entire block.
Even 2/5 might not be all that off from the general population though depending on what the percentage of benders to non benders is in republic city. It varied so much in the different cultures that it is hard to guess what it would be in republic city. I still am not buying the idea that SWAT are the most elite. They are really good at what they do, but I don't think you can say they are more elite then a detective for instance. I also think you are overstating the power differential in a fight between a bender and a nonbender, I mean Sokka had like 2 days of sword training and he was able to defeat multiple benders throughout the series. Same with Zuko as the blue spirit. I think that from the perspective of a random shopkeeper 3 nonbenders with baseball bats are going to be able to beat you up/kill you as easily as 3 benders.
Edit: I mean you have to remember, even a common triad thug is someone who had to train for years to master what is essentially a martial art so of course they are going to be able to win a fight against someone who has never been in a fight in their life.
Maybe it is an option now. Lots more chi blockers around now, since Mako could recognize it as a common thing - that's equality, imo. Being able to disable a bender's abilities would take a lot of practice and skill, but hey; so does bending.
Chi-blocking still requires intensive martial-arts training and, as a result, years of practice. It's "equality" in the sense that it offers highly-trained paramilitary groups a defense against bending, but it does very little for the average citizen.
Even 2/5 might not be all that off from the general population though depending on what the percentage of benders to non benders is in republic city. It varied so much in the different cultures that it is hard to guess what it would be in republic city. I still am not buying the idea that SWAT are the most elite. They are really good at what they do, but I don't think you can say they are more elite then a detective for instance. I also think you are overstating the power differential in a fight between a bender and a nonbender, I mean Sokka had like 2 days of sword training and he was able to defeat multiple benders throughout the series. Same with Zuko as the blue spirit. I think that from the perspective of a random shopkeeper 3 nonbenders with baseball bats are going to be able to beat you up/kill you as easily as 3 benders.
Edit: I mean you have to remember, even a common triad thug is someone who had to train for years to master what is essentially a martial art so of course they are going to be able to win a fight against someone who has never been in a fight in their life.
There's absolutely no comparison between 3 non-benders with baseball bats and 3 benders. You can get away from the guys with the baseball bats, you've a much better chance of surviving, and they can't destroy your entire house.
The benders can impale you with ice, roast you alive, and collapse your home into the ground in the span of a few seconds.
I'm not so convinced that it requires years of martial-arts training for street thugs to employ a decent level of bending anymore, either. Look at the mooks Korra wails on; they've got none of the fluidity and precision of the well-trained benders of TLA,.
Yeah, but wasn't Metal bending even rarer than lightning bending? And now there's an entire police force that does it? i dunno, maybe it's because Toph or her daughter were incredible teachers or maybe benders are getting better and better in a few generations.
I think this is a theme of industrialization that they're playing on. extremely rare, specialized knowledge that is closely guarded becomes common place when literacy, radio, and improved means of movement spread information at an increasingly fast rate. There's pretty much not a single knowledge set or skill in the world that you can't pay a fee to learn how to do if you spend 10,000 hours or whatever trying to do it in the modern world.
toph 'discovered' metal bending and was likely able to teach it. IF she hadn't figured it out, it would likely still be relatively unknown, but it did take one of the most skilled and unique earth benders to originally figure it out.
The way I think of it, it took a genius (and an army of scientists) to figure out how to manipulate electricity safely, now any knucklehead can take some courses and learn how to wire a building
Maybe it is an option now. Lots more chi blockers around now, since Mako could recognize it as a common thing - that's equality, imo. Being able to disable a bender's abilities would take a lot of practice and skill, but hey; so does bending.
Chi-blocking still requires intensive martial-arts training and, as a result, years of practice. It's "equality" in the sense that it offers highly-trained paramilitary groups a defense against bending, but it does very little for the average citizen.
But bending is an intensive martial-arts training method that requires years of practice. You are complaining that the average citizen is going to lose a fight against someone who has specifically trained how to fight for years. That is always going to be true.
Edit: The thing about the Avatar universe is it is one where even nonbenders can do impossible things in terms of athletics and acrobatics and a 16 year old circus performer can beat up a crack military squad. What those equalist ninjas did is pretty much impossible in real life too, so I don't think benders have as much of an advantage in a fight as you would assume.
Maybe it is an option now. Lots more chi blockers around now, since Mako could recognize it as a common thing - that's equality, imo. Being able to disable a bender's abilities would take a lot of practice and skill, but hey; so does bending.
That part struck me as really dumb.
The chi blockers didn't win because they blocked chi. They won because they were ridiculously better than the people they were fighting against. Put a pair of knives in their hands and our protagonists would be dead. Hell, any benders with that sort of skill disparity would have torn them apart too.
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TurksonNear the mountains of ColoradoRegistered Userregular
Caught the third episode. The only way this show could be better is if Wang Fire made a cameo.
But most people can't really become a doctor. I mean you can argue that there is no law of nature preventing it from happening but on a practical level it never will. For your next examples that's still not oppression. Members of a group did something illegal and unsanctioned by the government/authorities. If a nonbender criminal robbed a bender walking in the park would you consider that to be oppression?
Fighting that destroyed the property of a bunch of nonbenders. That they're breaking the law is irrelevant. It's benders that continue to wreak destruction across the city. Had it been a fight between normal thugs it's a given cars would not have been launched through the air. Every bender has very real, very dangerous power over every non bender. I can guarantee you wouldn't think it fair or safe to randomly assign full auto weapons at birth that people get to take with them everywhere.
And no, not everyone can become a doctor, but every person has the option to try at the least. Not so for non benders.
Maybe it is an option now. Lots more chi blockers around now, since Mako could recognize it as a common thing - that's equality, imo. Being able to disable a bender's abilities would take a lot of practice and skill, but hey; so does bending.
Chi-blocking still requires intensive martial-arts training and, as a result, years of practice. It's "equality" in the sense that it offers highly-trained paramilitary groups a defense against bending, but it does very little for the average citizen.
But bending is an intensive martial-arts training method that requires years of practice. You are complaining that the average citizen is going to lose a fight against someone who has specifically trained how to fight for years. That is always going to be true.
Edit: The thing about the Avatar universe is it is one where even nonbenders can do impossible things in terms of athletics and acrobatics and a 16 year old circus performer can beat up a crack military squad. What those equalist ninjas did is pretty much impossible in real life too, so I don't think benders have as much of an advantage in a fight as you would assume.
To become good takes years of practice.
To create a giant, uncontrolled inferno that hurts anyone around you does not.
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
But that is not oppression. We haven't seen any proof that benders dominate the government or are richer on average then non benders or have old benders clubs that fix each other up with jobs etc.
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21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
But that is not oppression. We haven't seen any proof that benders dominate the government or are richer on average then non benders or have old benders clubs that fix each other up with jobs etc.
I really like the original Avatar, but I can't find a place online to watch it ethically, and buying the DVDs would be really expensive. Nickelodeon just doesn't have it available for watching online?
if you have amazon prime, it's also free to stream on amazon
Maybe it is an option now. Lots more chi blockers around now, since Mako could recognize it as a common thing - that's equality, imo. Being able to disable a bender's abilities would take a lot of practice and skill, but hey; so does bending.
Chi-blocking still requires intensive martial-arts training and, as a result, years of practice. It's "equality" in the sense that it offers highly-trained paramilitary groups a defense against bending, but it does very little for the average citizen.
But bending is an intensive martial-arts training method that requires years of practice. You are complaining that the average citizen is going to lose a fight against someone who has specifically trained how to fight for years. That is always going to be true.
Edit: The thing about the Avatar universe is it is one where even nonbenders can do impossible things in terms of athletics and acrobatics and a 16 year old circus performer can beat up a crack military squad. What those equalist ninjas did is pretty much impossible in real life too, so I don't think benders have as much of an advantage in a fight as you would assume.
To become good takes years of practice.
To create a giant, uncontrolled inferno that hurts anyone around you does not.
This.
It's important to keep in mind that benders in TLA needed years of training because they were going directly up against other highly-trained benders as part of a military in military engagements.
You don't need that level of skill to extort a few shopkeepers, and it shows. Just look at Korra's fight with the mooks; they're not very skilled at all, but it's still more than enough to ensure that no normal human is going to stand a chance against them.
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
But that is not oppression. We haven't seen any proof that benders dominate the government or are richer on average then non benders or have old benders clubs that fix each other up with jobs etc.
Once more, benders have a significant presence on the ruling council, quite possibly make up the entire ruling council, and they run the police.
There's also plenty of proof that benders are richer on average than non-benders. We've seen poor people, but no poor benders, and if even a menial industrial job bending pays good money, poor benders are not likely to be found.
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I think this is a theme of industrialization that they're playing on. extremely rare, specialized knowledge that is closely guarded becomes common place when literacy, radio, and improved means of movement spread information at an increasingly fast rate. There's pretty much not a single knowledge set or skill in the world that you can't pay a fee to learn how to do if you spend 10,000 hours or whatever trying to do it in the modern world.
toph 'discovered' metal bending and was likely able to teach it. IF she hadn't figured it out, it would likely still be relatively unknown, but it did take one of the most skilled and unique earth benders to originally figure it out.
The way I think of it, it took a genius (and an army of scientists) to figure out how to manipulate electricity safely, now any knucklehead can take some courses and learn how to wire a building
I second all of this!
I remember when I first watched Avatar through Nick's website. Their player was so bad. It was always randomly crashing, or locking up, or desynching the audio progressively worse after each commercial break. I'm so glad it's on Netflix now.
Weren't midiclorians just an indicator species?
A better way to phrase "magic" would be "non-Mendelian inheritance/potential with strong influences by environmental and epigenetic factors."
If that's the case then anyone with that innate ability should be able to learn any kind of bending, instead of just one element.
A good analogy somebody made was calculus; it took a mathematical genius to discover it and plot out the rules and technique, but now we teach it in high schools.
unless each individual is attuned to only one element
I'm willing to buy that before some random shift from learning to it being hereditary
Being rich doesn't keep someone from being treated unequally. Nor is equality centered solely around who has the money and who doesn't. It can certainly make it more enjoyable but there were plenty of rich minorities a hundred odd years ago. I wouldn't think it odd that they fought for equality while richer than many of the group they claimed was oppressing them.
Edit: Hell, right now there are very rich people treated unequally. Neil Patrick Harris has probably a thousand times my net worth and still can't marry.
Really, there's no reason not to assume bending capability wasn't preexisting but undiscovered previous to learning from wildlife.
You could pay $8 and get Netflix Instant for a month. It's all on there.
Except for the constant fear of attack and destruction.
Which so far nonbenders have been subjected to both episodes Korra's not inside the pro bending ring. To say nothing of them filling the most powerful arm of the police.
i'm sure the whole bender exploitation of power theme will be elaborated upon
the avatar writers have not failed us yet
As I said earlier, intelligence can be cultivated, bending can't. A person can study and improve and attain being a doctor. No amount of effort will let one become a bender. Which means that currently most of the city must keep in good faith that the likely most powerful group of benders, lead by another bender, stay benevolent.
It's also irrelevant whether or not the shop keeper was a bender. Benders destroyed multiple shops and wrecked the street. Korra has also on one occasion threatened an Equalist shill and another attacked him despite him never using, or really even advocating violence against her.
Chief Beifong is a metalbender and the head of the police, and the most elite division of the police are the metlabenders. They've been cited as the equivalent of Republic City's SWAT team, I believe.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that a significant portion of Republic City's upper governmental leaders, if not all of them, are benders.
Even if the police and the government are 100% on the straight-and-narrow, mistrust is still understandable, because it's the benders running things.
At the end of the day there shouldn't be any cause to distinguish between benders and non-benders as human beings, but hey, people suck.
The main issue with benders as criminals is that there exists no real way for a normal citizen in the Avatar universe to defend themselves against a bender.
The normals we see take on benders successfully are all highly-trained, elite martial artists and warriors. Sam Shopkeeper simply cannot attain that level of training or ability. He can buy a knife or carry a cudgel to defend himself against normal muggers, but put him up against a bender and he's utterly helpless.
Therein lies the main issue between benders and non-benders that is becoming ever more acute due to the growing pains of industrialization in the major city; with the absence of modern firearms, non-benders have no recourse for protection against benders. They're completely open to exploitation and abuse at the hands of bender criminals, which means they must rely on the bender police for protection, who in turn answer to the bender government.
Given that particular chain of cause and effect, it's entirely understandable that resentment would arise in the populace.
Check the Republic City Tour on the Korra website. They explain that there's a ruling council, and out of the five councilmen,
SWAT aren't the highest-ranking members, but they're the most elite, and the highest-ranking member of the police force is a bender.
Right, but you still have the ability to fight and protect yourself if you so choose. Against a bender, that's not even an option, and benders are capable of far more indiscriminate destruction than normal muggers or criminals in the Avatar world.
Piss off some normal criminals, and they'll smash up your shop. Piss off an Earthbender, and they'll level your entire block.
Edit: I mean you have to remember, even a common triad thug is someone who had to train for years to master what is essentially a martial art so of course they are going to be able to win a fight against someone who has never been in a fight in their life.
Chi-blocking still requires intensive martial-arts training and, as a result, years of practice. It's "equality" in the sense that it offers highly-trained paramilitary groups a defense against bending, but it does very little for the average citizen.
There's absolutely no comparison between 3 non-benders with baseball bats and 3 benders. You can get away from the guys with the baseball bats, you've a much better chance of surviving, and they can't destroy your entire house.
The benders can impale you with ice, roast you alive, and collapse your home into the ground in the span of a few seconds.
I'm not so convinced that it requires years of martial-arts training for street thugs to employ a decent level of bending anymore, either. Look at the mooks Korra wails on; they've got none of the fluidity and precision of the well-trained benders of TLA,.
^^^^^
Edit: The thing about the Avatar universe is it is one where even nonbenders can do impossible things in terms of athletics and acrobatics and a 16 year old circus performer can beat up a crack military squad. What those equalist ninjas did is pretty much impossible in real life too, so I don't think benders have as much of an advantage in a fight as you would assume.
That part struck me as really dumb.
The chi blockers didn't win because they blocked chi. They won because they were ridiculously better than the people they were fighting against. Put a pair of knives in their hands and our protagonists would be dead. Hell, any benders with that sort of skill disparity would have torn them apart too.
Fighting that destroyed the property of a bunch of nonbenders. That they're breaking the law is irrelevant. It's benders that continue to wreak destruction across the city. Had it been a fight between normal thugs it's a given cars would not have been launched through the air. Every bender has very real, very dangerous power over every non bender. I can guarantee you wouldn't think it fair or safe to randomly assign full auto weapons at birth that people get to take with them everywhere.
And no, not everyone can become a doctor, but every person has the option to try at the least. Not so for non benders.
To become good takes years of practice.
To create a giant, uncontrolled inferno that hurts anyone around you does not.
We saw 3 episodes...
Like, give it time, right?
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if you have amazon prime, it's also free to stream on amazon
This.
It's important to keep in mind that benders in TLA needed years of training because they were going directly up against other highly-trained benders as part of a military in military engagements.
You don't need that level of skill to extort a few shopkeepers, and it shows. Just look at Korra's fight with the mooks; they're not very skilled at all, but it's still more than enough to ensure that no normal human is going to stand a chance against them.
Once more, benders have a significant presence on the ruling council, quite possibly make up the entire ruling council, and they run the police.
There's also plenty of proof that benders are richer on average than non-benders. We've seen poor people, but no poor benders, and if even a menial industrial job bending pays good money, poor benders are not likely to be found.