This is what I mean when I say that ATLA ended up being liberal propaganda, despite the show using the aesthetics of revolution.
“you guys know that murder is like....a bad thing....right? especially for a 14 year old? you guys know that revenge murder isn't a healthy strategy?” They are saying this about a genocide survivor seeking retribution against the genocidal colonizer who burned her mother alive. The show forces the audience to root for said genocidal colonizer to be forgiven because that’s what the main character advocates for.
This is because liberals believe that the oppressed can’t ever retaliate against their oppressor, they have to fight back peacefully and without causing any damage. An oppressed person wanting to use revolutionary violence is immediately labelled as “revenge” and demonized.
I’m going to be very forward, in a time where the biggest superpower in the world is funding a genocide, it’s dangerous to approach media that deals with themes of imperialism through this liberal reductionism.
All this is very true, but the post is also just ridiculous for trying to lecture fans of a fantasy show about how "murder is bad."
And "especially for a fourteen year old," like, whaaaat?
Aside from the issue of labelling trying to seek justice for genocide as "murder," whether or not murder is wrong has absolutely nothing to do with age. It doesn't become "especially bad" depending on how young someone is. Either it's murder, and therefore always wrong, or it's a justified form of killing that can be okay in certain circumstances.
Also, Katara is not a real fourteen year old. She can bend the elements. She's a martial arts master. She's fighting in a war and travelling by herself with only other children for company. She's a character in a cartoon show and nobody blinks an eye at her doing adult things. I actually think that if there are conditions on whether murder is "especially bad," I think murder should be more okay for Katara to commit.
Also, I said some of this in my reply to that post, but what makes Aang an unhealthy and controlling partner isn't the fantasy context in which this even occurs, or even the political context mentioned above. It's that Aang is immediately dismissive when Katara brings up the idea of getting justice and closure, immediately assumes the worst, and when Katara comes back and is not an unhealthy mess or forever corrupted, and her relationship with Zuko becomes the most wholesome it has ever been, Aang automatically assumes it was because Katara did what he thought she should do, and she angrily tells him that he is wrong. And then immediately in the following episodes becomes even closer to Zuko and distant from Aang, who continues to be an ass to her.
It's interesting looking at this as a much older viewer.
This episode has caused so much meta and discourse precisely because it has such a black and white view of an exceptionally complex issue. Bryke even said that in their opinion Aang is meant to be the shoulder angel and Zuko the shoulder devil, as if the quest for justice and closure was inherently bad.
Unless the character embodies a Ghandi style approach to non-violence, as Aang does - they immediately get whacked with the problematic/villian stick. Jet and Hama are both so villanised for their actions.
It's implied that the Fire Nation village is Jet and the Freedom fighters old hometown that was forcibly and violently ethnically cleansed and then settled by the Fire Nation. Only the youngest kids survived this ethnic cleansing and fled to the forest. All the adults they grew up with were murdered and their home stolen. No wonder they want to rid the valley of the Fire Nation.
Hama thought her people were exterminated and she was the last surviving southern water bender.
Katara, our lady of constant maternal duty, kindness and care to all people, tireless caretaker and defender of the downtrodden, is immediately labelled vengeful and hysterical by the narrative for expressing a desire for justice.
I think ATLA is a wonderful show but it's definitely a product of its time. Early 2000s America had a very strong view on oppressed people, and that definitely colours how rebellion is characterised in this series.
I also think it's worth mentioning the Nice Guy context as a product of its time. Like, both Jet and Zuko are not only linked to Katara in being used to demonize fighting back against oppression, they're both used to threaten Katara being corrupted by a "bad boy" so that we can see how suitable Aang is as a partner by comparison. I don't know if anyone now remembers Nice Guys of OK Cupid, but it came about as a result of the Nice Guy phenomenon being increasingly prevalent on social media in the early 2000s. It's the idea that women are attracted to men who aren't good for them and that's the reason the Nice Guy doesn't have a girlfriend. Despite the Nice Guy himself not being very nice to the supposed object of his affection.
So whenever I see people say that Zuko is the one being unhealthy here for enabling Katara to get closure, rather than Aang for thinking he knows what's best for her and talking down to her about her trauma, that's exactly what I think of.
This is a disingenuous way to portray what happened because it makes it seem like the zutaranti account was a bystander uninvolved in the ship war, when her whole purpose was to go after zutara shippers, and a lot of kataangers supported her in doing that.
It's really sad that the lesson kataang shippers are taking from this seems to be that bullying and virtue signalling are okay as long as you say the right words, instead of acknowledging what led to this point and what kind of environment allowed this kind of behavior to flourish.
This person thought it was okay to make jokes about the kkk because the kataang fandom already thinks it's okay to accuse zutara shippers of being colonist and fascist sympathizers and imply that shipping zutara is somehow immoral or racist. That's what led to this, that's what caused it. At least be honest about it.
A Statement on Being Anti-Harassment and Pro-Tolerance in the ATLA Fandom
I think everyone in the Zutara community is aware that there was recently some very targeted harassment directed at shippers on Twitter and Tumblr by an account that has now been exposed as racist—if the behavior prior to that wasn't enough to indicate they were not an individual to be supported in any way, shape, or means. The account in question built a following on quote-tweeting, harassing, and serial stalking accounts of people who’d already blocked her to screenshot their tweets out of context for dogpiling purposes. The following is the final line being crossed: a KKK "joke" next to a Black Power GIF...
There are some that are shocked that such an account could ever think weaponizing the KKK as "slander material" was permissible, to which I think we need to be frank and honest.
Can we agree that she thought racism and anti-Blackness was permissible because her echo chamber had defended and downplayed every other form of bullying/bigotry until now?
DON’T ENABLE HARASSMENT. DON'T DEFEND HARASSMENT. CALL OUT BAD BEHAVIOR. DON'T BE A BYSTANDER.
It is very good to see that people are correctly denouncing her now that she has shown herself to also be anti-Black, but this was a clear pattern of escalating dangerous behavior enabled by a negative feedback loop of support. This didn't happen in a vacuum.
If these statements don’t apply to you, let them fly. All KAs are not a monolith and should not be generalized as such. But there was a sizable amount that were vocally and enthusiastically supportive, and that enabled an environment of monitoring -> screenshotting -> dogpiling -> rinse and repeat. Various tweets that were screenshots/quotes of my moots’ tweets (despite them having the anti blocked) garnered thousands of likes and a sizable amount of retweets, in addition to the many accounts who not only commented in support of the anti’s actions but also sought out the original tweet to directly harass the original poster. This is not a case of just one "bad apple".
"BUT the KKK thing is "too far" like the bar was ever supposed to be "Don't invoke a terrorist organization that still kills Black people." That's not a high bar. That's a floor. And it still had to be spelled out."
Very well said, @kore-dani!
This is the sort of environment the anti built/encouraged and many others eagerly took part in until an undeniable line was crossed. It is horrible that explicit anti-Blackness was what it took for people to see the situation clearly: a negative blight with no place in fandom spaces.
An environment of vitriol and toxicity is something that should be impermissible in every fandom. Harassment, hate, and the constant violation of boundaries stand in direct contradiction to the spirit of fandom itself: a community built by fans for fans to come together to create transformative works such as fanart, fanfiction, fan edits, etc.
Aligning with others based on harassment is NOT camaraderie. It is not community. It is not fandom. Rather, it is emulating this meme in real life:
Ingroups, Outgroups, and How We Become Polarized Because of Tribalistic Mindsets
I'd like to use this as a jumping off point to introduce the idea of how important practicing TOLERANCE is. This situation is a clear instance of Ingroup/Outgroup, us vs. them thinking. The following is quoted from EBSCO's "Research Starters" page on Ingroups and Outgroups:
"Ingroups and outgroups are sociological concepts that describe the dynamics between groups of individuals based on identity and social interaction. An ingroup refers to a group that individuals identify with and feel an emotional attachment to, often contrasted with an outgroup, which is the group that ingroup members oppose or view with resistance. This binary categorization fosters an "us versus them" mentality, leading to loyalty among ingroup members while simultaneously creating misunderstandings and stereotypes about outgroup members. The existence of outgroups enhances ingroup cohesion, as members often define themselves in opposition to others. Social Identity Theory posits that individuals derive a portion of their self-concept from their group memberships, influencing how they perceive themselves and their own group compared to others. Ingroup bias is a common phenomenon, where individuals favor their own group over others, which can manifest in positive self-image for ingroup members and negative stereotypes of the outgroup. Political and social contexts can exacerbate these biases, potentially leading to conflict. Understanding ingroups and outgroups is crucial for addressing issues of prejudice and fostering intergroup relations in diverse societies."
The sections on Ingroup Bias, Moral Authority, and Perceived Threat Among Groups are of particular interest, as well as the mention of Gordon Allport's Intergroup Contact Theory.
From The Nature of Prejudice, a work commonly touted as "probably the most read volume in the history of social psychology", Allport's contact hypothesis essentially states that "tensions between two groups can be reduced if members of one group have positive contact with members of the other." Reading through this study published on PubMed, a database maintained by the United States' NIH, is quite fascinating. The findings are in line with Allport's original claim, and they even discuss how this theory relates to online interactions.
TOLERANCE plays a critical role in successful social contact between different groups. That is further explored here if you're interested. Lest I get more verbose than I already plan to, let's refocus on the topic at hand. Put a pin in the ideas of tolerance and ingroups and outgroups.
Apologizing retroactively for the impact is fine and all, and please hear me clearly when I say I do think many people are being sincere in their denouncement. But we cannot ignore the ill-intent behind the anti's actions including but not limited to serial stalking, harassing, and repeated crossing of boundaries. A situation like this did not just happen out of the blue; it was expected by everyone who knows how to spot bullying and dogpiling behaviors in action.
Quoted from a moot:
“From the very start, the intent behind that account was already nasty but they kept hyping that account up. now suddenly they are denouncing them as if they weren't enabling them in the first place. IDK it doesn’t come off as a sincere reflection on their end. It sounds like they simply got concerned that this is gonna affect their image considering how some of them are saying “We now look as bad as ZKs”. And it shouldn’t have taken this long to call out the bullying.”
Again, I'd like to make an effort to say again that I am not generalizing KAs as one hive-mind that all supported this. But escalation to the point that happened the other day was certainly expected by those of us who watched as people defended her as she emphatically doubled down on justifying her harassment of an Iranian Zutara shipper who'd tweeted about a headcanon over perceived inactivity. This Zutara shipper has "Persian" in her bio. Her display name contains a popular Iranian political rallying cry: زن زندگی ازادی. It's not hard to make the connection that perhaps an Iranian individual might be offline for...BEING IN AN ACTIVE WARZONE? People went to bat defending the anti for this, by the way, which consequently emboldened her.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
It was this constant positive reinforcement from those who actively supported and downplayed the vitriol she was spewing daily that empowered her to decide that the invocation of the something with the historical magnitude of the KKK was even remotely permissible. Others have covered how the anti's defense of "not knowing" what the KKK was does not check out when taking into account the context of its invocation was as "slander material"(their words, not mine)...
For anyone who does the reasonable thing and looks up supposedly unknown words before using them, here's the second result after the KKK Wikipedia page when Googling "KKK":
This series details the work of the FBI to protect the American people—especially minorities—from the evils of the modern-day Klan.
More resources are linked at the end of that FBI article for those not fully educated on the KKK's role in systematically discriminating against and perpetuating abhorrent and inhumane levels of violence toward Black Americans for the "crime" of existing with different skin tones than the people doing harm unto them.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Not so fun fact, but lynching was JUST made a US federal hate crime in 2022. There were over 4,000 confirmed lynchings between 1877 and 1950. Over 200 previous attempts to outlaw lynching had failed. Nothing about the KKK should ever be weaponized in any manner of supposed “levity”. EVER.
There is a clear aggressor AND clear enabling behaviors on display here that led to a line being crossed that should have never been approached in the first place. I do not want to hear anything about “both sides” in this situation. This is real life and real harmful rhetoric was being spread and propagated all over which two fictional characters from a 2000s cartoon two groups would prefer together...
Whatever business Zutara shippers were getting up to on AvatarSpirit.net back in 2008 does not justify harassment in 2026 of people who had no part in that.
Just as KAs are not a monolith, Zutara shippers are not a monolith either.
I certainly do not condone personal/ad hominem attacks directed toward real people over fictional material. Real people matter more than pixels. Period.
Not a soul is asking you to “convert” to ZK over any of this—just that you call out racism/harassment when you see it. Even IF the person in the wrong is someone who ships something you ship: CALL THEM OUT WHEN THEY CROSS A LINE. Never be scared to stand against bullying, harassment, and targeting of real people in the name of…pixels. By being a bystander or even worse, an active participant, you are doing real harm to real people in the name of pixels that inherently can feel no harm by any perceived “slander” (usually just critique regarding a character’s writing or functional role in a story). At this point, I will reiterate the importance of tolerance and respecting people's individual preferences.
Critiquing a fictional character does not warrant personal attacks in retaliation. One person's opinion of your favorite character doesn't diminish your enjoyment of your favorite character. You're still allowed to like them. No one is taking your enjoyment away from you by holding a different opinion.
More on Critiquing Writing Choices and People Falsely Perceiving That as a Personal "Attack" to Themselves Later...
But calling real people SLURS over pixels, attempting to claim that a real genocide is somehow on the same level of importance as a fictional genocide, and generally trivializing concepts like colonization, imperialism, racism, genocide, misogyny, etc. to feel as if you can get a leg up in a silly ship war? I just have to ask—how do people genuinely put pixels over people? That type of thinking reaches a level of disconnection from reality that is hard to wrap my head around.
A Singular Example of the Dogpiling Behaviors Displayed by the Anti and Her Followers: A Case Study in Mob Mentality
Read from left to right, top to bottom. This is just one example of how the anti and her followers were moving DAILY on multiple tweets on multiple accounts. I feel the need to call back to this cycle I already delineated:
"But there was a sizable amount that were vocally and enthusiastically supportive, and that enabled an environment of monitoring -> screenshotting -> dogpiling -> rinse and repeat. Various tweets that were screenshots/quotes of my moots’ tweets (despite them having the anti blocked) garnered thousands of likes and a sizable amount of retweets, in addition to the many accounts who not only commented in support of the anti’s actions but also sought out the original tweet to directly harass the original poster."
Observe that cycle in action here:
Notwithstanding the very casual and unprompted mocking of Zuko's disfigurement/disability from the individual in the second row, let's count how many ad hominem attacks Clarissa was dealt by "mariah" all to defend poor Aang (not a real person who can't feel harm, by the way) from a bald joke. 1 + 2 = 5 for some it appears. Or at least five wrongs make a good argument? Yeah...
"Not really??? There's no way you're this ret*rded and you're racist like"
"The airbender culture is very much a real thing? You're playing slow on purpose and yes I'm gonna call you a t*rd because that's exactly what the fuck you are"
No need to commentate on those. I think they speak for themselves. Let's continue on. The number continues to climb.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
I'm going to ask you to put another pin in the idea of being able to differentiate between fiction and reality, in addition to understanding fictional characters are just pixels. We are getting to that, I promise.
Who Is the Other Dogpiler? The Switch-Up!
Are you wondering "Where did this account with the red profile picture come from? They came in swinging for the fences with the whole "cracker" and "misogynistic" attacks LOCKED and LOADED! What does this account tweet about in their space?
Duh...duh...duh...
They're all up in the anti's comments.
But not to fear. As quick as that account was to dogpile and insult a stranger on the order of the ringleader, they were just as quick to turn on the deposed ringleader. On the left are tweets of support left as recent as four days ago. Two days later, it's a completely different story.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
I do not wish any ill-will to this individual. They were just the first account that showed up under the original thread that presented as a prime example of why I mentioned this at the beginning of this post:
Aligning with others based on harassment is NOT camaraderie. It is not community. It is not fandom.
A "friendship" is only as strong as the foundation it was created upon.
REAL PEOPLE Matter More Than Pixels
As to why it is dangerous to treat fictional characters as more important than real people...Grab that pin now and buckle in.
If the insensitive obduracy behind attempting to morally grandstand on serious, impactful, real life concepts for the purpose of fighting other people online over pixels isn’t already evident, let’s put this into perspective using another real life atrocity that the anti and her followers have weaponized. A real, ongoing, decades-long genocide that everyone around the world is witnessing and has bared witness to since Resolution 181 was adopted in 1947.
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been murdered since October 2023, with 922 having been killed since the "ceasefire" was announced last October. Hundreds of thousands are wounded, and countless more are trapped "in an endless cycle of suffering". Almost two million Palestinians have been displaced in the Gaza Strip, in addition to around 40,000 more people in the West Bank. As of 2024, approximately 134,000 Palestinians and Arabs had been killed both inside and outside Palestine since 1948.
In no world will I care more about pixels than the horrors that real people are being subjected to in Gaza 24/7 for the "crime" of existing with different religious beliefs than the people doing harm unto them.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Some very broad generalizations are being made here considering Zutara shippers span pretty much every demographic you can conceive of. Indicators that the line between fiction and reality doesn't exist for some of these individuals are on display too. Perhaps they need to check back in like Peeta Mellark post-hijacking on what’s real and what’s not real. Let's see...Peeta says "Fictional characters are NOT REAL."
Fictional Characters are NOT REAL
If you disagree, respectfully get offline and reconnect with real life. Touch grass. Go to a political demonstration, pick up a picket, and put your money where your mouth proclaims to be online. Real life will always take precedence because REAL PEOPLE CAN BE HARMED. Pixels cannot. Real people come first and prioritising real people has no correlation to being allegedly "insensitive to him [Aang] being a victim of genocide too." No one is denying Aang is a genocide survivor, my goodness. These whataboutisms to deflect from any critique about how Aang was written in the story are just about ridiculous.
And really, all of this over some random stranger tweeting about a personal headcanon, a normal fandom activity...You, another random stranger, don't have to like it or support their headcanon, but to call into question a whole group of people's right to live over a cheating headcanon? Get real. Touch grass. Play Peeta's Real/Not Real game.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Just going to leave this here...
Let's Be Clear, I Don't Hate Aang
I like Aang. I think Bryke dropped the ball with his arc in Book 3. Critiquing how the Deus Ex Rockina to end all Deus Ex Machinas is a weak writing choice that undercuts Aang's character arc and strips Aang's narrative agency from him isn't "hating" or "attacking" Aang.
Just another reminder, Aang is not real. Everything Aang does in the story is dictated for him by real people making deliberate choices. Aang is a pixelated puppet/vehicle/a plot device that the ATLA writing team utilized to craft a story. Just as every other ATLA character was/is.
Say it with me. Critiquing writing choices is not an "attack" on a fictional character, nor does my opinion diminish your enjoyment.
ALSO, SHIPPING IS NOT ACTIVISM
Stop tying your real life morality to which fictional characters you like and dislike. Stop acting as if your ship of choice means that you are somehow "ethically good" compared to the dastardly, evil, and corrupt "others". I'd ask you now to recall the tribal meme from earlier.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
You lot are starting to sound like Javert from Les Misérables. You lot would've HATED Jean Valjean with the way some of you hold such a rigid, black-and-white worldview and moralize every single fanfic, fanart, headcanon, etc. in fandom spaces. ALL NORMAL FANDOM ACTIVITIES IN CASE YOU ARE NEW. The Javerification of fandom spaces. Never thought I would see the day, but I shouldn't be surprised.
Javert would be so proud of us buying into the concept of the social panopticon. Some of you lot are out here policing yourselves and others over thought crimes (aka headcanons). It's absurd to think you can control other people like that. You all make Javert's job easy. SIGH.
Ultimately...
To reiterate, the biggest lesson to be learned from all of this is TOLERANCE. It must be accepted and acknowledged that everyone has their own individual preferences, and that we should respect their freedom to do so even if they are polar opposite of your individual preferences. Don’t yuck on other people’s yum in their clear eyesight. Don't try to police their preferences. Keep it pushing and focus on yourself. And understand that critiquing the writing choices behind a popular, published work in the public mainstream is not at all equivalent to the targeted tearing down of the output of individual fans in fandom spaces. Don't like a fanart? Scroll. Don't like a fanfic? Close the tab. Don't like an edit? Move on. Don't like someone in a fandom? Block and ignore. Don't want to see a certain topic in your feed? Hit "Not Interested" or block the tag.
A lovely meme made by a lovely moot:
Scroll and block if you don’t like something in order to curate your space to your preferences. And utilize Tumblr’s wonderful tagging system. I hope that we can all move forward without constant scrutiny and without approaching one another with an attack-first, consider others as real people with feelings-second mindset. I hope that tolerance can be the word from now on. Happy shipping! :)
One last thing while you're here...
Make sure to drop a like, leave a comment, and repost this modern masterpiece of a Zutara art! Truly one of the most beautiful fanarts I've ever seen.
KA shippers are talking on X about how they dislike the fact that the Zutaraanti account's anti blackness is being reduced to shipping discourse.
I, however don't understand what they mean by this. They say not to reduce it to "ship wars" but that was what caused this to begin with, correct?
The Zutaraanti and their friend wanted to come up with Zuko slander and their friend came up with the Zukkko joke. The Zutaraanti then proceeded to make several posts on Tumblr using that tag.
You literally cannot remove the shipping aspect of this situation because the shipping aspect is what caused this to begin with.
Nothing was off limits when it was about the Holocaust but NOW we're drawing the line here? Antisemitism was cool as long as it was used to aid you in ship wars, right?
My theory as to why they're trying to remove the shipping discourse and zero in on the anti exclusively is simple.
They don't want to acknowledge that they helped create the environment that breeded the Zutaraanti. They don't want to ruin their perfect image as the "hopeless victims that were harmed by the evil Zutarians back in the old days."
They don't want this situation to break outside of X and possibly reach broader fandoms. Because that'll reveal how much they let slide until now.
That's why instead of condemning them, they say "you're making us look just as bad as them."
That's why instead of sympathizing with Zks, they say "Zutarians are annoying but this is too far!"
That's why instead of accountability, they say "Both sides were in the wrong."
They have dehumanized us so bad that even when they're "defending us" they need to simultaneously insult us as well. Almost like to signal to other KA's that they're not one of "ours", that they're still on their team.
What more could they possibly want from us?
The main ATLA reddit blog is very hostile to Zutarians. Twitter/X speaks for itself. Pinterest Zutara content is flooded by antis throwing shade or outright hostility. Facebook is apparently bad for Zutarians too. KA's on Tiktok claim they'd rather be chased by Diddy than be in a room with us. Tumblr is one of our ONLY safe spaces and even THEN they can't let us have this.
They don't want a future where we all live happily ever after or simply tolerate one another. They want to chase us out of the main fandom spaces AND our own spaces as well.
A lot of these accounts are minors, meaning they weren't even around when the show initially aired. They're trying to enact revenge on the behalf of people that either already left the fandom or don't even trip about it anymore.
The thing is that if you go looking through internet archives of fanforums back in the day you can see clearly that, from the beginning, zutarians were the harassed. Yes, we have been and continue to be the most popular ship on fandom. And yes there were dicks on both sides doing shitty things on the name of ship wars. However from the start zutara was deemed something "girls liked" and, as usual, thus mocked, harassed and bullied as most things deemed feminine or enjoyed mostly by women typically are.
So they arent even "enacting revenge on the behalf of people that have left the fandom or dont trip about it anymore". They are continuing to do the same misogynistic witch hunt of women that like the "bad ship" instead of the "good 🤢 ship"
The thing about zutaranti and her ilk is not just that she made jokes about the kkk while not being black, although that's still awful. The problem is that she felt entitled to do that because of the many think pieces about how zutara is inherently racist and only shipped by white people. Last week, zutaranti and her friends were harassing a zutara shipper and saying she "sounded white" here on tumblr who is white and whose husband is a poc. It was clear what she was trying to do even before she started actively going after poc fans.
And I'm not saying this because being told that you "sound white" as a white person is an insult. Make no mistake, jokes about the kkk and nazis don't hurt me as a white person. Harassment hurts, and it doesn't have to be some sort of prejudice to do so, and no, you don't have a right to call me a fucking nazi because of what cartoon ship I like. But the people who are hurt THE MOST by these comments are ALWAYS going to be the people most affected by them, whether the comments themselves are made by black or indigenous people.
And this isn't a "not all zutara shippers are white" defense or an attempt to hide behind shippers of color. This is me as a white person using my privilege to make you understand who it is you're hurting when you launch these harassment campaigns and make these jokes.
Any attempt to target "zutara shippers" for perceived racism (perceived because the accusations themselves are often deeply racist) is always going to be aiming down, not up, because the people most affected by these comments are always going to be the black and brown shippers.
And the thing is, people like zutaranti know this. Their platform is run on guilt and shame. If they actually felt like real racism was happening, the conversation would be very different. The people they're aiming for when they call Zuko, a character of color, a klansman, are shippers of color who they will try to make abandon ship out of fear of being associated with something racist. That is their goal. NOT to actually point out racism. Let's make that loud and clear.
have y’all noticed how our tags have been getting flooded with anti-zutara content and constant cross-tagging lately? that’s not a coincidence. on twitter, some kataang shippers are literally encouraging people to come onto tumblr to “fight back” against zutara shippers; and, as you can see from some screenshots, to straight-up bully them.
these people are not in our tags looking for respectful debate or polite conversation. they’re here looking for fights and excuses to harass people over a cartoon ship. (saying that out loud is honestly embarrassing enough already).
another important thing to note: zutaranti is a genuinely problematic person, and you can read more about it. her little bootlicking followers aren’t much better either, constantly copying her behavior, eating up everything she says, going through the trenches to defender her, moving like an actual cult sometimes lol.
and she constantly screenshots our posts to post on twitter so people can dogpile us. a lot of those screenshots are intentionally cropped or taken out of context just to push a narrative. she even screenshots posts from people who responded to her. because her goal was never to have a civilized discussion, clarify her points, or genuinely engage with what zutara shippers are saying. she’s just here to screenshot, mock people later, and encourage her followers do to the same.
so seriously: just block them. don’t engage. that’s exactly the reaction they want.
apparently the zutaranti is now on tumblr…jobless behavior
yes i saw that and immediately blocked them but i have seen people eating her up on the reblogs and comments for mistagging lol (pretty hilarious)
honestly this only solidifies my opinion that that person only acts on bad faith because their initial tumblr posts were correctly tagged and since she wasnt getting any engagement she started to mistag on purpose. just a shitty human being all around
that said i have seen someone mentioning yuki on her reblogs. please dont guys. like i have said on twitter, its not worth it, its "solved". we dont want any harassment coming yukis way.
i recently had an interaction that made me reflect on what it is like to be Black in ATLA (or any) fandom. In the exchange, it was presumed that because I live in America, i don't get to speak. While I don't particularly enjoy attempts to be silenced, and have experienced it numerous times throughout my life, it is incredibly harmful to invalidate the Black experience in America.
My people were violently stolen from their countries, sold and dehumanized in unspeakable ways over centuries. The cruelty of slavery is unfathomable and has been getting erased/swept under the rug for decades as "that was so long ago." Even after slavery ended, the brutal nature of Jim Crow laws and sundown towns continued. Picnics were a place of public lynchings where a whole family, including the children, were brought to watch, take photos, and souvenirs. there are likely families to this day that have white hoods passed down through generations. lynching was not made a federal crime until 2022. Since then, Black individuals have continued to be found hanging from trees, including Juliana Nzita in Charlotte NC.
i think everyone should pick up a fucking book or visit an African-American history museum. Everyone likes to remember the peaceful nature of the Civil Rights Movement, but no one likes to discuss the brutality those non-violent activists faced--dog attacks and being hosed down so forcefully that they flew back several yards with their skin seared off. Activists being explicitly targeted by the police and the government. Murders like Emmett Till, with mounds of evidence, have all charges dropped. Black people creating their own towns and having them burnt down because their oppressors didn't want them to have NOTHING. We were (and are still) openly discriminated against systematically in every aspect of living. When i was 5, my sister's best friend told her that she couldn't be friends anymore because "her mom doesn't like Black people."
As a Black person today, anti-Blackness still affects interactions that i have. i am terrified to drive to or through certain states in the U.S. as a medical student, i have been treated differently than my peers; i've had a nursing manager report me for being "rude and offending her" despite complying with her wishes. Her words were superior to mine because, subsequently, my course director wrote this in my evaluation as "lacking interdisciplinary professionalism" despite the fact that he did not witness the interaction. He checked on the nursing manager's feelings weeks later and not mine -- despite the fact that I left the meeting with him in tears. He wrote a 4 paged letter of every "insult" he thought of me including that I didn't knock on his open office door before entering, despite that I verbally asked if i could come in. Through all of this, i was told that it was not a microaggression and did not receive support. These circumstances could have derailed my entire future (and still might affect my future bc i have not matched into residency yet). Once i match into residency, statistics like Black residents being 4x as likely to be dismissed from programs, await me.
So no, I don't *personally* like to be reminded of the painful history of my ancestors in the fandom space where I try to escape the realities. I don't like to be told that what i am saying is fake "niceties" because i genuinely feel as if everyone should speak their truth and are valid for the way they feel about shipping within ATLA fandom. That does not extend to harrassing people. i don't think anyone who is BIPOC should be told to be silent/deferent in these conversations. there is a reason that BIPOC is acronymed this way, and it goes beyond shipping.
Also I'm not surprised in the least about how zutaranti handled the situation regarding Yuki.
She follows a zionist and they interact quite a lot. The zionist is flameokuzon on Twitter.
She also talks a lot like a white woman. "You guys don't know about my bg" yeah, you're white🌹
i didnt know they were a zionist. i went to block them after reading your ask and they had already blocked me lol
according to twitter's location feature she is from south asia. i think she talks more like someone who is chronically online than someone who is white 😭 tho often its similar bc lots of internet's anglo speaking lingo is just pure first world problems bruh
I've bee trying warn people about this since yesterday, so
Elmo_ui took a screenshot of Luxkcg5's tweets about cheaters!Zutara and Luxkcg5 answered basically just doubling down and then RB05211 started fantasizing about Luxkcg5's dad SA'ing them.
The tweet:
"Like how you have s*x with your dad your dad fucked you so good it making your delulu to coming close from reality although the reality was you getting ucked instead of katara @ that's how twisted deranged desperate sounds you are"
yeah i saw that....... disgusting behavior. i reported the tweet but twitter saw nothing wrong with it 🙃
kataangers are so funny talking about how ember island players is so some big thing that highlights colonisation meanwhile the director of the episode put 14 year old katara in a hooters uniform and called it amazing LMAO they need to wake the fuck up
its amazing that they come up with an amazing headcanon and give all the credit to a bunch of white libs :p
yeah chief i dont think the same ppl that constantly portray violent resistance against imperialism in a negative light were all that aware of colonialism when making a recap episode lol
I'm tired of that dumbfuck zutaranti taking screenshots of everything I wish I had a gun
LMAOOOO. For context to anyone confused, there’s a Twitter user called zutaraanti that literally screenshots zk tweets, tags you for engagement bait and essentially just dogpiles you. Their entire account is literally just hating zk and anyone who ships it. Every single time I think we’re in the clear, that account keeps SS our posts so their attack dogs can harass us. I remember they did it to my Harutara hair post I made, which led to oomf getting harassed for days. Not to mention the stupid ass fake drama with oomfs @draxofoy beautiful art. What did they take a screenshot of now 😭?
