Talk:Anti-bending Revolution/@comment-3338975-20120325060542

The original Avatar world was basically an aristocratic monarchial system, in which one found one's place through one's heritage in regards to one's social identity (rank-wise and affiliation-wise). The events in the culturally-mixed colonies in The Promise has been said by Gene Yang to lead to a more modern view of the world on Aang's part, which obviously resulted in the melting pot "utopia" of the United Republic of Nations serving as the link between the nations. It seems probable that they were expected to forge a new identity prioritizing individual virtuousness over heritage (though not necessarily dismissing the latter altogether), as the way of overcoming the otherwise impossible problem of peaceful resolution to Zuko and Aang's domestic altercation.

Unfortunately, as the real world has seen in its transition from aristocracy to capitalism, ignoring the question of the ultimate environmental basis for these virtues can lead to the stagnation of the virtuous republic, due to the self-assurance of those who managed to succeed by their own seemingly innate virtues. There will always be those who question such a system fallen from grace, and the Equalist revolt seems to have precipitated from the social advancement the benders of Republic City accomplished by the innate virtue of their bending ability.