#we have two solutions to make them cohexist:

[one-half-guy]

Toddler Silver is the biggest menace who ever graced the planet, meanwhile toddler Gold is the absolute cutest, sweetest, most agreeable kiddo anyone can lay their eyes on <3

Did you know Evan once drew a picture of a younger Gold? ^-^

They are 🤩😍 and these two don't cohexist 😭 I imagine toddler Silver would drag toddler Gold to mischief with little effort and everyone would have their hands full 😆😆 (maybe it would be too much for the world 🤔)

Yeah, I know 😃 and she is SOOOOOOO CUTE 😍😍😍

[aspoonofsugar]

Hello Meta Queen! Do you have any thoughts on how TPD is clearly inspired by ATLA, and how the writers may be further developing similar themes/characters?

Hello friend!

Let’s see...

THEMES

I think that the main theme of ATLA is the idea of bringing back balance to the world.

Atla is a story about finding an equilibrium both on a personal level and on a macro-level:

Being in equilibrium lets people love themselves and others. It also comes with accepting diversity and interpreting it as something enriching.

This is why the Avatar is a person bending all four elements. It is because the four elements represent different aspects of the self and bending all four means finding an equilibrium among them. Similarly, all the four cultures presented have positive sides and negative sides and they need to cohexist and to accept each other.

This is precisely why the theme of equilibrium is linked to the theme of diversity. ATLA is a series which deals and promotes diversity. It shows how people can learn from different cultures:

It is not by chance that in the end the characters who lose are Azula and Ozai, who are both out of balance. Azula can’t find harmony inside herself and this is why she loses despite all her talent. Ozai fails to understand the equilibrium of the world. He tries to destroy said equilibrium and this is why he loses his own bending in the end.

Differently, the main characters all find balance within themselves and with others.

Aang is challenged by other bendings. In particular, earth-bending challenges him to face poblems head on (the whole story starts because he runs away after all), while fire-bending challenges his fear of violence and of his own power (and he manages to go all out at the end of the story).

Zuko reconciles the different sides of his complicated legacy and starts respecting other cultures.

Sokka learns that he does not have to change himself to be who he wants to be. What is more, he develops a strong respect for women.

Katara finds an equilibrium between the positive and negative traits of herself and her bending. She also forgives Zuko, but does not forgive her mother’s killer.

Toph must find an equilibrium between her desire of freedom and her wish to stay close to her loved ones. Not to count an equilibrium between her strength and the necessity of accepting help.

When it comes to Tdp, it is more difficult to discuss themes because the series is not over.

That said, I think that an important theme (probably the main theme) is this:

This is because the characters keep repeating it. The idea is that people must be free from their past. They must know about it and they can learn from it, but they should ultimately not feel bound to it.

This is why Ezran chooses to be a peaceful king, while his father was a warrior. This is why Callum decides he will still be a mage despite being a human. This is also what we see at play in the dynamic between Viren and his children. On one hand Soren has had a positive development because he broke free from his father. On the other hand Claudia is spiralling because she can’t.

This theme is expressed through the arcana of the sky. After all, it is not by chance that this is the arcana the main character connects to and which is embodied by Zym himself.

In short, Atla is about bringing back an equilibrium which went lost, while Tdp is about overcoming the status quo to create a new world.

Despite this difference, this does not mean that the main theme of one series is not present in the other as a secondary theme/personal conflict.

For example, Aang’s final choice is ibetween killing Ozai and finding another solution. He even asks past avatars and they all tell him to kill Ozai. However, Aang in the end chooses not to and stays true to his own philosophy (which shows how learning from other people/cultures does not result in erasing one-self/one’s culture).

Similarly, Zuko too is a character who breaks free from his father’s mentality.

At the same time, Tdp too, like Atla, shows different cultures and the importance to learn about them.

When it comes to this, we can see how the two series make a similar use of another narrative element aka the worldbuilding.

WORLDBUILDING

The two series’ worldbuildings have clear similarities. In both universes there are different kinds of magic linked ot different elements. What is more, these types of magic are connected to different cultures and embody different values.

In Atla we have:

In Tdp we have seven kinds of magic, but I will mostly comment on the four we got to know the most up until now.

The Sky Arcana symbolizes freedom:

It is the ability to act without any constrictions from your surroundings. It does not mean that you should ignore them, though, but rather that you should use them to go where you want to go. This is why people should not just follow air-currents, but they should be the sails and use the winds to go where they want. This is just anoter way to express the main theme of the story, as I have stated above.

It is possible that among the negative traits of the sky culture there is the tendency to become selfish/act in a whimsical way. I think that this is well conveyed by Nyx and by the Sky Elves being among the members of the Dragon Guard, who ran away.

The Sun Arcana symbolizes honor and purity to the point that it can purify Dark Magic. However, this obsession with purity leads to see the world in black and white and to become self-righteous.

This is why the queen of the Sun Elves dies after all. And it is Sol Regem’s discrimination and rigidity, which led to him losing his sight. What is more, the loss of the sight for a Sun creature is a pretty karmic punishment. Finally, it is interesting that he used to be the previous Dragon King. The fact that he is not anymore shows how such a narrow mentality can’t help in the construction of a new world.

The Moon Arcana is the opposite of the Sun one. So, while the Sun is about revealing the truth behind appearances, the Moon is about illusions. The moon culture celebrates illusions and appearances both in a positive and in a negative way.

Moonshadow Elves can make use of appearances both in how they trick their enemies’ senses and in how they trick themselves:

Because of illusions they can dominate their fear. However, this has also a negative aspect:

Moonshadow elves are asked to repress their fears and to feel shame for it. Similarly, they give the way things seem too much importance. This is at the root of what happened to Rayla’s parents and to Rayla’s herself. Because of a simple suspect of betrayal, they were erased. Again the cancelling magic is particularly powerful because the Moonshadow cultures gives so much importance to appearances. Think about what an enemy could accomplish if they were given access to a village where nobody could see them.

Finally, there is Dark Magic, which symbolizes many things.

First of all, it symbolizes the difficult relationship humans have with nature. On one hand they need to use natural resources to survive and to fight natural forces. On the other hand this kind of exploitation knows no bundaries. What is more, it gives people the feeling everything can be obtained easily and that there are no boundaries. As it was shown in Claudia and Viren’s arcs, this creates a lot of negative consequences for both the dark mage and the others.

As one can see, the different approaches have both positive and negative aspects and they need to balance each other out. Finally, Tdp, like Atla seems to have a character, who will master more than one element:

Personally, I am not a fan of this hypothesis and I think this is an instance where Tdp should try to be different from Atla.

In Atla, the concept of a person mastering all four elements was in the premise of the series itself and was used intelligently. Aang is a protagonist who does not want to be an avatar and his arc is to accept this part of himself. It is about finding an equilibrium between who he is as a person and his role. Moreover, the fact that he is the avatar ends up creating conflict, instead of solving it. Because the avatar exists and is an air nomad, the Fire Nation destroys the Nomads without second thoughts. In short, being the avatar creates problems to Aang as a person.

When it comes to tdp, I would prefer for different characters to show the potential to connect to different primal sources. It would be interesting if the main characters ended up connected each one to one or two elements. For example, let’s think how interesting would be to see Rayla connect to the Arcana of the Ocean since she is scared of water. Or Claudia become connected to the Sun Arcana, so that she can purify herself from Dark Magic. Or Ezran to the Earth Arcana, since he has affinity with animals. Soren has trouble with illusions, so it would be very interesting to see him struggling with the Moon Arcana.

In short, there would be a lot of potential to such a scenario, instead than having one single character being the one connecting to many elements. It would make Tdp more of a coral story and I think that would be more unique and interesting.

That said, I am open to see how the whole matter will be trated by the story itself.

These thoughts lead us to the last section of this answer.

CHARACTERS

As said above, Callum might end up having a similar role to Aang. There is also the fact that both start the story by running away and that both are connected with the air element in their respective franchise. Ezran too has similarities with Aang, given how both are non-violent and are kids who have a great responsibility despite their young age.

Other than this, though, the characters I would mostly like to talk about are my two favourites:

Who I see as basically a mixture between Sokka/Katara and Azula/Zuko.

It is clear that the structure of their arcs is similar to Azula and Zuko’s. They are the children of a main antagonist and they are both going through different journeys. Soren has managed to distance himself from Viren, while Claudia is still loyal to him.

That said, The starting point of Claudia and Soren is different from the one of Azula and Zuko. In Atla both Azula and Zuko start as clear-cut antagonists, while in Tdp Claudia and Soren are immediately given likable traits and presented as manipulated by their father. What is more, it is immediately clear that Zuko will have a redemption arc and that Azula is a more negative character than him. However, Tdp muddles the water more by having a whole season showing Claudia’s positive traits and Soren’s negative ones. That said, the series then uses the next season to make the siblings exchange roles. So Soren learns from his mistakes, while Claudia keeps spiralling.

In short, I think that Claudia and Soren are in a sense grayer characters than Zuko and Azula, at least in how they are presented to the public. This means that both couple of siblings have a similar degree of complexity, but that Tdp plays with the viewers’ expectations more than Atla. Or at least, I have this impression.

That said, both Claudia/Soren and Azula/Zuko explore similar themes and show the struggle of kids who must emancipate themselves from their father. It also shows the damage bad parenting can do (even if Viren is definately a more complex character than Ozai).

However, I would argue that Soren and Claudia also share common traits with Sokka and Katara.

I think that the similarities between Soren and Sokka are striking and clear. Both want to make their father proud, but they lack qualities which are celebrated by their respective parent/society. Sokka at the beginning lacks the physical strength and experience to be recognized as a fine warrior. Soren instead lacks the ability with magic and book-smart, which is appreciated by Viren.

Interestingly, they are opposite plays of toxic masculinity. Sokka tries to live up to an idea of masculinity he lacks only to discover that his strengths are his most “feminine” (culturally speaking) traits. Soren is a character who embodies a toxic idea of masculinity, but still feels unsure and unhappy despite it. It is not by chance that he deep down wants to indulge in activities, which let him show his sensitivity like poetry, for example.

In short, Sokka and Soren might superficially appear as opposite, but they are nothing more than the same concept expressed through two characters having opposite superficial traits.

Finally, both Soren and Sokka are often used as comic relief and this helps the public to like them and to connect with them.

Let’s talk about Claudia and Katara. I would say that, ironically, Claudia is a deconstruction of Katara. By this, I mean that Claudia and Katara share many traits. Both are children who are traumatized by the loss of their mother, for example. What is more, they have reacted to that loss by trying to keep the rest of their family together.

We see multiple times how Claudia is desperate to keep her father and her brother close and she tries to mediate between them.

Similarly, Katara, after Kya’s death, took upon herself the role of “heart” of the family and took care of her brother. She also shows anger towards her father for living, when they meet again in book 3.

Katara is a character who loves deeply and is highly empathetic and Claudia is the same. She is very sensitive and is genuinely sad when she has to tell Callum about his father’s death.

That said, the traits that are shown positively in Katara are deconstructed in Claudia. Katara and waterbenders in general, for example, are said to be able to think outside the box and they turn their weaknesses in strength (their whole fighting style is to turn defense into attack). This is the same principle behind Dark Magic and it is how Claudia justifies her use of it to Callum.

Even more importantly, it is Claudia’s love for her family and to an extent for her community, which leads her astray. It is telling that the Dark Magic starts to corrupt Claudia not when she uses it to attack her childhood friends, but when she heals her brother. Similarly, her hair becomes whiter not when she helps Viren in his plan, but when she resurrects him. In short, she spirals more and more when she uses healing magic. This is interesting if we think about how much Katara’s healing abilities are seen as a positive thing and as a symbol of her nurturing personality. Katara even resurrects Aang when Azula kills him at the end of season 2, after all. That occurrance is definately not framed as a negative thing.

What I am trying to show is that Claudia is an example of a character where those positive traits Katara has are shown as negative because of various reasons. This does not really mean anything by itself because the two characters are in different series, but it is still an interesting idea.

These are my main thoughts on the two series! Thank you for the ask!

[thewolfcatcher]

Having read no war strategy book whatsoever in my life (not because I didn't want to, but simply because I never got to put my eyes on one) it's not weird that I found it extremely difficult to understand this Ukranian conflict.

The diplomatic Public Relations mistake for Russia of this invasion was so huge I didn't believe to the last moment Russia would invade. I misjudged the isolationism of the Russians, the traditional isolationism of the ex-soviet state. I thought, when they invaded: they don't care about what this terrible PR mistake will do to us pro Russians all over the world. How will I defend a Communist Russia in XXI Century, how will I explain to Capitalists that another economic system can cohexist pacifically with Capitalist countries, like China cohexist today? Now the population will fear Russia will invade the rest of the world. Now that they invaded, the political frenzy, irracional political frenzy of anti-russians, anti-communism, anti-anythingthatisnotcapitalism will ruin my capacity of EXPLAINING the mysterious Soviet soul. Because the IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE came to an end this past ten years. We won the ideological conflict. The conclusion is: Capitalism didn't work because people are evil. Conscientious Capitalism may work as much as State Communism if THERE ARE NO MASONS IN THIS EARTH. And they won't be.

I don't know. Maybe a State Communist Russia cohexisting with Democrat Europe and the rest of the world is a dream of mine, not a dream of Russians.

And the actual invasion. It was SO FAST and SO LETHAL I though: this is a blitzkrieg thing, they have a huge army, lots of soldiers, this look lethal. I thought: probably they will do like Obama (that won a Nobel Peace Prize for this) and perform a surgery operation with drones attacking only the military infrastructure of Ukraine.

Soon they were sending champignons (small nuclear weapons) and destroying civil infrastructure as well.

This made no sense to me whatsoever. I had to put my knee on the ground as ask G-D to explain me why Russians were doing this. He said Russians trust miracle reconstructions like those that happened in Germany after the flood, and that Russians wanted to show what an actual nuclear war looks like. But, I said to G-D, at expense of Ukranian civil lives? This makes no sense at all! It still doesn't make sense to me.

In the meantime Zelensky was doing better than me, I was in such a emotional state I shut off, I stoped functioning. Ukranians were dying and Zelensky seemed to do well.

Ukranians were saying: we are bravely defending the country, Russians are losing like before, like in past invasions. And I, talking to myself:"but what are you saying? Russia has destroyed ALL YOUR MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE. Russia bombed you all, there is nothing left.

I thought for a moment Russians wanted to occupy Ukraine. Then they retreated to Donbass and the newspapers of all world changed discourse. Suddenly the started understanding Russia and talking less emotional in the news. I concluded: Russia won the war, they achieved all their goals. They only want the east of Ukraine, and the land next to the sea, Mariupol and Crimea.

I do not deny I never had a solution for the Donbass situation. I understood Crimea should be Russian, like Trump understood it. But these two eastern provinces were very hard for me to resolve.

I cannot express how enraged I am for USA using this conflict to demoralise us left wing partisans all over the world. Them masons fighting Russians because they lost their mason wars to us, the Christians that speak the truth (this includes Christian Russians as well).

USA wanted this invasion to destabilize Europe.

Now Europe want to add Ukraine no EU. Too late. Too late too to diplomatically do what Russians have been asking from begining: take off your NATO NUCLEAR WEAPONS of our borders. Do not add Ukraine to NATO. We will not sit quietly to this. And they didn't.

It's the responsibility of ALL EUROPEAN DIPLOMATIC CORPS to fix this Diplomatic DISASTER that NATO and USA did to the Eurasian decades-long stable peace. Thank you, remaining Masons in European Democratic Europe! We expelled you from power TEN YEARS AGO but you still seem to be there!

Expect us.

*

The Russians waited for the inhabitants of Kyiv to evacuate and then they attacked Kyiv. Ukranians used human shields in hospitals that were then bombed with champingnons. Russians waited the Ukranians to evacuate and they didn't.

The Ukranians had dozens of labs of chemical weapons and nuclear weapons paid by USA and NATO, that the Russians had to destroy.

And I thank G-D for disappearing tones of weapons and military equipment been sent to Ukraine by the West, USA, NATO and Europe, otherwise this would be already A THIRD WORLD END OF THE REMAING CIVILIZATION WAR.

This would have escalated to the rest of Russian border with Europe. USA and NATO and MASONS wanted a Third World Nuclear End of Civilization War. I still fear an Third World War scenario in the Russian border. And it would be the end, if not of us all, but of 50% of the poor people of the Earth dying of starvation and crisis on the price of fuel like present Lebanon.

They started scenering tortures to Ukranian civils and soldiers in Kherson that the Russians did not do.

You know there are fake news all over the place in this world. And then you read the news on this war in Ukraine and you believe everything.

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/naija-gist/metro-life/the-mentality-of-an-average-man/

The Mentality of an Average Man.

I found this post so relevant to our cohexistence as a people and decided to share it. Thanks to those who have freely given knowledge to others via this platform and a reminder to those who hoard the little they have that the best way to profit with it is to light up others while their candles burn, as it doesn’t burn forever (Many profs and great brains are in cemetary).

Moreover, it does not reduce the giver in anyway, giving out knowledge rather multiplues the givers productivity. The African mindset in regards to this writeup is not the best. It’s high time we change for the betterment of all. Thanks to those already operating differently from the African man’s mentality.

Happy reading: 👇👇👇👇👇

GOUGE MY EYE

In a story, an African man was given the opportunity to ask for anything he wants. The condition was that, whatever he gets, his brother would receive double. He thought about asking for a house; but he did not like thought of his brother having two houses. So he thought about asking for a million dollars to go to his bank account; but again, he was unhappy with the thought of his brother having two million dollars in his account. The man sat down and thought hard, “What can I have and still be better than my brother when he has double?” So, he thought of having one of his eyes removed so that his brother might have his two eyes gouged. This sounds like a very unlikely story; however, this is the typical mentality that has set Africans backward for ages and caused witchcraft to thrive in Africa. An African wants to be better than his brother at all costs. The African man is only careful to share his beer, not his books; to spread his diseases, and not the cure; to transfer his problems, and not the solution. When an African man fails, he wishes his brother same fate so that he won’t be the only one who had tasted the bitterness of failure. An African man is happy when evil besets his brother. When most African men succeed, they want to enslave their brothers; they try to make the class gap between them and their brothers widen daily. An African man wants to outperform his brother in every area and most African men do not want to let their brothers have any chances of success because they want to be the only ones succeeding. When an African man gets to sit on a seat of authority, he wants to keep it to himself and refuses to give anyone else a chance to sit. In African schools, students who can afford textbooks do not let other students borrow their textbooks because they want to stay top of the class or they don’t want to give another student the opportunity to perform better than them. When one independently discovers the way to success, an African man who refused to give directions would still do all he can to stand in the way of that success. An African man is ready to spend money to intimidate his brother and make him look like nothing. Africa will become better;When we begin to share books to pass knowledge, not just our drinks. When we begin to let others also lead without our influence. When we begin to give the same quality of food and clothing to both our children and our maids. When we let our servants eat on the same table with us.When the boss lets his lower staff get paid before him. Africa can become progressive when we begin to look out for each other rather than stand in the way of one another. When we can sincerely say, “let my brother get it too, and if I can’t get it, let me help him get it”

Excerpt from the book The Problem with Africa