Post by Akira Takahashi on Nov 16, 2008 18:47:26 GMT -5
This is it; I’ve gone off the deep end. I’ve been using Avatar to teach foreign policy for a while now (and to help get people to vote for Ron Paul in the presidential primaries and Chuck Baldwin in the actual election), and I finally decided to get it all on paper. Here goes nothing.
First of all, let’s take a look at the political setup of Avatar: The Last Airbender. First of all, the Northern Water Tribe has its own monarchy, and it can only be assumed that the Southern Tribe also did, once upon a time. The Earth Kingdom would seem to have local governments, mostly, as though the land is divided between monarchies, the only two we know of being Bumi and the Earth King at Ba Sing Se (although he’s more of a figurehead and in charge of Ba Sing Se’s cultural affairs than an actual ruler). The Fire Nation is ruled by its monarchy, and it can be assumed that the peaceful Air Nomads had no official government, although it seems that their affairs were mostly handled by the monks.
Each nation is separate, and it’s drilled into out heads that that’s the way it should be. No nation should dominate any other, and each culture is unique to its respective kingdom. The reason the war started was because Sozen decided that the world would be a better place if it could share in the prosperity of the Fire Nation. Thus, bases and colonies began appearing throughout the world, and the people revolted. A huge war ensued and the rest is history.
Now, I’d like to go back and take a look at the Fire Nation’s nation building foreign policy. When George Bush ran, he believed in a non-intervention foreign policy. He believed that no one had the right to march in and tell others how to run their lives or their country, but we all know what happened once he got into office. First of all, he allowed the United Nations to declare war on Iraq without the Congress, thus making the war illegal to begin with. From there on, it was all about building up a democracy in Iraq through force. Much like the Fire Nation, we have been forcing our views on others for a long time. We have bases in over 130 countries right now, and we wonder why the world resents us so much!
Now we have Obama as the president-elect, who wishes to undermine our national sovereignty with new economic policies. In the end, he’s only furthering what Bush set in motion under the guise of “change”. He’s no Zuko, but rather a very charismatic Ozai. The beauty of his message is that “change” is a very vague word, and it can be applied to anything. He promised the troops out of Iraq, but rarely mentions that he plans to move them to Pakistan instead. There’s also war with Iran looming overhead in this frivolous search for WMDs. Moreover, there’s a pressure for a one-world government, which is very alarming. Remember the nations are supposed to be separate, even in real life.
I won’t go into Obama’s (or Bush’s) domestic policies at this moment, and truth be told, that would almost better suit comparison with George Orwell’s 1984, but I might be able to really stretch it and compare it with Ba Sing Se. Maybe later.
I might redo this post, or add to it, in the near future. Looking over it, it’s not nearly what I wanted it to be, and I’ll have to draw it out and elaborate on it later. For now, check out Ron Paul and learn about the Campaign for Liberty.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG2PUZoukfA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDlO2Lr_cg
Not the very best of the videos, but I don't have much time to search anything out. Later.
First of all, let’s take a look at the political setup of Avatar: The Last Airbender. First of all, the Northern Water Tribe has its own monarchy, and it can only be assumed that the Southern Tribe also did, once upon a time. The Earth Kingdom would seem to have local governments, mostly, as though the land is divided between monarchies, the only two we know of being Bumi and the Earth King at Ba Sing Se (although he’s more of a figurehead and in charge of Ba Sing Se’s cultural affairs than an actual ruler). The Fire Nation is ruled by its monarchy, and it can be assumed that the peaceful Air Nomads had no official government, although it seems that their affairs were mostly handled by the monks.
Each nation is separate, and it’s drilled into out heads that that’s the way it should be. No nation should dominate any other, and each culture is unique to its respective kingdom. The reason the war started was because Sozen decided that the world would be a better place if it could share in the prosperity of the Fire Nation. Thus, bases and colonies began appearing throughout the world, and the people revolted. A huge war ensued and the rest is history.
Now, I’d like to go back and take a look at the Fire Nation’s nation building foreign policy. When George Bush ran, he believed in a non-intervention foreign policy. He believed that no one had the right to march in and tell others how to run their lives or their country, but we all know what happened once he got into office. First of all, he allowed the United Nations to declare war on Iraq without the Congress, thus making the war illegal to begin with. From there on, it was all about building up a democracy in Iraq through force. Much like the Fire Nation, we have been forcing our views on others for a long time. We have bases in over 130 countries right now, and we wonder why the world resents us so much!
Now we have Obama as the president-elect, who wishes to undermine our national sovereignty with new economic policies. In the end, he’s only furthering what Bush set in motion under the guise of “change”. He’s no Zuko, but rather a very charismatic Ozai. The beauty of his message is that “change” is a very vague word, and it can be applied to anything. He promised the troops out of Iraq, but rarely mentions that he plans to move them to Pakistan instead. There’s also war with Iran looming overhead in this frivolous search for WMDs. Moreover, there’s a pressure for a one-world government, which is very alarming. Remember the nations are supposed to be separate, even in real life.
I won’t go into Obama’s (or Bush’s) domestic policies at this moment, and truth be told, that would almost better suit comparison with George Orwell’s 1984, but I might be able to really stretch it and compare it with Ba Sing Se. Maybe later.
I might redo this post, or add to it, in the near future. Looking over it, it’s not nearly what I wanted it to be, and I’ll have to draw it out and elaborate on it later. For now, check out Ron Paul and learn about the Campaign for Liberty.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG2PUZoukfA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDlO2Lr_cg
Not the very best of the videos, but I don't have much time to search anything out. Later.
