Social Experiment: If You Know What This Is Don’t Say Anything Just Reblog

Here’s the thing about the air nomads.

I introduced a friend to ATLA a few nights ago, and they had only known two things about the entire show: the cabbage meme, and that Aang apparently wants to ride every large and dangerous animal he can possibly find. We got through the first five or so episodes, and my friend noted that Aang is exactly what a 12-year-old would be like if given godlike powers, and that this is literally just what he could do with airbending. He can’t even wield any of the other elements, and he’s one of the most powerful people on the planet, because he’s an airbender.

And that got me thinking.

This snippet from Bitter Work is one of the few pieces of concrete information we get about the airbenders, at least in ATLA. Iroh is explaining to Zuko how all four of the elements connect to the world and to each other.

Fire is the element of power, of desire and will, of ambition and the ability to see it through. Power is crucial to the world; without it, there’s no drive, no momentum, no push. But fire can easily grow out of control and become dangerous; it can become unpredictable, unless it is nurtured and watched and structured.

Earth is the element of substance, persistence, and enduring. Earth is strong, consistent, and blunt. It can construct things with a sense of permanence; a house, a town, a walled city. But earth is also stubborn; it’s liable to get stuck, dig in, and stay put even when it’s best to move on.

Water is the element of change, of adaptation, of movement. Water is incredibly powerful both as a liquid and a solid; it will flow and redirect. But it also will change, even when you don’t want it to; ice will melt, liquid will evaporate. A life dedicated to change necessarily involves constant movement, never putting down roots, never letting yourself become too comfortable.

We see only a few flashbacks to Aang’s life in the temples, and we get a sense of who he was and what kind of upbringing he had.

This is a preteen with the power to fucking fly. He’s got no fear of falling, and a much reduced fear of death. There’s a reason why the sages avoid telling the new avatar their status until they turn sixteen; could you imagine a firebender, at twelve years old, learning that they were going to be the most powerful person in the whole world? Depending on that child, that could go so badly.

But the thing about Aang, and the thing about the Air Nomads, is that they were part of the world too. They contributed to the balance, and then they were all but wiped out by Sozin. What was lost, there? Was it freedom? Yes, but I think there’s something else too, and it’s just yet another piece of the utter brilliance of the worldbuilding of ATLA.

To recap: we have power to push us forward; we have stability to keep us strong; we have change to keep us moving.

And then we have this guy.

The air nomads brought fun to the world. They brought a very literal sense of lightheartedness.

Sozin saw this as a weakness. I think a lot of the world did, in ATLA. Why do the Air Nomads bother, right? They’re just up there in their temples, playing games, baking pies in order to throw them as a gag. As Iroh said above, they had pretty great senses of humour, and they didn’t take themselves too seriously.

But that’s a huge part of having a world of balance and peace.

It’s not just about power, or might, or the ability to adapt. You can have all of those, but you also need fun. You need the ability to be vulnerable, to have no ambitions beyond just having a good day. You need to be able to embrace silliness, to nurture play, to have that space where a very specific kind of emotional growth can occur. Fun makes a hard life a little easier. Fun makes your own mortality a little less frightening to grasp. Fun is the spaces in between, that can’t be measured by money or military might. Fun is what nurtures imagination, allows you to see a situation in a whole new light, to find new solutions to problems previously considered impossible.

Fun is what makes a stranger into a friend, rather than an enemy.

Fun helps you see past your differences.

Fun is what fuels curiosity and openmindedness.

Fun is the first thing to die in a war.

Hi! I was wondering wether you thought that having genital/race preferences for partners is okay

I have never thought that lol 😂

FRANCE WON

I'm so glad a team that is half black is making it to the finals.

the whole “fiction doesn’t affect reality” argument is actually kinda racist…

In my painting “The Nigerian Brides” I imagine a time when LGBTIQ rights will exist in that country and attitudes will have changed sufficiently to allow gay marriage. In much of Nigeria lesbianism carries a punishment of caning which may extend to 50 lashes and imprisonment of between six months to five years. My painting of hope and freedom can be found as a print in my Etsy Store by following the link 

Please shut your ass up. First of all,TERFS were never about love and acceptance (they don’t accept trans women as real women lol), so you can stop harping over there. A black trans women led a stonewall riot for the LGBT community.

Now do the rest of Tumblr a favor, and log off

Marshmallowfury

To break down this whole situation on marshmallowfury, she did nothing truly wrong. What she did “wrong” was go against one of the most popular opinions in the LGBT+ community. Here, let me say it again. You’re all yelling about a popular OPINION. The LGBT+ community was built on love, acceptance and equality. So to see people who are a part of that community tell someone to die for their beliefs, but get mad when someone else does it? It really shows me that the community is tainted and toxic. “She’s making money off of the LGBT+ community and the people in it!” Ok, well. You can make money off of anything, really, your point? She’s not directly marketing for the LGBT+ community, so that accusation is incredibly stupid. Now while I don’t agree that letting every trans woman into the bathroom will result in rape, there is clear evidence it has occurred, but this is not putting all trans women on the spot. Let me repeat, THIS IS NOT PUTTING ALL TRANS WOMEN ON THE SPOT. Rape can occur regardless, and your identity has nothing to do with it, your overall character does. You have the right to be who you are and you have the right to express it in any way you want to, but that won’t stop someone from having their opinions about you, and or, what you stand for. It also won’t stop a law that keeps you out of said bathroom, and an expressed opinion over your identity won’t and CAN’T stop you from being who you are. To be very clear, I can see points from both sides of this argument. I don’t solely support either side, but I don’t believe in or support all of the hate that is getting shoved in Marsh’s face. There is saying a fact, that being that trans women were not born women, and then there is respecting what someone wants to be called, and or, known as. To which she has every right to not do that. She does not have to respect you if you’re not respecting her. If she went around to to a bunch of trans women’s blogs, or support blogs, and sent direct hate, then I could understand the argument, but she hasn’t. She has kept it to herself until you all went and graciously “exposed” her. For every attempt she’s tried at an apology, or to try and be genuine, she has received hate, so I don’t blame her for feeling frustrated. And to also add, one of my best friends is trans. He has also stated that there’s nothing wrong with pointing out that someone wasn’t born with the gender they identify as. It’s not hate to say that, it’s fact. And to also make something very clear, a lesbian not wanting to sleep with a trans woman is not transphobic. The person could be transphobic, but just because they don’t want to sleep with someone who isn’t a biological female does NOT, by ANY means, make them transphobic. Being a lesbian means exactly that. Liking girls. They have a term for what you’re accusing her and other lesbians for. It’s called being Pansexual which means you like all genders and everything far and in between. But to be lesbian means you like women that are biological females unless the person states otherwise. It would be a direct lie if someone asked you if you were male or female biologically speaking and you said the opposite of what you were born with. Much like what you’re also saying with how you’d had “trust” in Marsh, someone can also trust in you to tell them the truth about yourself before they proceed to do anything with you. I would feel deeply lied to if I had asked someone what their biological sex was and they had stated that they were female, and or, male, but clearly weren’t. You can tell someone, very clearly, “I am not biologically female, but I do identify as a woman.” It’s really that simple and it clears up a lot. The whole “Lesbians who don’t want to sleep with trans women is transphobic.” Is the same concept as dating someone who identifies as bisexual, or bi-curious, and the person realizes they are straight, and or, lesbian/gay. You feel as if it’s unfair because you love them and want them to accept you, but your identity won’t make up for their comfort. And if they aren’t comfortable with you and your identity, then it’s time to move on. Just because they don’t want to sleep with or date you, doesn’t mean they hate you. You don’t try to force your identity on people. It won’t work. You move on and find people who will accept you. And I’ll say this, just because you think someone is being an asshole, going OUT OF YOUR WAY to be an asshole back and bash them, doesn’t justify shit and it doesn’t make you a better person.

Get her a supporting gf

A supporting gf would be a nice thing, but my friend still needs to recover a bit

I’m so sick of seeing ads for Licorice Pizza. I don’t care about a 70’s nostalgia circle-jerk with borderline paedophilia undertones. Please stop showing me ads for this damn movie.