Media Literacy is Dead, Apparently
I've been seeing some Takes floating around regarding Tau that are just blatantly, horrifically wrong.
So first off the bat: Is Tau Racist?
I'm somewhat disconnected from my native heritage, so I won't be speaking from that angle in particular as, unlike the other people talking about this directly talking over natives, I'm not about to do that. I will, however, speak from the perspective of someone who lives on Treaty Land in Canada (which is most of canada, there are a few areas that didn't fall under the treaties such as BC and the Territories), and grew up not even an hour from a native owned and run casino.
Casinos near or on reserve land, that are owned AND run by the local tribes, are VERY common in Canada. They also bring in revenue for these tribes so they can improve their own infrastructure. The one I grew up near is along a highway, between two towns and right next to a provincial park, with the reserve itself being just a little further down the highway between the casino and the southernmost town. Factoring this in with DE being a CANADIAN COMPANY, if they were going for a native allegory, the Casino would, in fact, be BENEFICIAL to the Sentients, economically. It would be feeding funding and resources back to their own people to improve their own infrastructure and quality of life--the local reserve near the casino I grew up in looked like a small village, had proper roads, signs, stores, etc. It was very well off and thriving, whereas more isolated reserves have a lot more struggles. I won't speak too much on the participation in gambling itself, as I have little to no experience in that regard, but that's not just a native issue, anyone can fall down that particular pit.
Additionally, the sentients AREN'T native to Tau. We don't know if there were sapient aliens before the Sentients got to Tau--there's implication that there probably wasn't, but there WAS, at least, life. As we've seen from the flowers in The Old Peace. So, if there were no sapient aliens, the Sentients are at least the first people on Tau, but not native to it. They were also the force USED for colonization by the Orokin, so if there WERE sapient aliens on Tau prior to the Sentients arrival, then the SENTIENTS would be the colonizers. (I'm not saying that they are, just that there's a possibility for DE to go in that direction.
In conclusion, while there can be an argument made for native allegory to SOME extent, I don't think Tau, in and of itself, is racist based on that alone.
Second topic: The "Strippers/Hookers"
I'm pretty sure there's another post floating around about this, but calling Larynde a hooker is certainly a TAKE, and not a good one. She's a Crooner, and let me just pull straight from Wikipedia here...
As you can PLAINLY see, she is very much NOT a hooker. She's a singer, a music performer. Crooner is a term that is also used to refer to these kinds of singers even TODAY. If you're going to make a take, at least make sure you know what the words mean. This style of singing also has nothing to do with native culture--Though I have heard a fair number of songs in Plains Cree, in particular, and they are beautiful songs. I have even participated in Powwows as a dancer (taught by local First Nations working with the program i was in at the time). Point is, Crooning can be done by anyone, and isn't even REMOTELY close to a native allegory
