#But it's not a slur

[crocodilianmatingcalls]

(Long Rant Post About ATLA Fandom)

Tl;Dr Stop being Fire Nation Sympathizers. Stop trying to convert your readers to becoming Fire Nation Sympathizers. The Fire Nation is actually supposed to suck, so it's great when you write them as being sucky.

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I've been reading (and rereading) a lot of ATLA fanfics lately, and I'm noticing something ... not too great about a few of these fics. Specifically, the Zuko-centric ones.

Now, don't get me wrong: I LOVE a good Zuko-centric fic. Hell, the fics that I've been reading (and rereading) have consisted of, like, 90% Zuko-centric fics. But there is a line that, while most fics either completely avoid or somewhat dance around, the ones I have a problem with blatantly cross it. And that line is making the Fire Nation ... not evil.

Oh, these fics tend to be set in the same universe as the original show. The same historical moments from the show (e.g.: the Air Nomad Genocide, the Southern Raids, the 600-Day Siege of Ba Sing Se, etc.) all happen in these fics, yet somehow the other civilizations are painted as the bad guys.

And now, I get what these fics are TRYING to do. They're trying to show that not everything is black and white. There is no problem showing that the Earth Kingdom is corrupt. There's no problem showing that the Northern Water Tribe has sexist traditional views. The problem comes when you take these ideas and use them to paint the Fire Nation in a prettier light.

"Oh, look how corrupt and disorganized the Earth Kingdom is. All of their cities are managed by the Earth King, who's a figurehead that doesn't even know there's a war going on."

"Oh, look how rigid in their sexist views the Northern Water Tribe is. Women aren't allowed to learn how to fight, even if they're waterbenders. They can only learn the lesser forms of bending, like healing."

"Now look at the Fire Nation. They're a bunch of volcanic islands that were able to unite under the Fire Lord. They have order and technological advances that the other nations could only ever DREAM of. They draft both men AND women into the military. They drink their respect women juice every day."

This kind of behavior is wrong on SO many accounts.

You are condoning colonialism and genocide. In no universe are those two things EVER a good thing.

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of why the gender role system in the North is problematic. Having different gender roles isn't an inherently bad thing. A society under the threat of war needs warriors AND healers. What's wrong is that people don't get a choice in what they can be. What's wrong is that these group assignments are based on something as arbitrary as sex. What's wrong is that one group is praised for its existence and seen as a lot more valuable than the other, when in reality warriors need healers to protect them just as much as healers need warriors to do the same.

You are also kinda (really) being misogynistic. In the show, Katara prioritized learning combat because she was on the front lines in this war. Traveling with the avatar meant encountering danger left, right, front, and center. She needed to be able to protect herself and her friends if they ever wanted to see the war end. However, what people seem to forget is that she ALSO learned how to heal. She mastered both combative AND healing waterbending because both skills were important for their mission. Yet so many focus on the fact that women should be allowed to learn to fight because fighting is an important (cough cough "masculine") skill. Yes, that is true, especially in a time of war. However, EVERYONE should be allowed to learn how to fight and EVERYONE should be allowed to learn how to heal. These are both EQUALLY important skills.

Hot take, but the only reason why the Fire Nation is so "progressive" when it comes to gender roles is because they don't actually have a lot of people. You think the Fire Nation actually treats men and women equally? Dude, have you SEEN the size of the Fire Nation in comparison to the rest of the world, which it's trying to CONQUER? If the Fire Nation was stingy with who they allowed in their army, this war wouldn't've lasted as long as it has, and the Fire Nation wouldn't've been as successful in their conquest as they have. Both the Earth Kindgom and the Northern Water Tribe can afford to voice their sexist beliefs because they have enough men to fight in this war. And if you still don't believe me, look at their same-sex laws. Sozin outright BANNED same-sex relations after he started his war. Why? Because these relationships don't contribute to increasing the population. Still don't believe me? In the show, there is only ONE (1) woman soilder that gets a speaking role. ONE! And her only line is one that briefly mentions the reality of being a woman soilder. A line that's played for laughs. Remember when that one guard from the Boiling Rock jokes and says "No, you aren't allowed to date the female guards"? Yeah, most likely, this woman (alongside all of the other voiceless women in the Fire Nation) has experienced sexist remarks and sexual approaches so often in her career, in her LIFE, that it's just ... a thing. A thing that happens. A thing folks joke about. A common thing. Isn't that messed up?

Anyways, there are way more complaints I can make about this weird dynamic I've witnessed in some fanfics (as well as some fan discourse), but this post is already ridiculously long. Just, can yall think for a sec before writing? Like, just stop and think "Could this be interpreted as condoning colonialism?" If the answer is yes, please stop. It's alright if you want your readers to be sympathetic towards individuals, both in the Fire Nation and in the other civilizations. This is actually a good thing, as it shows that governments aren't always a reflection of their people. Just, don't try to make me sympathetic towards a literal imperialistic, genocidal governing body. As someone who's people were subjected to many instances of colonialsim, that's just really insensitive.

[animentality]

[vhsdogs]

🗡️🗡️🗡️

[orinthered]

been playing botw lately

[bigfoots-biggest-fan]

tumblr staff finding out their site has crowdsourced a viral song, only to discover it is 100% unusable in any corporate marketing scenario

[vague-humanoid]

[not-enough-eyes]

being an mcyt fan who doesn't use twitter is so much fun cuz every now and then its like

"oh wow a lot of the mcyt blogs I follow r suddenly posting a lot did something happ-"

[creature-wizard]

Since the r-slur is making a comeback (you know, the word that starts with R, has six letters, and ends in D), I'm gonna make a little PSA:

Yes, it's an ableist slur.

Terms like "asshat," "head-up-ass," "up their own ass," and "high on their own farts" exist. There's also words like crap, dogshit, half-assed, assclown, and chucklefuck. And on the less vulgar side, there are terms like ridiculous, nonsense, train wreck, pointless, insipid, self-absorbed, pretentious, annoying, boring, contemptible, vile, and disgusting.

Substituting words like restarted, poptarted, brain damaged, smoothbrain, etc. is still ableist, because either 1. you obviously still mean the r-word, or 2. you're still using disability as an insult.

[yellowyarn]

Actually, the "F" on my passport is for faggot, not female.

[punkitt-is-here]

I must become an even bigger faggot these next four years. As is the way

[wrender]

Transparent pins taken from the Arquives' button collection!

[cpunkhobie]

Being non-binary is like instead of having an angel and a demon on ur shoulder u have a faggot and a dyke

[noxious-fennec]

I love how being obsessed with livestreamed Minecraft role play for a period of my life has granted me access to seemingly endless interpersonal dramas I can tap into at 7 in the morning. Ex-girlfriend at the function pov

[hesperocyon-lesbian]

It’s amazing the things Israelis will say when they think no one outside of Israel will read it

[adriabun]

its always delicious in dungeon (ref)