The Equalists as a Non-Bender Gang: Failures of Government and Community
The gist of it: The Equalists did not arise out of a vacuum, but the show also has no evidence of systematic oppression. Rather I argue that the Equalists were a non-bender gang that gained power because the United Republic failed as a government and as a community, leaving non-benders without protection and support. This flaw in the UR is a problem the show should deal with in Book 2 and beyond, and a good job for Korra to handle as the Avatar.
This is my expansion of lavanyasix's idea of the Equalists as a non-bender gang. While I find her Marxist reading of Book 1 interesting, I find it incomplete in two ways: First, it ignores the evidence of non-bender sympathies for Amon including the resonance the story of his dead family had with the crowd at his Revelation. Second, it is unsatisfactory in regard to the motivation of Hiroshi Sato. If he was doing so well under the current Republic City government, why would he want to take such risk to change it?
At the same time I agree with Lavanya's assertion that the bender/non-bender divide isn't a simple matter of haves and have-nots. Though as overlithe has reminded us, the presence of poor white people and rich black people doesn't negate the existence of white privilege. Nor does the existence of powerful women and powerless men negate male privilege. It's a question of understanding what the divisions mean for this particular society, keeping in mind that it's usually not the either/or, us/them, good/evil divide that extremists love.
So from what I've seen there seem to be two extreme views on the bender/non-bender issue in LoK: a) It's a non-issue, non-benders are not discriminated against in any way and Amon pulled everything out of his butt so shut up haters this is the greatest show ever, and b) Non-benders are a distinct disadvantaged group with few rights and rose up due to real grievances, so go take a look at the news you sheltered morons.
I think both views have their strengths and blind spots. View a) is right in the sense that there's no evidence of systematic, deliberate oppression of non-benders. On the other hand, it seems to ignore the fact that even the worst kinds of extremists are responding to something, even if their methods are objectionable.
I think that's the frustration that adherents of View b) feel. Social movements, even heinous ones, don't just happen for no reason because someone happens to be both evil and charismatic. The baddie has to tap into some issue that speaks to people, something they are facing in their lives, or he'll just be ignored. View b) takes the most straightforward way to resolve this dilemma by taking Amon at his word, but doesn't deal with the lack of evidence of actual discrimination prior to Tarrlok's stunning dick move.
So my argument is "no" and "yes" to both a) and b): There are social issues with benders and non-benders, I just don't think it's as simple as benders being oppressors and non-benders being oppressed. I think the non-bender situation in United Republic became a problem because the country failed on two fronts: First, its government failed to fulfill its role, and second, United Republic failed to cohere into an actual community where people take care of each other.
In response to this lack of protection and community people started banding together for mutual benefit and defense, and originally they probably grouped together by origin much like real-life immigrant groups, regardless of bending and non-bending. But then national identities became less important as time went on and bending power seems to have replaced national origin, to the extent you have the the Triple Triad gangs composed of benders often working together. With the old ties of nationality gone and no coherent United Republic identity to replace them, benders were left with no reason to respect or protect non-benders and their physical advantage ran amok. Worse, Republic City's government failure meant there were no effective restraints on such power.
This view of non-benders in Republic City, left out in the cold without either private or public protection, would explain why even well-off non-benders like the Mrs. Sato could be murdered and presumably get no justice if Hiroshi Sato's rage is any indication. The government wasn't functioning well enough, and as non-benders they didn't have the support and protection of an organization like one of the Triple Triad gangs. That is why Amon's story, even though it wasn't true for Noatok himself, evidently resonated with the huge crowd that came to see him.
We see other evidence that the government in UR is weak while the gangs provide some form of social services and opportunities: There is evidently no safety net for orphans like Mako and Bolin, but Mako was able to support himself and his brother for a while by working in the Triads. And it wasn't even necessarily illegal work, showing that the bender gangs are about more than crime--though there's plenty of that too, of course. I'm also willing to bet that pro-bending, where Mako and Bolin eventually found themselves, has really deep ties to the bending gangs.
I think the Equalists arose as a response to this social need of non-benders for protection and support structures. What is more, in an age of technological development the Equalists proved that non-benders have the means and resources to demand justice and power. The Equalists may be gone but the problem won't go away unless someone (hint hint, the Avatar) really grapples with the problems of government and community failure. I hope Book 2 will deal with those issues, though I've kind of lost hope at this point.
This is my expansion of lavanyasix's idea of the Equalists as a non-bender gang. While I find her Marxist reading of Book 1 interesting, I find it incomplete in two ways: First, it ignores the evidence of non-bender sympathies for Amon including the resonance the story of his dead family had with the crowd at his Revelation. Second, it is unsatisfactory in regard to the motivation of Hiroshi Sato. If he was doing so well under the current Republic City government, why would he want to take such risk to change it?
At the same time I agree with Lavanya's assertion that the bender/non-bender divide isn't a simple matter of haves and have-nots. Though as overlithe has reminded us, the presence of poor white people and rich black people doesn't negate the existence of white privilege. Nor does the existence of powerful women and powerless men negate male privilege. It's a question of understanding what the divisions mean for this particular society, keeping in mind that it's usually not the either/or, us/them, good/evil divide that extremists love.
So from what I've seen there seem to be two extreme views on the bender/non-bender issue in LoK: a) It's a non-issue, non-benders are not discriminated against in any way and Amon pulled everything out of his butt so shut up haters this is the greatest show ever, and b) Non-benders are a distinct disadvantaged group with few rights and rose up due to real grievances, so go take a look at the news you sheltered morons.
I think both views have their strengths and blind spots. View a) is right in the sense that there's no evidence of systematic, deliberate oppression of non-benders. On the other hand, it seems to ignore the fact that even the worst kinds of extremists are responding to something, even if their methods are objectionable.
I think that's the frustration that adherents of View b) feel. Social movements, even heinous ones, don't just happen for no reason because someone happens to be both evil and charismatic. The baddie has to tap into some issue that speaks to people, something they are facing in their lives, or he'll just be ignored. View b) takes the most straightforward way to resolve this dilemma by taking Amon at his word, but doesn't deal with the lack of evidence of actual discrimination prior to Tarrlok's stunning dick move.
So my argument is "no" and "yes" to both a) and b): There are social issues with benders and non-benders, I just don't think it's as simple as benders being oppressors and non-benders being oppressed. I think the non-bender situation in United Republic became a problem because the country failed on two fronts: First, its government failed to fulfill its role, and second, United Republic failed to cohere into an actual community where people take care of each other.
In response to this lack of protection and community people started banding together for mutual benefit and defense, and originally they probably grouped together by origin much like real-life immigrant groups, regardless of bending and non-bending. But then national identities became less important as time went on and bending power seems to have replaced national origin, to the extent you have the the Triple Triad gangs composed of benders often working together. With the old ties of nationality gone and no coherent United Republic identity to replace them, benders were left with no reason to respect or protect non-benders and their physical advantage ran amok. Worse, Republic City's government failure meant there were no effective restraints on such power.
This view of non-benders in Republic City, left out in the cold without either private or public protection, would explain why even well-off non-benders like the Mrs. Sato could be murdered and presumably get no justice if Hiroshi Sato's rage is any indication. The government wasn't functioning well enough, and as non-benders they didn't have the support and protection of an organization like one of the Triple Triad gangs. That is why Amon's story, even though it wasn't true for Noatok himself, evidently resonated with the huge crowd that came to see him.
We see other evidence that the government in UR is weak while the gangs provide some form of social services and opportunities: There is evidently no safety net for orphans like Mako and Bolin, but Mako was able to support himself and his brother for a while by working in the Triads. And it wasn't even necessarily illegal work, showing that the bender gangs are about more than crime--though there's plenty of that too, of course. I'm also willing to bet that pro-bending, where Mako and Bolin eventually found themselves, has really deep ties to the bending gangs.
I think the Equalists arose as a response to this social need of non-benders for protection and support structures. What is more, in an age of technological development the Equalists proved that non-benders have the means and resources to demand justice and power. The Equalists may be gone but the problem won't go away unless someone (hint hint, the Avatar) really grapples with the problems of government and community failure. I hope Book 2 will deal with those issues, though I've kind of lost hope at this point.