Bored and Looking For Entertainment

[sokkastyles]

The symbolism of Katara, a water bender, ruling over the fire nation is just too delicious, actually. It gives "I can snuff you out at any minute."

[azuremart]

The new Avatar movie: A talentless sequel to a once brilliant show.

Finally gathered my thoughts on the new Avatar movie, and my only question is: why did this "legend of a fancy, empty fanservice shell" even exist?

The movie was doomed at the execution stage of its concept and script.

The creators had a bulletproof foundation: one of the most masterfully written shows in television history (Avatar: The Last Airbender), the canon comics, and The Legend of Korra, which already showed us the characters aged, with children and grandchildren.

And that is exactly why the idea of focusing on "Aang’s struggles and rebuilding the Air Nation" feels entirely redundant.

1. The Redundant Arc and Zero Stakes

We have already witnessed Aang’s grief, guilt, and pain over his people’s genocide throughout the original three seasons. That arc was closed and beautifully processed. The comics already showed the Air Acolytes, and TLOK put a definitive period on this storyline by bringing back actual airbenders.

Because we already know the future, the audience has absolutely nothing to worry about:

* We know Tenzin and his kids will remain the only airbenders for decades.

* We know exactly how long the main characters live.

* We know the fate of their families.

There are no stakes. Will they die? No. Will the future change? No. The answer is already known, making the entire narrative arc completely empty. We didn’t need a movie-length repetition of Aang’s trauma just for the sake of it.

Merely drawing pretty, adult versions of the characters is not enough to make a good movie. A film needs a core conflict, meaning, and a fresh idea.

2. Fanservice Wrapping, Empty Inside

If we look at this film as a standalone (even though almost the entire audience consists of old fans), it is hollow. The characters aren't explored; their screen time adds nothing substantial to their personalities.

So, why does this movie even exist?

* To force-feed us the Kataang canon?

* To show off Aang’s bizarre, unrealistic new design with a mountain of muscles that makes zero sense for a vegan monk with his lifestyle?

* To make him look like a self-insert of the creators who desperately need to force the audience into loving him?

The creators seem so attached to Aang as their self-insert that they still cannot accept that he never became the most beloved character in his own show.

So adult Aang is redesigned to be as conventionally attractive as possible. Broad shoulders. Huge muscles. Constant shirtless shots. A heavy emphasis on his romance with Katara.

The message feels almost painfully obvious:

“Look at him. This is the hero you’re supposed to love. This is the man you’re supposed to admire. This is the man Katara is supposed to be obsessed with.”

Seriously, it felt like watching a high-budget fan-animation for a mediocre Kataang fanfiction. It is so primitive and cheap how Katara throws herself at Aang’s neck in almost every scene, completely stripped of her independence. Worse entirely, Aang risks her life for the sake of his own elusive, idealistic hopes, making him the absolute worst partner imaginable. Then again, knowing what a terrible, neglectful father he turns out to be in TLOK, his toxic selfishness here isn't even surprising. What is surprising and deeply frustrating is how the creators force Katara to blindly love THIS and submissively accept whatever crumbs of attention or respect he throws her way. Once again, Katara is reduced to being a mere appendage to the Avatar—a disservice they already started in TLOK.

3. The Nerfing of the Gaang

The rest of the characters fared no better.

Everyone feels like an extended cameo rather than actual living characters.

* Sokka:The brave warrior who wasn't a bender yet stood tall against firebenders amplified by Sozin’s Comet is gone. Instead, we got a cowardly, quirky inventor making stupid jokes. He’s a parody of his former self.

* Toph: Completely useless to the plot. She is just there.

* Zuko: Just a pretty cardboard cutout who lost all of his signature charisma. He isn't even necessary to the plot. Not to mention the sheer stupidity of the writing: the literal Fire Lord, ruler of an entire global empire, is casually piloting a zeppelin completely alone—no crew, no royal guard, as if he has absolutely nothing to manage in his own country. And watching the Fire Lord personally repair a ship... God, it looked so incredibly braindead.

The creators literally removed his chest scar and gave him zero meaningful interaction with Katara.

The authors' eternal fear of the Zutara fandom is honestly getting hilarious at this point.

It is especially glaring how they tried to deflect attention: "Quick, let's throw in some hints for Zukka, and let's have a half-naked Zuko catch Toph!" It’s a desperate attempt to distract Zutara fans, as if stuffing the movie with "cute" Kataang scenes wasn't enough to stop people from even thinking about Zutara. They feel so deeply uncomfortable with Zutara's mere existence that they have to forcefully shove Kataang down our throats while aggressively trying to erase any trace of Zutara.

4. What We ACTUALLY Needed to See

Instead of retreading old ground, the movie could have explored the massive blank spaces in the lore that actually lead into the future we know:

* The Birth of Republic City: Show the first rise of social inequality. Show how Aang failed to solve this issue, leaving it as a heavy mistake of the past Avatar for Korra to fix.

* The Bloodbending Ban: Give us a real story about why Katara had to ban it. Show us why it couldn't even be adapted for medical use. The canon ban still feels unconvincing—sub-bending is potentially useful, and even lethal lightning-bending wasn't banned but redirected for the public good.

* Characters with Unknown Fates: Give us someone to actually worry about! Where is Azula (did she redeem herself or is she still a threat)? What about Ty Lee and chi-blocking leading into the Equalists? What about Mai?

* Suki's Tragedy: Address the theory that Suki died young. It would perfectly and tragically explain why Sokka ended up alone and never started a family—losing two girls he loved could be his personal curse, making him close his heart to risk.

* Kanto: We could have been introduced to the mysterious Kanto as Toph’s future love interest—someone serious, with a personality resembling Lin, so the audience could see something familiar in him.

* King Bumi: Even showing old King Bumi sacrificing his own life to protect the heroes would have been better, so that the name of Aang’s firstborn finally received a powerful emotional justification.

But no. Instead, we wasted time on things that had already been said.

The Bitter Truth About the Creators

It is glaringly obvious that the people who made ATLA deeply emotional and complex were missing here. It was Aaron Ehasz and the brilliant room of writers who gave the original show its soul, layers, and emotional maturity.

On the backbone of that collective work, Bryke built a sequel franchise that proves once again: on their own, they simply do not know how to create something truly great.

It’s a shame so much money and years of work were wasted on this hollow fanservice. People will not be analyzing the depth of this movie years from now like they still do with the original ATLA. Because there is simply nothing to analyze.

[the-badger-mole]

I don't know how to explain this, but A/ng has the energy of someone who uses generative AI

Ok, but why is this hilarious? 😂 It's true. He does seem like the sort of slacker student who would use AI to write his essay because he'd rather be outside playing with Appa.

[no-mere-mortals]

It's the general vibe of wanting an easy solution to hard problems, which is kind of his main issue throughout the show.

Also an AI would 100% give him the constant sycophancy he loves. "You're so right – just because Ozai wants to kill the entire Earth Kingdom doesn't mean you should be forced to kill him. Responding to your friends the way you did wasn't just brave – it was truly iconic."

[the-badger-mole]

It's basically how the narrative treats him. "No, sweet baby angel, you don't need to put in any work to understand anyone's point of view but your own. You are the wisest, bravest, smartest of them all, but also your age excuses your worst acts of entitlement and you never have to apologize, ever!"

Thanks, Chat Jibbity!

[sokkastyles]

More like Chat Lionturtle

Now I'm imagining Aang asking Claude how to defeat Ozai without killing him.

[koralprimrosesketches]

If this doesn't reach 1,000,000 Zutara shippers then I will EXPLODE

[half-phantom-hiyori]

That zk-anti person saw this and was inspired #sarcasm.

Oh, you know, these stupid victims of colonialism who live in fantasies. Because if you don't agree with me it means you are stupid.

To jump on USA as a Russian is certainly a choice. Russia is an imperialistic country with a long story of colonialism and with all that entails. And at the same time it's not only slavs who participate in Russian war aggressions, so this argument about minorities of colour also works here. You really think you know american politics so well that you decide to use USA as an example? I'm not an american, btw.

Yes, are we sure it is appropriate to equate (equate, not compare) absolutely real events with fictional? Do you have at least a bit of respect for these people? This is not a fucking cartoon.

Remember, this person wants you to take them seriously. Anti-coloniser made-up slur.

Yeah, a canon story about slav/inuit or brit/inuit e-t-l and not a hypothetical love story between people of fictional (heavily inspired but still fictional) ethnicities when? Ah yes, such stories exist and unlike Zutara they are harmful in many ways, you just don't want to pay attention.

This person tried to be so woke she ended up looking stupid. Because this is stupid, ignorant and disrespectful behaviour. And i know she is an indigenous woman, but i'm also an indigenous woman. Fictional things are not real. Don't try to educate somebody when you don't even have basic common sense and empathy.

[sokkastyles]

I stayed off that post when someone sent it to me because there were some poc zutara shippers who felt they brought up some valuable points, but given the recent behavior of zutara antis I can say that I knew this would happen, because it always does. You jest, but this is an example of the kinds of posts that empower people like zutaranti. The rhetoric in this post is also directly accusing poc zutara shippers of being some kind of race traitors, which, again, is meant to encourage bullying, not meant to protect poc.

Also, yeah, people who use "ash-maker" like they're performing activism by using a fake slur against fantasy people is very hard to take seriously. And also tone deaf, since they're using it as the equivalent to like, cracker, when Zuko is Asian. There are real slurs that are used in the real world for people who look like Zuko, but there's nothing progressive about using them.

[iwillpunchyouinthenose]

ALL zutaras are damn weird and acting like Aang was the fucking devil on earth and Zuko was way better than he actually is, as well as actively ignoring Katara’s ENTIRE character. “Pro zutara” “anti kataang” shit with shipping would be fine if all of these mfs were just NORMAL

[sokkastyles]

It's definitely super normal for you to act this way and it's other people who are weird, yep, lmfao 🤣

[zutaranti]

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Zuko paid more attention to Katara as a genocide survivor than Aang ever did."

people expect those affected by the fire nation's crime to be perfect victims while zuko's active participation and his family being directly responsible for katara's trauma so taking accountability on his part is literally necessary, like this is equivalent to saying zutaras paid more attention to zuko as an abused child than they ever care about aang or katara as genocide survivors (but it's facts) lol

[sokkastyles]

If Aang can't care about Katara because of his trauma, then he shouldn't be in a relationship with her, perfect victim or not.

And I'm glad you're admitting now that it's necessary for Zuko to care, because the line is usually that he's "corrupting her" by doing things like helping her get justice for her mother's murder and kataangers usually say that he should just keep it to himself.

Also, analogies don't work when you say stuff like "how would you like it if I said this thing, which is true." I thought you were trying to prove the original statement wrong?

[stargirl-judooz]

this is equivalent to saying zutaras paid more attention to zuko as an abused child than they ever care about aang or katara as genocide survivors

Except the part your quoting is about how the characters behave. We're pointing out what is written into the show and the attention the characters give to each other. Why wouldn't the show runners want Aang to give more attention to his Lady Love and her deepest pain than her "most hated enemy" does?

That's the point being made.

Your counter point has nothing to do with the show and everything to do with fandom, the fans and how we engage with the show. Yeah, I happen to care more about Zuko's history with his father than I do Sokka and his issues. Sokka is someone else's favorite. That's not my responsibility. Yes I care more about Katara and her struggle reconciling being a survivor at the cost of her mother than I do about Aang and his toxic positivity, barely bottled rage that he unexpectedly unleashes on those around him whether or not they deserve it. That's my prerogative as a fan of a fictional cartoon show. He can be someone else's favorite character. He doesn't have to be mine.

Do you have any argument that come from within the context of the show about how Aang cares more than the rest of the gaang about Katara and what the war has taken from her, especially since he was affected in much the same ways?

Or do you just want to try (poorly) to make zks look bad by making empty, flat statements about real people and who their favorite character is completely disconnected from the conversation at hand?

[starrfettii]

“It’s really weird to view a teenage girl as a mother btw.”

It’s really weird to write a teenage girl as a mother figure when she’s only got about a two year age gap with all the people she has to mother. People calling out that Katara was a mother figure for the entire gaang isn’t weird, you just don’t like hearing that she was more motherly toward Aang than she ever was romantic with him. It’s not just our interpretation, that is quite literally how she is written, and if you honestly can’t see that, I can honestly say that you weren’t paying any fucking attention to a single episode of the show.

[dragonfoxandfound]

Pardon me for not taking your Zutara is harmful because Zuko is basically Hitler think piece seriously, when when you're also screeching them from X and happily, compliantly generating content, traffic and funding for a literal nazi.

It just comes off as a little disingenuous, you know?

[sokkastyles]

It's also Godwin's law, lol.

[rawreiaa]

Zutara shippers are so weird towards Aang. One time he was too perfect/bland but now he’s all of a sudden a bad person because the writers showcased his flaws😭❓(yall want spice but can’t even handle a couple disagreeing)

[sokkastyles]

Since you tagged this zutara, I guess that means you want an answer.

The thing about showcasing flaws is that they actually have to be presented as flaws. The movie has Aang act irresponsibly and yell at Katara but then does not show him learning from that or apologizing. It's not acknowledged as a flaw. This is also not a new problem and not a new criticism, the same is said about Aang yelling at all his friends in the finale for trying to help him, and Aang is never given an opportunity to learn from it because the narrative gives him a magic fix. That is what zutara shippers mean when they say he is bland and too perfect, not that he actually is perfect but that the narrative does not acknowledge his flaws, and that pattern continues from the series into the post canon materials, including this new movie.

This is not spice or being unable to handle a couple disagreeing. It's a male hero yelling at his female love interest because she called him out and then never having to apologize even when he's proven wrong because the narrative validates that behavior and encourages it.

If you didn't want this answer, then don't tag zutara and call us weird, for fuck's sake. What a weird and wrong take.

[sokkastyles]

"Katara would not want Aang to give up his attachment to her for the Avatar State! She literally discouraged him from mastering it at the beginning of book 2!"

No, she didn't. What she said was this:

What she discouraged was trying to rush the process through reckless behavior. The episode makes a parallel between Aang allowing Fong to try and force the Avatar State with Zuko believing Azula when she lies about Ozai wanting him back home. Zuko, like Aang, is rushing into a dangerous situation because of the promise of getting what he wants.

Katara, like Iroh with Zuko, begs Aang to slow down and think things through.

Katara also tells Aang that seeing him in the Avatar State was scary, but not because she is against the Avatar State itself. Seeing Aang unable to control that power was scary for her. What the Guru tried to get Aang to do, master that power through careful control and study, was exactly what Katara wanted.

Atla is a martial arts show that borrows from a lot of eastern philosophy. Strength through study and discipline rather than raw power is therefore a major theme.

Katara voices that Aang's inability to control his power makes her scared, and then because Aang doesn't listen to her, she is put in danger. Physically trapped and in need of rescue. Not because Aang chose the Avatar State over her, but because he made a choice based on raw emotion rather than temperance.

As much as Katara cares for Aang, I do not think that being put in danger because of his recklessness and needing him to save her is what she would want, nor is it a real display of love. It puts her in a position she should never have to be in.

And, upon writing this analysis, I actually realized that when Aang apologizes to Katara in the Crossroads of Destiny, it isn't because he gave up his attachment to her (because he didn't and if he couldn't do it with the Guru, no way could he do it in .5 seconds while she's being threatened by Azula and the Dai Li.)

It's actually meant to be the book-end to this, from the end of the first episode of book 2, after the gaang leave General Fong:

Aang apologizes to Katara and hopes she never has to see him in the uncontrolled Avatar State again.

Then, at the end of book 2, Aang goes into the Avatar State in a desperate moment in the catacombs, knowing that he never mastered the Avatar State, knowing he would break his promise to Katara.

That. Is heartbreaking.

I've never seen anyone take this interpretation, but I'm absolutely sure it was intentional, because it parallels Zuko's narrative so nicely. Zuko who makes a decision to trust Azula over Iroh in the first episode of book 2, putting both their lives in danger, and who makes the choice to side with Azula in the finale, betraying Iroh. Iroh who only ever wanted him to be safe, like Katara wanted Aang to be safe.

This interpretation makes a lot of sense, too, considering how angry Katara is with Aang in the Awakening, and why she felt so betrayed during the Crossroads of Destiny. Unfortunately, Katara focuses on how Zuko betrayed her and Aang's Avatar State arc is rewritten to be an external conflict instead of an internal one, and Katara's anger at Aang is redirected to have her be REALLY angry at her dad, so the show never acknowledges how Katara was actually betrayed by Aang.

That would've been a hell of a conflict if it had actually been addressed, though.

Instead we get Aang threatening Katara with the uncontrolled Avatar State because she won't be his girlfriend.

[korielle-writing-fanfics]

i don’t think fanon titles can be criticized purely cause they don’t exist like fire lady katara isn’t real and the title fire lady isn’t even canon so what are you critiquing? imagination?

[zorosnavigator]

Zutara shippers pointing out the mysogyny, the sexism, the direspect of real cultures throughout the writing of the show instead of kissing the creators's asses is not being 'disrespectful'; Zutara shippers suggesting how Zuko's and Katara's arcs were mirrored and could have been a good conclusion if they had been canon is not 'being toxic', Zutara shippers criticizing that the writing and 'development' of the official couples left much to be desired is not being 'malicious'.

You know what is disrespectful, toxic and malicious though?? - Zutara artists being harassed, quoted with toxic comments, compared with 'better' or 'more accurate' representation from other ppl's art; - writers and shippers whose own Zutara post are being screenshoted across all social platforms to mock and further their harrasment of the Zutara fandom; - WOC whose sexuality and ethnicity are being questioned and called into doubt; - making a poll for your little followers and (sexually) harass an ZK user who gasp! has the audacity of not keeping her head down and is actively replying to your insults and harassment. I could go on and on with numerous examples but thats the irony here: it could go on and on (and it will, of that i have no doubt), it wouldnt matter because it stopped being abt fictional characters a long time ago, now Zutara 'problematic' dynamics is just a piss poor excuse to bully ppl off using morality brownie points and call yourself a good little sjw behind your screen.

[zutaranti]

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Zuko paid more attention to Katara as a genocide survivor than Aang ever did."

people expect those affected by the fire nation's crime to be perfect victims while zuko's active participation and his family being directly responsible for katara's trauma so taking accountability on his part is literally necessary, like this is equivalent to saying zutaras paid more attention to zuko as an abused child than they ever care about aang or katara as genocide survivors (but it's facts) lol

[sneezypeasy]

Aren’t you the one who mocked an Iranian Zutarian last week while she’s been under bombardment for months

[divanations]

this is the main thing i do not like about zk’s (especially on on here). you guys are so wholly illogical in many of your arguments. all you can do is resort to cheap ad-homs about things that have no logical bearing on the current topic at hand.

it is so funny that you guys are accusing op of caring “only about pixels and not real people”, when you yourself are not actually defending any iranians from harm but instead.. using them as rhetorical cudgel to feign moral superiority in a ship war… how odd. is that defintionally even more performative?

also not even to add what an absurd take this is? why are you equating a snarky "haha you you were wrong" quote tweet to somebody making fun of iranian bombardment. she didn't say "your country is being bombed your opinion doesn't matter". it's a tragic situation yes, but tragedy does not render somebody immune from disagreement especially in what is (and i qoute) a "cartoon ship". nor does it make said disagreement harassment. all you have done is snuck in an unsubstantiated claim that the tweet was even about the iranian zutara's suffering at all. a completely useless point of view that can't even be applied universally because it would be frankly insane! please, just use words correctly.

but let’s not talk about the war on iran without some aid:

Middle East Crisis: Provide life-saving aid

Middle East war forces families to flee. We provide life-saving aid in Lebanon, Iran and the region. Donate now to save more lives and reduc

Iran

Iran

[stargirl-judooz]

Going into the fandom tags just to stir up shit is disrespectful. And since it is our only experience with OP we have no reason to believe that their intentions with someone on twitter was wholly innocent.

That does seem a bit like they are prioritizing at the very least their entertainment at the expense of others. And that is harassment. Whether they wanted to bully someone experiencing wartime or simply doesn't care to think of those who ship different things as people we may never know. Because outside of insisting on their self-righteous vendetta against us for liking different characters they've been quite silent.

So.. do let me know if I've missed anything you brought up. Or if I resorted to ad-homs instead of addressing the actual subjects you intended.

But most of all, please, just use tags correctly.

[sokkastyles]

Ad hominem attacks are only wrong if an actual discussion is taking place. @zutaranti has BEGUN with ad hominem attacks and calling them an asshole is just calling a spade a spade.

"you yourself aren't defending any Iranians" uhhh wtf? You don't know anything about the people you are talking about and you have no right to use real genocides this way to defend blatant harassment. It's also ironic because OP was the one bringing up genocide to use as a gotcha. Incorrectly, because saying that Aang is a genocide survivor does not make him free from criticism and expecting him to care about the girl he supposedly loves is not requiring him to be a "perfect victim." Being a victim does not give you license to treat other people badly. As you say, tragedy does not excuse you from disagreement.

Also, OP has also posted about how zutara shippers, especially ones who talk about Katara as a genocide victim "sound white," so I think it can be assumed that they don't actually give a shit about poc who ship something they don't like.

Even if OP was not mocking an Iranian person intentionally, this is why throwing around these kinds of things over fandom is incredibly harmful and disingenuous. You don't know who is behind the screen, nor are you entitled to that information before you decide whether or not you have to respect someone.

[zutaranti]

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Zuko paid more attention to Katara as a genocide survivor than Aang ever did."

people expect those affected by the fire nation's crime to be perfect victims while zuko's active participation and his family being directly responsible for katara's trauma so taking accountability on his part is literally necessary, like this is equivalent to saying zutaras paid more attention to zuko as an abused child than they ever care about aang or katara as genocide survivors (but it's facts) lol

[sneezypeasy]

Aren’t you the one who mocked an Iranian Zutarian last week while she’s been under bombardment for months

[divanations]

this is the main thing i do not like about zk’s (especially on on here). you guys are so wholly illogical in many of your arguments. all you can do is resort to cheap ad-homs about things that have no logical bearing on the current topic at hand.

it is so funny that you guys are accusing op of caring “only about pixels and not real people”, when you yourself are not actually defending any iranians from harm but instead.. using them as rhetorical cudgel to feign moral superiority in a ship war… how odd. is that defintionally even more performative?

also not even to add what an absurd take this is? why are you equating a snarky "haha you you were wrong" quote tweet to somebody making fun of iranian bombardment. she didn't say "your country is being bombed your opinion doesn't matter". it's a tragic situation yes, but tragedy does not render somebody immune from disagreement especially in what is (and i qoute) a "cartoon ship". nor does it make said disagreement harassment. all you have done is snuck in an unsubstantiated claim that the tweet was even about the iranian zutara's suffering at all. a completely useless point of view that can't even be applied universally because it would be frankly insane! please, just use words correctly.

but let’s not talk about the war on iran without some aid:

Middle East Crisis: Provide life-saving aid

Middle East war forces families to flee. We provide life-saving aid in Lebanon, Iran and the region. Donate now to save more lives and reduc

Iran

Iran

[lady-of-bath]

Sneezy was directly quoting me, a Palestinian, and other Arab friends of Yuki's, the Iranian in question. I had no spoons to answer, so she did it for me. MAYBE don't make assumptions where someone very much, the day before, was mass-called out by the WANA community for being racist because of pixels. If you don't know what happened, shut the f up and look into the situation instead of defending a known harasser who equates real genocides with fake and can't even properly apologize for it without victim-blaming and going into whataboutism:

[divanations]

im sorry to say it but you being palestinian and your friends being arab literally does nothing against my point? it’s ad-hom and a completely absurd take coming from anybody, your ethnic background doesn’t suddenly give you a position of authority here. i also really like how you immediately resorted to identity you cannot say somebody was “racist over pixels” without sufficient proof of it. the word racism has a meaning it isn’t just something you’re offended by that attacks somebody you like. i could say you telling me to l shut the fuck up” is racist, because i’m a victim of war too. infact i just had somebody i know die because of it yesterday. i thought that grants me immunity of criticism according to your logic. but does that make anything i said true? no. lmfao please be normal.

the tweet you’ve shown me doesn’t matter either tbh. who are you to police somebodies emotional reactions to a fictional and real life genocide? you think you hold this weird moral superiority over when she herself is deeply affected by it? is that not blaming a victim for what she feels… hmmm… sounds a lot like victim blaming right. yeah don’t be weird babe. clearly that care doesn’t equate to giving them the same moral weight, let’s put our thinking caps on.

again, all you’ve done is asserted my original point that all you guys do is spout illogical nonsense and expect people to agree. show what actual racist thing zutaranti said (and not just something performative bs). so no i won’t shut up you absolute weirdo.

[lady-of-bath]

Whataboutism, media illiteracy and your own WANA racism, I see, by declaring what's racist against us or not over us (and for pixels). The victim herself spoke out about this, btw:

And Zutaraanti deleted her original post because of mass reporting for racism. You can see the screenshot Sneezy sends. You can also check Zutaraanti's Twitter for her replies, double-downs and awful non-apology, because she's proud of her racism. I'm not doing it for you because you're lazy and think this is about a ship war. Also, to make this bigger for others who actually care, look at the dates of the tweets and what's being asked—"I didn't know" my ass.

Me telling you shut up wasn't because I was worried about what you had to say, but a warning you'll expose your own stupidity and bigotry. You use these words but obviously have no idea what they mean. I recommend learning about micro-aggressions, passive racism and even stochastic terrorism, which both you and Antizutara are courting in rhetoric.

And FYI, I call out bigotry against my own regularly on this blog, no matter the topic. I could give less crap about fiction when real people get hurt (which is the CORRECT priority—I don't care how you feel about fake genocides, but if you go after real people for a fake one, congrats, you're an ass at best, imperial DARVO at worst). Anyway, those who want to seek the truth, here is Antizutara's Twitter:

I advise blocking both these clowns. If your takeaway from this is, "West Asians are fake activists over a ship" rather than "West Asians are angry one of our own under bombardment is being harassed for a ship," then block me, too—I have no need for trash.

[firelxdykatara]

Incidentally, @divanations, I don't think you understand what the ad hominem fallacy is. It is not 'pointing out the hypocrisy in ones actions that thereby undermines the argument they made', which is what sneezy did by illustrating that it was incredibly rich of the original poster to be talking about how seriously the zutara fandom does or doesn't take fictional genocide, when they mocked someone currently undergoing bombardment for a perceived fannish misstep.

Ad hominem is actually what you are doing, in derailing the actual argument at hand to talk about how much you don't like zutara shippers, rather than engaging with the argument presented. You are the one who resorted to personal attacks, presumably because you were uncomfortable engaging with the substance of the argument (that being OP's hypocrisy, and the way they treat real victims of actual genocides over pixels on a screen that cannot be harmed).

If you want to seem as if you have any leg to stand on in your own fannish arguments, you may want to work on this impulse you seem to have to lash out at shippers because they react poorly to instances of harassment and abuse.

And that you responded solely to sneezy pointing out OP's hypocrisy, and not any of the other posts responding to the 'argument' at hand and taking it apart, is extremely telling.

[reveleona]

if katara was really aang’s babysitter or mother or whatever but still fell for aang, married him, and had kids with him, wouldn’t that make her a groomer? and if she’s a groomer, then why ship her with ANYONE?

[firelxdykatara]

First, why is this in the zutara tag, and second, why are WE being blamed for Bryan and Michael openly talking about their babysitter fantasies that were hopelessly dashed when they were kids? You know that's where the critique/laughter comes from, right? Because these are fictional characters, not real people, and some of us have had the misfortune to hear Bryke talking ad nauseam about them and what inspired them, and it is vital to me to know that you understand this. Please please please.

[zutaranti]

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Zuko paid more attention to Katara as a genocide survivor than Aang ever did."

people expect those affected by the fire nation's crime to be perfect victims while zuko's active participation and his family being directly responsible for katara's trauma so taking accountability on his part is literally necessary, like this is equivalent to saying zutaras paid more attention to zuko as an abused child than they ever care about aang or katara as genocide survivors (but it's facts) lol

[sneezypeasy]

Aren’t you the one who mocked an Iranian Zutarian last week while she’s been under bombardment for months

[divanations]

this is the main thing i do not like about zk’s (especially on on here). you guys are so wholly illogical in many of your arguments. all you can do is resort to cheap ad-homs about things that have no logical bearing on the current topic at hand.

it is so funny that you guys are accusing op of caring “only about pixels and not real people”, when you yourself are not actually defending any iranians from harm but instead.. using them as rhetorical cudgel to feign moral superiority in a ship war… how odd. is that defintionally even more performative?

also not even to add what an absurd take this is? why are you equating a snarky "haha you you were wrong" quote tweet to somebody making fun of iranian bombardment. she didn't say "your country is being bombed your opinion doesn't matter". it's a tragic situation yes, but tragedy does not render somebody immune from disagreement especially in what is (and i qoute) a "cartoon ship". nor does it make said disagreement harassment. all you have done is snuck in an unsubstantiated claim that the tweet was even about the iranian zutara's suffering at all. a completely useless point of view that can't even be applied universally because it would be frankly insane! please, just use words correctly.

but let’s not talk about the war on iran without some aid:

Middle East Crisis: Provide life-saving aid

Middle East war forces families to flee. We provide life-saving aid in Lebanon, Iran and the region. Donate now to save more lives and reduc

Iran

Iran

[stargirl-judooz]

Going into the fandom tags just to stir up shit is disrespectful. And since it is our only experience with OP we have no reason to believe that their intentions with someone on twitter was wholly innocent.

That does seem a bit like they are prioritizing at the very least their entertainment at the expense of others. And that is harassment. Whether they wanted to bully someone experiencing wartime or simply doesn't care to think of those who ship different things as people we may never know. Because outside of insisting on their self-righteous vendetta against us for liking different characters they've been quite silent.

So.. do let me know if I've missed anything you brought up. Or if I resorted to ad-homs instead of addressing the actual subjects you intended.

But most of all, please, just use tags correctly.

[divanations]

can you guys get off your high horse of “fandom etiquette” it’s so tired and boring. omg the cardinal sin of using a tag wrong in reference to a kids cartoon. let’s blood eagle them!! goshhh nobody cares.

“we have no reason to believe their intention was innocent”. lmfao that is not how burden of proof even works? you do understand that for guilt you need evidence. it isn’t normal at all to start off under the presumption of guilt within any rational framework. if i say to you; you’re a racist until you prove otherwise (without anything to base that claim off) it makes 0 sense… you can’t just declare stuff because it “feels right”. all you’re admitting is that you have no substantive to proof her intent of making fun of a war. what a heavy and baseless accusation.

you can’t just arbitrarily add words to definitions; even if it was starting a shipwar for entertainment, that does not equate to harassment. a snarky tweet and a discussion ensuing ≠ continually threatening, harming, intimidating, harming or humiliating a person. let’s even say they were stirring shit for entertainment, that’s annoy at best.

also quite silent about what?? it’s a completely absurd accusation. why would they owe you clarity. who are you to demand justification?anybody whose mum didn’t snort copious amounts of xanax while pregnant would know that. you aren’t the moral arbiter you think you are, all you’ve done is send a very incoherent and meaningless string of sentences.

please, just use words correctly.

[sokkastyles]

No, I'm sorry, but being an asshole to other people and trying to stir shit in fandom spaces is absolutely a greater sin than whatever thing you and your friends are accusing zutara shippers of doing.

Zutaranti says they "care just as much about fictional genocides as real ones" and like??? That in itself is evidence of their racism. What???? Fake genocides are just as important as real ones???? Cartoon fantasy people are just as important as real people???? What the fuck?

The proof is in the pudding. What zutaranti did is not a problem because they just happened to say the wrong thing to the wrong person, it's a problem because they decided to accuse zutara shippers of racism and not caring enough about a fictional fantasy genocide created by white people using orientalist stereotypes without any actual knowledge of who they were talking to.

Nothing that you and your friends are doing is defensible, and nobody needs to supply you with a burden of proof. And yes, launching hate campaigns against people for shipping the wrong cartoon characters is harassment. It's very hypocritical to accuse other people of being moral arbiters when this entire campaign is based around some idea that you have the moral high ground based on your take about which cartoon characters should date.

"but I didn't knooooow" is not a defense, because you are not entitled to know, and nobody needs to divulge information about themselves to you in order to protect themselves from some troglodyte on the internet with too much time on their hands. The fact that multiple people felt that they had to divulge information about their friends dying and their country being bombed just to get you off their back is fucking horrendous and proof that you absolutely do not care about real people and real genocide.

I hope zutaranti and their friends (or multiple accounts) look back on this after doing some growing up and feel deeply ashamed of themselves.