a rant blog

My friends told me to make a Tumblr account and post my thoughts here. Mod of an invite-only Tibetan language learning group for Tibetan diaspora.

[atlaculture]

Building Up: Air Nomad Cuisine - The Dynamic Duo

When conceptualizing Air Nomad cuisine, I took inspiration from dishes of the Himalayas, primarily Tibetan. Since Air Nomads spend much of their lives living in high altitudes, I felt their cuisine should reflect the needs of that lifestyle. It would also take advantage of the dairy that sky bison could likely provide. In short, while all dishes shown will be vegetarian, very few will be vegan. If you’re interested in trying any of these foods, click on the name of each dish for a recipe or product website.

Tsampa

Tsampa (རྩམ་པ་) is roasted barley flour and a staple food in Tibetan cuisine. It can be blended with milk and butter to make a savory porridge or mixed with leftover Tibetan tea to create an energy-dense edible dough. It’s a nutritious and hardy ingredient, making it the perfect foodstuff for nomads traveling at high altitudes and in cold climates.

Butter Tea

Also known as “Tibetan tea” or “churned tea” (cha süma / ཇ་སྲུབ་མ), this beverage is iconic to Tibetan culture and is popular throughout the Himalayas and Central Asia. Traditionally, it is made by boiling tea and then churning it with yak butter and salt. I imagine that the ATLA equivalent would use sky bison butter. Since butter is the main ingredient, the tea provides plenty of caloric energy and prevents chapped lips from harsh winds.

I can imagine Iroh being a big butter tea fan. 8)

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

[kisachio]

Aang would not survive a day in a Tibetan community because vegetables are scarce and meat is such an integral part of our cuisine. If we're drawing real-world parallels, his diet would more closely resemble that of Mahayana Buddhist monastics.

[kisachio]

I am not surprised at all that there was a Kataang sockpuppet circlejerk that operated for over a decade. That sockpuppeteer was a consistent source of brainlessness and irritation. Her foul personality permeated through all her digital incarnations, yet most other Kataang shippers did not even notice, probably because that entire crowd has a bot-like mentality in general.

Imagine being such a rabid shipper who foams at the mouth over people not liking Kataang that you create numerous fake identities to agree with yourself, harass people, and make your ship seem more popular than it actually is. All while you have the audacity to accuse other people of being toxic.

In many of her posts, she referred to Aang as a "Buddhist," and, like many other "pro-Aang" individuals, she wanted to weaponize the Buddhist label as a way to silence legitimate criticism of his character, by claiming that those who do not like Aang are simply ignorant and racist. This is ironic, of course, since she does not understand Buddhism at all and is a deeply racist individual.

She blocked me on many of her accounts before I even knew she existed, likely because she feared an actual Tibetan Buddhist calling her out on her bullshit. I have heard she blocked many other Buddhists as well. A non-Buddhist, racist white Italian shutting down the opinions of Buddhists while claiming to "defend" the religion to prop up a fictional character who is a caricature of my culture?

It is performative activism, as always.

[tophagentofchaos]

An Inuk twitter user is getting harassed for politely asking an artist to take down their fan art of Katara with Inuit facial tattoos because the artist isn’t Inuit and doesn’t understand their significance and like…fucking this is why I’m wary of the ATLA fandom and fandom in general tbh

Someone from the culture the show based the water tribe on says “hey this is cultural appropriation”, and suddenly fans of this “anti-racist” show jump down her throat because she spoke up.

Seriously ATLA’s fanbase can be…such a cesspool bc people are so complacent in the show’s “woke” source material (which is a subject for another day) and so protective of this thing they’ve built their personality around that someone saying “hey what you’re doing is hurtful” is seen as a personal attack.

This is a show made by white men. I promise you it’s not as progressive as you think.

So this is a good time to remind everyone that Inuit tattooing is a closed practice, and that extends to fanart. There were quite a few Inuit on twitter who were talking about this again recently and asking that non-Inuit people respect that the tradition is not open for everyone.

[tophagentofchaos]

Ok cool it’s 1am and I’ve had three glasses of sake so I’m ready to talk to the white people who seem to have zoomed in on me saying “This is a show made by white men I promise you it’s not as progressive as you think” and completely disregarded the rest of the post because you think I microaggressed you by mentioning white people in a less than positive light.

Before I get into it, here’s my TLDR: Atla being made by white men is one of the many reasons the show isn’t actually as progressive as people like to say it is. It’s not the only reason, but it is a major one.

Anyways idk how long this is gonna get so I’m gonna put this under the cut.

Keep reading

[kisachio]

Kataang shippers drawing Aang in Tibetan monk clothing while he is being romantic with Katara is so disrespectful and absolutely disgusting to Tibetan and Buddhist culture.

[kisachio]

I am not Indian or Hindu so my apologies if I am speaking out of turn, but Guru Pathik always felt like a racist caricature of Indians and Hinduism like the Air Nomads did of Tibetans and Buddhism.

[kisachio]

"Here's how a person who identifies as a monk being in a romantic relationship aligns with different schools of Buddhism!!1!"

I think the fuck not. What is it with Aang and Kataang stans only caring about Buddhism when they can distort it to praise an Orientalist caricature?

[kisachio]

Yet another horribly stupid thread from a non-Buddhist that uses Buddhism to "defend" Aang. Apparently OP was even buying followers to increase the engagement of their account so more people could be exposed to their blatant misinformation. They had an alt account that they deactivated when they were caught confessing to it.

They share similarities but that doesn't mean Buddhism is just a branch of Hinduism, Buddhism arose as a rejection of Hinduism. The two religions are oppositional. This is like saying Christianity is just a "branch" of Judaism when Christianity has a deep history of violent antisemitism.

Many Tibetan Buddhists (such as myself!) have expressed their dislike of ATLA, particularly Aang and the Air Nomads for playing into the Shangri-la stereotype. Tibetan Buddhists don't object to priests getting married because they are NOT monks. On the other hand, Air Nomad society is composed entirely of monks and nuns. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said that Buddhist monks getting married is completely forbidden, and the Buddha himself has said that non-celibate monks will go to Hell. It is completely blasphemous to our religion. A monk being a celibate is FAR more important than him being a vegetarian. Are you a moron?

Really showing your ignorance here. Both are called "monks" in English but they are not actually monks at all. A monk must follow the Vinaya. The warrior Shaolin are not monks and in many cases they are not even Buddhists, they are like secular guards who live in the monastery. Meanwhile Japan has no tradition of Buddhist monks whatsoever. All Japanese "monks" are actually priests. Bryke didn't know about the difference because they are idiots, and so are you.

You do know that many people have spoken up against the Fire Nation for being a mix of different cultures too, right? At least the reason for the Fire Nation being a mix of cultures was so that they wouldn't be creating a direct parallel to a real world culture since they were portrayed as the villains of the series. But you're coming in here with the claim that Aang is a Buddhist, therefore making fun of him for being bald is racism to Buddhists even though Aang himself is a racist caricature of Buddhism.

Of course Buddhists would reject to their religion being considered Hinduism? Some Hindus will claim Buddhism as a branch of their own religion to deny a unique Buddhist religious identity because India is plagued with fascists who want to create a Hindu ethnostate, and Buddhism's disappearance in India can be attributed to the assimilation of Buddhism into Hinduism.

What the fuck is the claim of Korea and Japan coming from the same culture as China? Korea and Japan are heavily influenced by Chinese culture but they didn't just arise from China, all three are separate nations with distinct histories. Holy shit, this is even more ridiculous than saying Buddhism is a branch of Hinduism.

Aang being bald has nothing to do with his religion, being bald is a choice for Air Nomads to allow them to feel the air better. Bryke appropriated Buddhist aesthetics and none of the meaning. Once again, you go on about his vegetarianism when vegetarianism for monks isn't as big of an issue as celibacy. The Vinaya explicitly allows monks to eat meat, but under no circumstances can they ever be sexually active. Next.

Fellas, is is racist to mix up Chinese and Japanese culture because they both have similarities like using chopsticks, logographic writing, and Confucianism?

"you cannot speak for an entire group of people" Yet here you are speaking on behalf of Tibetans and Buddhists when you are literally neither of those things yourself.

How many times do I have to fucking say it? Aang and the Air Nomads in general are disrespectful of Buddhism. Their very existence in a highly popular children's television series is more racist than people calling them bald. Now you ignorant Aang stans are even spreading misinformation about Buddhism, a real religion, in order to defend your Orientalist fictional fave.

It is performative activism. You only care about Buddhism when people dislike Aang even though lots of Buddhists themselves don't like Aang. You will get mad at bald jokes because you claim it's offensive towards Buddhists yet you're a rabid Kataang shipper (because Buddhism suddenly isn't so important to you when it makes your ship look bad, right?). You are more concerned about a fictional character getting insulted than the character's very existence being the legacy of centuries of racist, Orientalist stereotypes that are disrespectful of real world Buddhist cultures.

[kisachio]

"daily cloud family" wants to use Buddhism as a crutch for their stupid arguments and make their opposition look like racists when they are being racist themselves.

Nancy Wu and FC Yee are not Buddhists, they don't know anything about Buddhism. Wu confuses Buddhism for Hinduism and Yee was raised Christian. When this was called out by practising Buddhists, the OP blocked them.

Aang refers to himself as a monk but he does things which are blasphemous towards Buddhism (such as not being celibate) and the in-universe explanation for Air Nomads shaving their head is to feel the air better. They only superficially resemble Buddhist monks because Bryke wanted to appropriate the aesthetic. That's it.

Stop bringing Buddhism into this when Aang's very existence is offensive and based on racist caricatures. You people clearly do not understand or care about Buddhism yourselves.

[kisachio]

"Hating Aang is racism towards Tibetans!! 😭"

What if I told you that my Tibetan ass can't stand Aang as a character? I think his very existence is offensive because he's a racist caricature. Lots of Tibetan people I've spoken to have problems with ATLA, especially the Air Nomads.

Don't fucking speak for us.

[kurtwagners]

Sorry if I'm bothering you but can you share why you think avatar is bad?

ur asking for a lot bc that show is a complete and utter mess. first my tibetan ass wants u to think about the fact that its a show using asian/indigenous ppl and their devastating histories made by ignorant weeaboo white men. I wanted to write about it in detail bc i’ve always wanted to say something about this but never rly got around to doing it. avatar was a big part of my childhood (that did make my father uncomfortable) so I’m speaking from a place not entirely out of hatred or spite. maybe ill send this in letter format to the writers lol. anyways im going to split this up into parts. I’ll put a readmore bc its kinda long

@bryankonietzko i really hope you take a nice long look

1. Unexplained, Stereotyped, and Insensitive/Uneducated Political Parallels

avatar uses cultural and religious elements of different asian/indigenous cultures and sorta smashes it all together to create a very superficial fantasy world. The first thing you need to know is that the air nation is an obvious but flawed representation of my home country, Tibet. Air nomads are devout pacifist monks/nuns who live in the high mountains, an extremely common and one-dimensional racial stereotype of tibetans and the religion of tibetan buddhism by westerners and western media.

The complete genocide of the peaceful air nation by the technologically advanced fire nation directly represents the invasion and occupation of tibet by the peoples republic of china (PRC) in 1959. the PRC directly caused the deaths of millions of Tibetans through murder, warfare, pillaging etc. Tibet is now one of the most oppressed countries in the world (https://www.freetibet.org/about/human-rights), with no freedom of speech/religion, mass internet and media censorship, prison torture, forced assimilation into han society, police brutality, and cultural destruction and erasure by the chinese government. (Its so bad that hundreds of Tibetans are committing mass suicide through self-immolation https://savetibet.org/tibetan-self-immolations/) while geographically avatar’s fire nation might resemble japan, while earth nation seems more similar to China, the fire nation government and mission to conquer and colonize are in direct accordance to the approach of both imperialist Japan and the PRC. The Tibetan population numbers have been severely reduced bc of chinese occupation, with the threat of cultural extinction through murder and assimilation being a big concern in the community. With Tibetans having a very sensitive history of oppression, genocide, and constant brutal suffering, having media content for children about tibetan-like people being completely massacred to extinction bc they’re too peaceful isn’t exactly tasteful.

One of the main faults of the show I cannot forgive is the use of “cool flashy asian” words/names used in the show that in reality have tragic political context, like lake laogai: Laogai 勞改 (https://laogairesearch.org/laogai-system/) are real Chinese prison camps that hold hundreds of thousands of tibetan (and chinese, and other minority groups of china) political prisoners (normally activists who protest for justice and freedom). they “reform” people through unethical slave labor, and many prisoners have painfully starved to death. Thousands of real people (including family members and friends of mine) suffered and died without right to fair trial and humane living conditions, and the treatment of human beings in the laogai is an extremely horrifying and obvious abuse of human rights.

I feel like a response to this might be “why are these representations offensive? you can make a show that addresses and promotes awareness of issues and its not offensive! its a good thing that helps!” but the problem with avatar is that the real world comparisons that the show makes are never actually explained or clarified to the viewers. with most of the target audience knowing absolutely nothing about tibet/asia and these real political issues, all of these references go right over their head. The average viewer will believe this show is using original ideas when its actually desensitizing a real and horrible history. Using politics that reference the real suffering and deaths of millions of people and not having the courtesy to properly acknowledge it isn’t funny or cute. And even worse, using stereotyped caricatures instead of a more accurate representation of the culture you’re “borrowing” from just makes your content outright disrespectful.

tumblr user atla-annotated said this in a post about the use of laogai in avatar which I think better words my point:

“I personally feel that when drawing from dark real world events/situations (especially if you are using the real term and are not substituting i.e. Air Nomads - Tibet vs. Lake Laogai), and if those events are not that well known to your audience, you are obligated to give context, be it in the form of interviews, the art book, on the website (there are loads of options). Why? Because it is disrespectful. Bad shit happened to real people, real people suffered in those camps and having fans off and online referring to said camps without knowing what they are saying is not cool.”

2. Promotion of Cultural Appropriation and Insensitivity

if you’re a poc who is very close to your culture, it will become pretty obvious to u that this show is written by white people. you can especially tell in episodes that address culture/religion and appropriation, bc they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. one thing that stuck with me since I was a kid was that northern air temple episode. aang saw those earthbenders destroy and deface the air temple and got rightly upset, but it was treated as the wrong way of thinking. even when i was a dumb kid i never understood this. when i projected onto this character I did feel like aang (despite being a racial caricature) had every fucking right to be angry and hurt?? these temples are a part of his religion, his culture, his faith and his way of life? seeing the last remnants of your extinct people and culture being destroyed and defiled by sewage would obviously be offensive? but his feelings are disregarded bc that guy who’s making tech for the fire nation, the literal murderers of the entire air nation, is important too or whatever. instead of the message being “appreciate past cultures and their religious artifacts/temples and live alongside them respectfully”, it was “cultural preservation is stupid if it stands in the way of better technology” which feel like a very colonial way of looking at culture, esp by the PRC, bc of how communism considers religion to be a hindrance to revolution. also the fact that the prc destroyed thousands of holy tibetan monasteries for chinese shopping malls and parking lots.

Also in legend of korra the whole “neo non-airbender airbender” cult on that island parallel real western cults (white hippies with dreads) obsessed with living what they think is a “tibetan lifestyle”. they appropriate and fetishize tibetan religion and culture, to the extent of being condescending, racist, and disrespectful towards real tibetans and invading tibetan spaces (”it might be tibetan culture, but tibetans just dont get it like we do”). I remember my sister reading a comic where tenzin or someone was upset at these non-airbender’s blatant appropriation, but his feelings were shut down for the message “anyone can be a part of this culture bc tibetans airbenders r all dead lol!!1! we keep it alive!!” like, wow, Mike and Bryan, ik u think all tibetans are doomed for extinction but thanks for that.

3. Ignorant Fanbase

Last, about the fans. Because the show’s previously mentioned lack of educating/raising awareness towards what this show references, many fans tend to be very (sometimes unintentionally) racist and insensitive towards aspects of cutures/tradition that avatar borrowed from the real world (the most common I see is fans butchering pictures of his holiness the dalai lama, the most sacred religious figure for tibetans to make a shitty avatar joke. He’s the reincarnation of an enlightened being, even his photographs are supposed to b treated with RESPECT). Because of this, praising the show to high heaven bc of its racial “representation” when its actually racist caricature feels kind of shitty.

also this isnt necessarily “problematic” but the “are u named tenzin after the guy from avatar” line from nerds is literally SO ANNOYING and SO COMMON, especially when its the name of his holiness the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, both his auspicious first and last name were used in the show) and the most common tibetan name ever (We have a tradition of high lamas giving their names to our children as a blessing, which is why every other Tibetan you meet will be named Tenzin). so if you like avatar and you’ve never met a tibetan before, please dont ask weird shit like if their name is from avatar or if tibetans are like the funny blue arrow monks (i’ve gotten that one before) its fucking irritating. 

Honestly, I normally don’t really have such a big problem with white ppl writing tibetan characters. Its all stereotypes and monks and ignorance, but im so desperate for representation i usually halfass accept it anyways. but i just couldn’t handle the way the writers of avatar are so obviously insensitive and idiotic while going out of their way to try and use “~huge political messages~” that they dont understand and dont want their fans to actually learn more about. If the writers did some actual research and made avatar respectful towards Tibetans and raise awareness about tibetan/PRC politics I would have definitely appreciated it. But they didn’t. 

also the movie is just its own shitshow, but I hate how everyone thinks the cartoon is okay when it really isn’t. 

also a plug for the crew https://studentsforafreetibet.org/

[kurtwagners]

this is getting attention again so i edited it a little with some links. its been like 4 years since i wrote this so i like to think my writing ability is better…but i dont want to completely rewrite out this whole thing again. 

avatar the last airbender is just a product of a larger phenomenon. the fantastical depiction of tibet in western media is a solidified pillar in tibetan studies as a form of new age orientalism born due to a complex history of racial imbalance, cultural appropriation and deep misunderstanding.

Prisoners of Shangri-La by Donald S Lopez is an essential work in contemporary Tibetan Studies relating to how orientalism damages our political goals and autonomy: 

https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=656554823894E561222739891C697524