It was amazing, the episode feel like a cautionary tale of what can happen if you use knowledge for the wrong reasons This episode hits really hard though! It's one of my favourites
There's a Minecraft server called "The Uncensored Library" where people from countries with censored internets can often still access the most successful videogame in the world: Minecraft. They're able to read and contribute otherwise censored documents via text to the library which is then recorded and reviewed by Reporters Without Borders. Really cool stuff.
Alas even Americans are likely gonna need this when book bans start to become federal affairs and not state. Republican school board decisions don’t bode well if a republic controlled government (house, senate, president) emerges while the current BS culture war they’ve got going on is in their minds
@@CharlieQuartz and yet the newspaper articles which form the basis of our perception of reality regularly get lost, because we can’t find them in search engines anymore or the links break because of a restructuring of the site.
@@CharlieQuartz You still can, but those who actively seek knowledge always find ways to earn what they yearn. Your average Joe will believe corrupt politicians, media, and religious leaders if easily accessible knowledge (books) gets banned.
@@CharlieQuartz laws or not about stopping a behavior but punishing it. The book will still get out people will still read it and they will still be punished for reading it
That episode exposes the two ways knowledge dies. It can be destroyed (the more common version) or it can be buried. Wan Shi Tong wants to protect his knowledge but guarded knowledge is just as dead as if it was burned.
@@CharlieQuartz Does Wan allow her in his library? The last time he appears he still doesn't like humans especially those that are related to the avatar
Agreed. The Beifongs infantalized Toph because of her perceived helplessness, hired shady men to 'rescue' her when she ran away, and then Toph's father outright disown her when she wouldn't be his obedient daughter any more
Another thing libraries do is offer free entertainment. In a world where stories are increasingly locked behind subscriptions and pay-walls that you have to keep doing every single month, libraries offer stories without having to pay a big faceless corporation.
Fun fact about this, some public libraries even allow people to loan off video game consoles and sports equipment for a window of time. I’ve had one person who would loan a game to try it out, if liked it; would beat it, then return it within that window. It’s cost effective and allows for people who didn’t have access to that stuff to enjoy all sorts of media. Gotta love public libraries.
This is actually part of the reason why my personal library is as big as it is. Every time I hear about another book being censored or altered, I try to get my hands on a copy. Physical media is a great way to cement not just multiple and diverse ideas, but also it helps show us what the past was really like. The history books I collect do a great job of showing how perspective has changed over the last century and it's fascinating to observe. Also, yes, support your local libraries. That just makes information more available to everyone.
Be very careful of your reactionary practices. You may just preserve a toxic idea that was better left to the pyre. Learn _why_ people are trying to censor something. Don't be like one of those foolish activists that opposed the forced extinction of the smallpox virus.
YES! This is exactly me. Same thing. History books, science books, (auto)biographies, the social sciences. Crazy how things change and are either omitted or just fall through the cracks of time.
An observation i noticed when i first watched the episode was that Wan Shi Tong does not value practical knowledge. When Sokka presented him with a knot Wan called Sokka stupid. We know that isn't the case, but because he wasn't presented with a book or scroll on theory or thoughts he dismissed Sokka as an idiot.
That moment is particularly brilliant because one of the places the Water Tribes take inspiration from is Polynesia. Traditionally, Polynesian voyaging canoes are held together almost entirely by knotwork. If you wanted to be a wayfinder, you had to know how to tie knots so well that they could literally hold your boat together for a thousand miles in seawater. So for Sokka, knowing fancy knotwork is not just a basic survival skill, it's crucial to the advancement of his culture and society. And Wan Shi Tong either doesn't realize this or doesn't care. Like everyone else, he underestimates Sokka. And like most everyone else, he pays for it later.
Also he doesn't want his knowledge to be used. He values the idea of knowledge and the impressiveness of such a large stock but if you try to use it he locks it away. Granted the Gaang wanted information to defeat the Fire Nation but you could make the argument that anything learned in the Library can be used to either help or harm. The final piece that turns the tide in the war (The Lion Turtle) was learned about in the Library so if Aang had said "maybe I can try to find a Lion Turtle in the Spirit World and ask for help" would Won Shi Tong had sunk the Library
He didn't give him any way to learn from it. If I give you a chessboard, that's not really a piece of knowledge. But if I write down all the moves the pieces can make, and that the game ends when you take the king, then it's something that people can learn from. He was also not very impressed with aang's poster, because that's also more of an artifact that needs additional explanation. But he can just whip up a sign, and voila, a new artifact for his library. The other two are appreciated because libraries have multiple editions of written works. If he adds instructions to the knot, it's not going to be different than any records of that knot he has in the library and HE'D have to make it. But it's also a kid's show, and they need a joke. Plus they were put on the spot to come up with a contribution.
One of the things people forget about libraries is that they are one of the few public places you can go with no expectation of you paying to justify your being there. Almost anywhere else the first thing they'll ask you is if you're a customer
@@tiph3802Places outside of home, work and school, where you can engage on social activities and casually build networks, or just enjoy other leisurely things, like bars, clubs, malls, cafes, churches, libraries, etc
@@tiph3802home is place1. A store or work is place2. A hangout spots like a beach or library are known as place 3. Restaurants and parks used to be also considered place 3s but they've become hostile. As shown by them kicking those out that they decide"don't belong" Parks split benches in half and add spikes everwhere making them anti homeless, making them look like a prison, and restaurants are now stripped of color,
@@tiph3802i realized that doesn't exactly explain. Place 1. Is home Place 2. Is school, it grades/Asks something of you Place 3. Is Recess, not to many expectations placed on you, just relax. Most governments try to strip away a place 3. So your more reliant on 2 and 1 Now our place 3. Is phones and libraries.
Mistrust those who wish to ban or burn books. Mistrust those who seek to bar the flow of knowledge. For those that want an uneducated population want one that is easy to control.
Don’t ban history books, or opinion books. That being said, some books be nasty. My mom is on a school board and there’s straight up teen porn in literary form out there. I think it’s a rule that we don’t ban non fiction books.
@@rayeiswriting4372 Fiction should not be banned either. Some of the most valuable banned books are fiction. Books like "The Handmaid's Tale" or "1984" act as dire warnings for what society can become if we allow our freedoms to be stolen from us, and those warnings are most effective in the realm of fiction. Even "nasty" books shouldn't be banned, in my opinion, though it would be a good idea to make sure they are sorted in the right place and have proper labels letting people know what's in them. But honestly, teens already can find all kinds of nasty stuff on the internet.
@Dachusblot I'm of the opinion that there are some books that cannot justify their continued existence. The works of Karl Marx, for instance, have led to more deaths and human suffering in the 20th Century alone than all the other religions or political ideas in all of human history combined. Despite the _MONUMENTAL_ failures of socialism and it's various branches, there are idiots today who _still_ want to implement it under the tired excuse of "well they simply didn't get it right; if we do it _this_ time, we'll succeed!" I'm sorry, but some ideas are just too demonstrably harmful to the human race to be allowed to continue.
@@Thoralmir I have to disagree. There is no way Karl Marx has caused more strife than the Bible, Koran, or any other religious text has when misused. Also, we have yet to see an actual socialist country uncorrupted by greedy rulers afraid of losing their power. I doubt we ever will given human nature.
this is Avatar's worldbuilding at its peak. the fact Netflix essentially cut this episode before they even reached the season where it happens proves how little they understand about the genius of AtlA.
I don't think they 'don't understand', I think they have purposefully hindered Avatar's message. They understand and wish to profit of the franchise without spreading it's message.
@@intergalactic92 they put Won Shi Tong in season one and changed Zhao's discovery of the water spirits to not be in the library. it's pretty obvious they've cut it. or at the very least, they shot themselves in the foot really badly.
@@DogsandPenniesthink of it more like....being aware of your surroundings. Studying helps you learn book smarts. Being observant helps with street smarts. Both are important.
I read a paraprosdokian recently (think "Where there's a will... I want to be in it.") that is actually quite profound: "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad." Make of that what you will.
2:45 Maya Angelou wrote a book like this that spoke to women who had experienced SA or R*** to speak out against it and open society's eyes to 2 of the world's darkest truth Often the most powerful books are the ones that are silenced because the government and most of society is fearful of seeing "I know why the caged bird sings"
I really appreciate the comment on that no knowledge is a waste. As a drama student, and art-focused person, it is all too easy to watch others choose more “important” paths in life. And yet, I don’t want to leave mine.
Both my parents work for public libraries, a lot in the field of digitalisation. Making sure as many people as possible have access to books, newspapers, etc. It's a really cool job, imo. On the topic of access to dangerous knowledge: there are actually banned books that only some can access in the libraries my parents work at. In what is called the "Giftschrank" (poison shelf), there are books you have to get permission to read. Usually it's people researching the third Reich who read it. But even a lot of Nazi literature is publically available in Germany, even though many symbols of Naziism are illegal here.
@entropino9928 dude go touch grass and actually talk to a woman. Your ideas are shit and you're being lied to. Please get help. Call your mom, tell her you love her
@@Lack_Of_Interest Funny how they did not at all consider how many Nazi works are still legal. The works in the 'poison shelf' are really few. Even 'Mein Kampf' is legal to buy, it was only illegal for a long time because the state of Bavaria had the copyright and chose not to publish it until the copyright expired. There is even a very interesting annotated version with fact-checks and comments from researchers that made a wave when the copyright expired.
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Those who want to repeat it for the sake of power, eagerly want that knowledge to be lost. It's really upsetting.
When the son of our former dictator was running for presidency, tons of videos about how his father's oppressive rule was a lie by left-wing historians popped up online. That unfortunately worked and he's now our current president, we literally now recite his campaign slogan as a pledge before the flag.
Man makes history not as he wants but within his own limits. if you know your ship is sinking but you also know there’s no way to fix the hole and you also see that you have no lifeboats what benefit is the knowledge to you? There is no guarantee that any of the history you look at Will even be applicable either. Way better to look at Anthropologie or Sociology history for the most part is a propagandistic narrative
I like to unite "knowledge is power" with "with great power comes great responsibility" knowing is having a responsibility to act on it (haven't watched yet heh, also of course theres asterisks that come with that)
"the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting - no more - then it motivates one towards originality and instills the desire for truth." -Plutarch, On Listening to Lectures.
I love the Library episode. Books should never be banned. I don't trust anyone who wants to ban books and keep knowledge, no matter how seemingly insignificant it is, from the hands of others.
Here I am, listening as a german PhD Student at one of the largest libraries, building a library for online educational content - Thank you for this gift, greatly appreciated :)
I was briefly involved with a Baptist group, and we burned my friend's "objectable" comics, and toasted marshmallows over the blaze. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it was a sad chapter if my life.
@iselwyr5411 I started getting bored with the whole thing pretty quickly, but it was learning more of science and history that pulled me out completely. It actually almost drove a permanent wedge between me and my friend, but we've since learned to leave politics and religion out of our friendship.
I'm surprised that I didn't see any comparison of how the book burnings affected those keepers of knowledge. The theme of scars is a constant theme in the story of Zuko, and of the fire nation. From how Hama's water bending mimicks the scars of fire bending, to the scars of the people affected by the fire nation, to how the land itself is scared by the fire nation. Burning the library didn't just burn the books, it also burned Wan Shi Tong, in a way. His library being burned was the motivation for him to hide his knowledge away from the world. Burning knowledge didn't just burn the books, it also burned the curators of that knowledge. In that context, it's not just the library that's important to preserve, but also individual safety and freedom of people. Those books had to be written by someone. Things like harassing whistleblowers and punishing dissenting voices has a very chilling effect on how many people are willing to share their knowledge or stories with others. The more dangerous it is to share knowledge, the worse the world is.
People were stupid, sometimes. They thought the Library was a dangerous place because of all the magical books, which was true enough, but what made it really one of the most dangerous places there could ever be was the simple fact that it was a library. -Guards, Guards! (Terry Pratchet)
I still, to this day, love to use the phrase "I could spend an eternity in here" to describe somewhere I enjoy. This episode hit different, even when I was a kid, and that type of phrase can so easily describe sincerity.
Remember Churchill? Remember during WW2 when they said told him he should take the funding out of the arts to increase the pockets of the war effort. Remember what he answered? Probably not, but I'll tell you. Paraphrased, he said "then what the f*ck are we fighting this war for?!" And that sums everything up. Knowledge, the arts, that is the entirety of your culture. If you are ready to go to war against another human being, and even if you aren't, then remember why your decision matters.
In He-man and the Masters of the Universe the object in dispute is Castle Grayskull because it contains all the secrets of the universe, the knowledge of the Elders, etc. As Skeletor wisely said “books are the true treasures of the universe”
Libraries have power and sometimes libraries can also act as protectors of citizens. For extreme example, by removing some books, movies and serie from public access when their outdated language can be harmful, painful or traumatic for readers (such as containing banned words that can be considered racist). However, this is an extreme example of citizen protection that a library can do. And it is also up for debate whether this kind of protection is ethical or whether there is an attempt to conceal and hide the fact that something that is wrong now has been done in the past. For example, the Finnish public broadcasting company Yle has, for the past couple of years, gone through and cleaned its archives from Finnish media productions that would no longer be accepted and would be inappropriate to show to the public today. But because Yle renumbered the episodes of some old series so that viewers wouldn't ask for the missing episodes, this caused more backlash than the rough and problematic language of the removed and unlisted medias. Therefore many said that even though they don't approve of the use of banned words today, removing old media feels like a piece of history and story has been removed and have requested that the removed and unlisted medias should be returned to the media archive with a disclaimer, i.e. a warning statement. This tells about how difficult it is to draw a line about how much and how they should protect people.
It is not just great but a perfect example. The World Government wiped out an entire island's population because they researched and gained knowledge of the Void Century. And, as the recent arc revealed, the scholars managed to save that knowledge from destruction against all odds, and what they found was literally world-shaking.
And THIS is why it's such a horrible idea for the past lives to be lost. Knowledge is power. The Avatar had access to essentially a hard drive of the world's history via their past lives. The reason for this event makes it particularly egregious. They wanted Korra to be the focus. Not Aang. But you can do that without destroying his spirit. Or Roku's, or Yangchen's, or Kyoshi, or Kuruk. Think of how much Airbender knowledge is now lost. Think of what Korra could've learned about Dark Spirits from Kuruk, that is just gone. The past ALWAYS matters. To get rid of it is just bad writing. And it was never MEANT to happen as people say. Bryke made things up as the story went.
Also how they handled her losing all of those past lives was done terribly. It is barely mentioned and the gravity of that loss isn't really felt at all.
@MommahKat I think the better way was if korra herself had done it. She was very headstrong and thought she could take on the world alone. She was the Avatar who needed FRIENDS? Then she learns what a terrible mistake it was but can't take it back. Ruining things for every future Avatar after her. Imagine if the Earthbender Avatar wanted to talk to Kyoshi? Or maybe they need to figure out how to negotiate peace talks and need Aang's help? Gone. It would fit her personality and the theme of season 2 as well. But to make her a victim of circumstances that she actually could've avoided is so stupid.
@@TheRibottoStudios That's not "the better way", far from it. That'd be character assassination and absolutely horrible for the story and the character. I mean, where do you even get the idea that Korra would be so "headstrong" as to get rid of her connection to her past lives, when you led with complaining about how Korra losing that connection was a horrible idea to begin with? It reads more like you just hate Korra's character to the extent that your "better way" would just be something that validates your dislike of the character.
@Catalyst375 in season 2 she completely disregarded Tenzin and her father to trust her Uncle. It isn't out the realm of possibility to go her own way.
it's a very strongly held belief of mine that no information should ever be destroyed, and this includes dangerous information. Yes, Mein Kampf, or the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, or the Anarchist's Cookbook, are all dangerous, and that danger needs to be recognised. But I believe that these works are nonetheless important to understand. Without the knowledge of *why* these works cause danger, we condemn ourselves to lies and inevitable repetition of their sins.
It is difficult bordering impossible to formulate good out of thin air. Destruction of ideas that have done harm only means somebody will eventually think them up anew without being able to be convinced it was tried before and hurt a great many people. We must preserve it all. Every piece.
The last one is dangerous mainly due to how incorrect most of the information is. It is less dangerous to society at large and more dangerous to any fool who tries to use it.
according to your logic, an extremely well detailed book that teach about how to create a terrorist attack with details on tactica, homemade weapons and bombs an how to counter tactics used by the authorities like bugging and wire taping should be allowed (all of what I mentioned is usually known by intelligence agency so it's not like they would just forget about it)
@@eeg-rh7jv everybody should know how to counter "tactics used by authorities", especially bullsht like wiretapping and other such crap used in surveillance and police states. Fight back for your right to privacy and autonomy.
Knowledge isn't just power, but also morality. What people are told is moral and why determines what causes they're willing to fight for, so to limit their access to evidence to reasoning is to limit their ability to be truly moral. The only reason to want that is because you know noone would side with you if they were told the truth.
It is for no one to determine which ideas should exist. It is for everyone, the choice of which ideas to embrace. Don’t let anyone deny the existence of ideas for fear you would embrace them.
I recently got On Writing and Worldbuilding volumes 2 and 3, and they have been very helpful. I hope you'll do a fourth and a fifth one some day, but that will be some years from now.
@@eeg-rh7jv name one group of people who have tried to ban books that you think breaks this rule and I'll admit that this quote is a simplification. As it stands, this quote is about as objectively true as a subjective adjective can get
My local one is not technically free (I think), but since they haven't raised the fees for at least 20 years. Yeah pretty much free. 28€(~30$) per year. Even when I was a poor student 20 years ago I thought that was a good price. Oh, and there is a discounted rate of 50% for a lot of groups including students and people under 18. And depending on how you define it, technically you can use it for free. Because no one checks your library card before you try to borrow something. So reading stuff there might be officially free.
Speaking about fighting against Martial Law (something that ABSOLUTELY should be abolished everywhere), have you heard about that one Uncensored Library server in Minecraft that shares with the rest of the world what their government's around the world tried covering up? That server was actually upsetting government officials so much that they kept trying to ban the server but to no avail 🤣
I believe in the principle, that every book should be protected. If the content of the book is wrong and dangerous, then there should be a discussion about the content, an understanding how to handle the tings in this books and there also should be new books, who may dismantle this books, give counter-arguments... But there should NEVER be a destruction or censorship. Extremists of all kind always work on doing such things, because they lust for controll, but people must always fight again and again the fight against this creeping wrongs. (Sorry fort my english, but i am german speaking).
@@entropino9928liers hate all sort of things For example a record of what they have said Fact checking They like when people cheer on and belive anything they say Becose if people didnt then they wont have any power?
As someone who recently got into libraries via Libby and learned the unfortunate cost of ebooks for libraries through that, this is a great video. Libraries are so, so, so important and the fact that they're getting their fundings cut is such a travesty.
Fantasy stories are like a kaleidoscope. They both reflect and refract our world into new forms, but also remind us why all art is inherently political. All art is based on the vision of the culture we live in, and so reflect the values of the author. When I seek out queer fiction, I want to learn how people like me can be a part of these worlds, how my identity is part of this creative process, questioning why cishet white people are required to be the default setting for characters. Queer folks like me have as much power in imagination as any cis person, and it always warms my heart to feel a part of that.
Hearing you hype up the owl reminded me of how I felt about that spirit prior to seeing him be made a fool of in Korra. Sort of undermines a rewatch and I’d say this happens a lot more than this one time.
Hey. letting you know that, do to the translation and historie. Leafs from the Vine has a slightly diffrent meaning in german. And the german VA for Iroh also died shortly after. And that man was born into war. I watch ATLA in both german and english. And the german version has some sparks that the original doesn't have.
Heilige Scheiße, Du hattest Recht! Die Blätter 'verglühen' auf Deutsch. I've only watched it in English before. Are there any other ATLA scenes with similar translation differences that you can specifically remember and point me to? Greetings from Berlin, from the child of a librarian!
The books being banned for children in that context are of no value to anybody. They are degenerate nonsense made by pedos and groomers. It's like getting agitated that Mein Kampf is being removed from children's libraries.
Every time I hear people talk about banning books with LGBTQ characters, I think about King of the Wind. King of the Wind, for those who don't know, is a Newbery-winning children's historical novel from the 1950s about an Arabian horse and the Moroccan boy who cares for him. I read it as a sheltered (supposedly) white kid growing up in a mostly white, mostly Christian US suburb. Agba, the boy in the book, was the first Muslim person I encountered, in fiction or reality, and he was introduced in the context of observing Ramadan, a religious tradition I knew nothing about. While the book was written by a white woman in the 1950s, she made an effort to get Agba's historical and cultural context mostly right. I was a senior in high school when 9/11 happened. Suddenly, half my class was planning to enlist, most of them because they wanted to kill the people they blamed for the attacks. The TV and radio were full of "experts" talking about how barbaric and inhuman Muslims were. And I remember being the odd one out, the one who never quite got in step with the people around me, because I kept thinking, "But what about Agba?" I knew he was fictional, but I also knew he had been written as a pretty normal boy with normal thoughts and feelings. He was hungry during a fast. He worried about an animal he loved. He was happy when he could do the things he liked best. The author had clearly done research on 18th-century Morocco. Wouldn't she have noticed if it had been full of inhuman monsters? It was just enough cognitive dissonance that, even in an era before everyone was constantly online, I was able to avoid getting caught up in the social currents that eventually swept most of my peers in that school into a far-right cult. All because, at age 9, I read a book about a horse that happened to have a little boy named Agba in it. I see why so many parents don't want their kids reading books that happen to have LGBTQ characters in them. I also see why it's so very important that those parents not get what they want.
I love the fantasy trope that magic is limited to a person's imagination... because that is the point. Humans are and always have been slaves to the limits of our own imaginations both individually and as a group. And while we are capable of imaging some pretty wild things, we are often limited to what we are exposed to. Until the internet, books were the cheapest and easiest way to expand our exposure to things beyond basic farming and substance living. Audio, video, and the internet have expanded this ability to preserve and distribute information. And in a great many respects generative AI is just the next step in that process. The idea that AI giving stupid answers like ice sinking to the bottom of water proves how bad it is misunderstands the past critique of every other knowledge medium in existance, and just how bad media literacy is. Yes, it gives some amazingly bad answers... as do most books, and most websites, and most people. Maintaining the body of knowledge is of extreme importance... but actually reading and understanding the body of work, and context around it, and sussing out the helpful from the 'less than helpful' information in any given medium is a muscle that needs to be exercised. We should never seek to ban knowledge, or stop opinion... these are core beliefs that should be preserved because hindering them will also silence new discoveries and truths yet to be told or understood. But we do need to figure out how to put it into context too. What the Nazis did to the Jews was evil, and one would think that we wouldn't need to paint it in an evil light because the evil of it is plain on the face of it... but many didn't view it as being 'that evil', so stories of Nazis flooded media as being cartoonish villians when the reality was so much more subtle. Hitler was more like a Putin or Trump with high charisma and a personal adjenda to pursue above any other care or concern than being like some literal devil. But we have lost the media literacy to see that... and its more than a bit disturbing. Rather than a pursuit of knowledge, people believe what is expedient, or tribal, or religious, or easy. We limit our scope and imagination to be exclusively what we want to believe, which silos us into echochambers jails that we cannot break free of. Knowledge is power, yes. But only because it powers our imaginations to see things outside of ourselves.
The Owl’s hatred of humans is still the most hilarious thing to me. You realize that without humans you wouldn’t have any books and scrolls to steal in the first place, right?
Knowledge is power and libraries hold knowledge, that‘s why Idaho has a new law that says, children under 18 can‘t go to the library by themselves anymore, since they could see books that could be inappropriate (and parents have to sign a paper everytime their child wants to go to a library with them) and parents are allowed to tell the libraries which books should be banned from there.
knowledge should be free by all means, thats one of the marvels of the digital era and piracy, instead of cherishing this information, its all being lost behind copyright laws that privatize and remove it everyday.
Although it can be 'abused with wikis', I wish more games used knowledge as a reward. I've been trying out Noita, a wizard roguelite, I don't think there are any carryover upgrades from one life to another. You can unlock spells through exploration and progression but you still start with the same junk at the start of every run. You just figure out how things interact with each other. Where to find guaranteed drops, how to safely kill bosses. How to break the game without blowing yourself up. The biomes to explore for loot and the ones you should probably avoid without a proper purpose.
I'd suggest trying Outer Wilds (if you haven't already) for a game where knowledge is the reward. There aren't any upgrades, leveling up, or items required to progress; it's all about learning things and using that knowledge to piece together mysteries and discover secrets.
This video reminds me of something else relating to ATLA. A couple of years ago I conceptualised a fanfic depicting the next Avatar after Korra (like a lot of other people, I know) but this version would start in a very grim tone. Of an Avatar that, after only being identified later in life and forced to a brutal training regimen by an eldery Jinora, lost hope for a world torn apart by corporate greed, extremist groups trying to revive Sozins ideals and a looming apocalypse as the Spirit World is detaching itself from the physical world. And where did the Avatar flee to? Wan Shi Tongs library, offering the last chance to record every last record of the physical world with computers and the internet (It is set 50 years after Season 4) before it is all gone in exchange for sanctuary in the library. Of course, I didn't intend to write it in full because I don't have good enough writing skills to do the story justice but this point can say a lot about how writings are a way to preserve something long after it's gone. After all, how else would we have known about Ea-Nasirs tomfoolery with the copper trade?
So I am writing a story and this gave me lot to think about. The mage association in it is based in an enormous library (literally just called the great library) not just of magic tomes but knowledge of all sorts. Yes, their primary focus is the study of magic, and that is the biggest section, but it is, at its core, a library. I need to think more about what that says about the organization as a whole and also what the fact that the upper levels of the library being restricted to members with considerable achievement in good standing means. The upper floors are mostly magic tomes deemed to dangerous to the user but the people who assign books where are human, they could easily put books they do not like in restricted floors for political purpose. It makes me think about the motives of those who run it and especially the chairwoman.
Interesting then that most of these book "bans" (usually blocking the use of library funds to buy these books but not always) in school libraries, i.e. not adults.
It's an absolute disgrace that there are those here in the US engaging in that same deplorable behavior that we fought against only a few generations ago. I'm staring at own bookshelves, now wonder about my personal library being its own bastion of knowledge, and how some of what it contains might no longer be found in public circulation.
The republicans litteraly want to defund the department of education They are already banning books The future of the us is in a slippery slope in my opinion
I think the ironic thing for me personally is, librarys are how I first watched Avatar the last Airbender. My mom would take my brother and I to our local library when we were little and we would pick out books and movies from the kids section. Avatar wasnt the only thing my brother and I pick out obviously its how i watched a lot of the Pokemon movies too but, I distinctly remember us checking out the dvd/Blu-ray set out a few times and I just stitting in aw as I'd rewatch the first couple episodes over and over again.
As a librarian I appreciate this video but also: please consider archivists. Especially when we talk about preserving knowledge and keeping knowledge over long time, Archivists are the true heros in this area.
Banning books is banning knowledge. It’s not right, at least in my opinion, to prohibit other people from absorbing information because YOU personally feel threatened or offended by it. There’s such things as not buying or viewing the media. Ignorance should not be perpetuated by the policies set in place by a library themselves, and we shouldn’t expect them to. In conclusion, the freedom to gain knowledge shouldn’t be limited by others, but by one’s own willingness to learn more. I kind of focused on the real world references more than the ATLA stuff you talked about, lol. Great video
Thank you so much, Tim! As a librarian who has a deep desire to defend "forbidden knowledge" that even I don't agree with and fears those who wish to destroy them, it's wonderful to see someone with power standing up and reminding the population of what they have here... and what they could potentially lose to greedy politicians and people who wish to destroy our "forbidden knowledge"
This always reminds me of the Ps2 game, cause I played the Avatar game for Book 2 so many times that actually the stuff I remember most in the season is mostly just the stuff that was touched on by the game 😂. Even though I've seen the show a hundred times too.
We've been tricked! We thought this was going to be nerding out about Avatar, but it ended up being a treatise on the importance of public libraries in society. And also nerding out about Avatar.
This was the first episode I watched (all the way through) as a kid. I recorded it and watched it over and over. We didn't have whatever channel ATLA aired on, so I treasured it and became a huge fan without understanding any of the story that came before.
Just like the crossbow was The pope (i thinkvit was the pope i dont remeber well) even banned them Why ? Becose it let the avarige person to take down the best trained and equiped soulders with easy and with almost no training
Which is why most oppressors suppress and manipulate it as one of their first moves toward gaining control. Intentionally incorrect (or partially incorrect, or poorly framed, or misleading) knowledge can make people do (or not do) all kinds of things they'd never dream of if they knew the truth.
First: I think they could have done a better job with this episode. Won Shi Tong comes off simply as a villain. Sokka's cause is righteous. He's not trying to destroy the fire nation, he's trying to end their stranglehold on the rest of the world. This episode could have been more interesting if Sokka maybe did desire vengeance and his intentions weren't entirely wholesome. Then the spirit could have called him out for it and there could have been a lesson learned. As it is, Won Shi Tong doesn't like the way others play, so he took his toys and left. Secondly: to those equating the Nazis book burnings with some American parents not wanting GRAPHIC SEXUAL content in their elementary kids' school libraries, get your heads examined. I am all for the freedoms of adults to have access to any kind of content they want, but it's a parent's first job and their right to protect their kids from what they see as harmful. Raise your kids how you want and let others do the same.
Im pretty satisfied with the idea. the fact that even though we do know the gaang's cause is righteous, wa shi tong only sees it as another person justify themselves why they are the good guys . He already mention even before zhao came, the library was already been extensively visited just because of gaining advantage of over the other nation so why should the gaang's (in his eyes) be any different?
@@raden1287 It's still problematic for me because Won Shi Tong could have taken the time to investigate the team's intentions. But I can see your point.
@@oathswornYou are a Nazi and your side has publicly burned LGBT books. The first books burned by Nazis were LGBT books. You fascists lost before, you will lose again. You will not silence us a second time.
Katara isn't just the last of her people in a way, she's one of the two only confirmed southern waterbenders in existence. She is literally the last, she was born last and if she'd never learned to bend it probably would have died with her in the southern pole. She was the last waterbender in the south, no question. A huge part of her heritage would have been completely lost with her death
In counterpoint, I present this quote from the works of H.P. Lovecraft: “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”
While I do like to think of this quote in regards to technologies like nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence, it’s impossible to escape the reality that Lovecraft would have directed his ire to the evils of air conditioning and television - due to their subversion of the proper order of society. He was afraid the influence of other cultures and peoples would dilute and weaken his own, which was basically the fear that his bigoted biases would be challenged.
As a German, I have to ask: How did you come across the German title of the episode? Because now I can't help but imagine you randomly rewatching ATLA episodes in various languages, which is no problem since you know every line anyway :-P
It's important to note that what some alarmists have shouted is "book banning!" are simply measures to keep obscene or otherwise inappropriate materials out of MINORS' hands, and NOT to destroy or erase said books from existence. Several school board meetings have prohibited the content of such controversial books from being displayed or read aloud by concerned parents, as the contents were suddenly deemed "inappropriate" for the meeting. And yet, such books were somehow _acceptable_ for minors? Certainly, the banning of works like _Handmaid's Tale_ , _1984_ , or even (ludicrously) _To Kill A Mockingbird_ , is silly and should be called out as such. But not all "book bannings" are the same. Use your noggin, and do your homework, before shouting an alarmist opinion.
wonderful vid, you touched on even more than id noticed on many a rewatch of this ep and reacts of it :3 I also love how you tied things to current circumstances too
As my mom says “If someone bans a book that is the book you must read” because if a book is banned that means there is information that people don’t want you to know.
Fuck- I love this message. You always manage to make seemingly banal Avatar trivia interesting. Precisely because you put into words what‘s so special about that piece of an episode/ trivia. I‘ve seen the empty library in Berlin (live in Germany) And I kind of loathe how so many pieces of the holocaust have blended into everyday affairs nowadays. Most monuments are right there, in the public‘s eyes. And I think that this is important. But you also tend to forget what they represent. I didn‘t think about the empty library anymore (my trip to Berlin was over 10 years ago). Thanks for reminding me
This is an interesting list. Batman and Tyrion's main superpowers are being rich enough to both have the knowledge in the first place and the luxury of using it for whatever they feel like pursuing, Gandalf *is magic*, and Walter's knowledge turned him into a villain and got him killed.
Heard that it was Aristotle that said storytelling is the most easily corruptible form of art. All values are not equal. So what happens when lies and propaganda are intentionally put into libraries in order to obtain a foothold into rewriting history into a lie? Is it integrity to preserve propaganda or is it integrity to reject it's collection?
Preserve it in context. If the author gives only one side, then tell people why they did that. Preserve the other stories too. Preserve dissent, oral histories, and "about the author" information. (Historians will thank you for that in a 100 years.)
Media competence or literacy. Don't know if that's the correct english term. But everybody should learn how to put any piece of information they read, watch, hear, etc into context and reflect its value for oneself through that. Thus, the more books exist more context exists. If a systems tries to flood information pools with propaganda, having a large pool to pull from to evaluate the validaty of said misinformation is paramount. And after we effectively defused the misinformation it can be put into perspectives.
Hey Tim? Thank you for this video. I was initially planning on going into history for my career, but after some roadblocks it looks like I'll be a librarian instead. I already love love library work, but I was feeling sad over the change in goals. What you had to say cuts right to the quick on why I love my job; I love helping people learn, to better themselves, to gain knowledge that helps them physically and mentally. That reminder is making me feel reinvigorated about this new course in my life. Thank you.
I love the passion and reverence you show here and the overall emphasis on how the themes in the episode relate to our real world. How important it is to protect knowledge and preserve power for ourselves and for others.
I heard of a school in Florida when they tried to have all the books banned because of New Republican censorship. It's really not going well there. It makers me the way more happy to live in Denmark.
@@lasseehrenreich5502 All of the books in Florida are still available to read and purchase and share. No books were banned, obscene pornographic books were only curated from public libraries where children had access to them. That's not a book ban, that's common sense.
@@vossboss220 Pornorgraphic books in a public library? Were they not in an adult section? If not, why not move them there instead of banning them? And from your explanation they were banned--banned from the "public libraries where children had access to them"; your wording is oddly organized . . . hmmm.
This video came by just as I was trying to think of a topic for my English Class' presentation. I think I know what I want to talk about now. Thanks, Tim!
Hay Tim Love your work mate! I'm so excited to get into your 3rd On writing and world building. Just wondering when or if it will be on audible. Thanks
