PUNCHLINE MAN!

but the racial insensitivity is staggering. and i wanna talk about the amount of exploiting there is of south asian culture specifically. i’m south asian, indian specifically, and i grew up watching this show that was supposed to be “different” and “inspiring” for people of colour.

except there were little to no characters with dark skin who had importance and were explicitly made out to be south asian. that was fine. i was used to not seeing characters on television who looked like i did. except this show used my culture. they used my culture and they couldn’t even bother putting in good characters who looked like they remotely belonged to that culture, even if they were minor and not part of the gaang.

first of all, the show has a lot of influence from Hinduism—the word avatar (avatāra) itself means “descent” in Sanskrit, referring to the incarnation of a deity in human form. where did Hinduism originate?

indus valley, or what we now call pakistan, a south asian country. the entire concept of chi or prana, as it is referred to as in Hinduism, is a reoccurring theme in atla; your vital energy, your spiritual energy. this is another one of the religion’s influences on the show.

atla also talks about the seven chakras. this is another concept from Hinduism, and in the religion, they must always be unblocked for your prana (the term from Hinduism) or chi (the Chinese term which is used the show) to flow smoothly. chi is your life energy.

so. guess who helps aang out with his chakras?

right. this guy. the only blatantly south asian character we’ve gotten so far, and you wanna know why it’s so blatant? because he’s literally an indian stereotype. he’s the only obviously south asian character so far in the show and he’s a racist portrayal of enlightened practitioners of Hinduism. great.

oh, and before i forget—

do their foreheads look familiar? oh yeah, that’s because it’s literally copied off of this:

this is Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction. they used a religious symbol in Hinduism to make a couple characters look cool. well, combustion man and p’li both have these third eyes, so we can assume they are at least south asian coded—but what are their characters like?

villains. unhinged. insane. we don’t even know combustion man’s name—we just know he’s a contract killer who would murder a child for the right price. p’li wants to dismantle all forms of government and let the world reign free in chaos, and finally she is given a horribly grotesque death: she gets her head blown off.

for all of the culture references that are important pieces of this show, you’d think there’d be an area that has south asian people. there isn’t one. i’m not going to speak about the other loads of racism in atla because i don’t belong to those cultures, but here’s my two cents.

*and combustion man is gross, appropriative and racist no matter how you swing it lol. shiva may be the “god of destruction” but he is not meant to be evil/an assassin - he destroys the bad parts of the world. it’s literally bare minimum research. and this is not a forgotten god, he is a religious figure who is actively worshipped. white men do not get to bastardize him for fun. 

look, ATLA is a product of its time. it does many good things. but we can’t just sit here and pretend it’s the “gold standard for representation in cartoons” when it’s just,,,,not.

i want to specifically talk about the whole concept of the avatar in this show. we know several things about the avatar in general

they are the balance between the spirit world and the human world

all avatars share the same soul, just lead different lives

they maintain peace and uphold justice and try to keep the seesaw of good and bad in the human world from tipping too far into evil

this whole concept is lifted directly from the Hindu god, Vishnu. Vishnu is the most powerful of the holy trinity because he is the preserver of life. one of the most famous aspects of his mythology is the “dasha avatara” or the ten avatars, wherein he is reincarnated ten times into the human world (he’s reincarnated a lot more but those are the most important), and each time, it’s to fulfill a need and restore balance to the world, just like the avatar in ATLA is supposed to do

ATLA lifted its bedrock from Hinduism, and the fact that the only south asian “representation” in it is bastardized, racist, & completely unacknowledged, is incredibly insulting

this episode was so precious and my face hurts from how hard i laughed and how much i was smiling so here’s some silly faces so u can hurt ur face too

bonus: 

cameo by staff our boys’ Breakthrough Award :’)

brick : *is actually inside*

svt :

To looking like this:

THE AUDACITY OF THESE TWO 😤😤

SHUA DAY [D-DAY]

Thank you for being the source of not only mine but every Carat around the world’s happiness. Happy birthday, my world star. Hope you feel loved on your special day and have the best one. Always smile. Love you, forever and always, Joshua.  To more beautiful Sunday Mornings with you, 태어나줘서 고마워 🚀💫

She told me that story after a man came in and asked for when an employee, who recently quit, would be coming in. I told him she doesn’t work here anymore and he said to me “Okay, well I’m her dad so if you see her tell her I’ll be across the street at the gas station.” He left and my boss IMMEDIATELY came out and scolded me for it, then told me that story.

She gave me some advice on what to say or do in that situation:

Don’t just deny knowing anything, deny the person asking. Example, “When is ____ coming in?” “You can’t know that information.” or “Can you tell me when ____’s shift is?” “Schedules are only for employees.” Additionally, saying “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” can usually work, it may piss them off but it can work.

Continue on with the customer service. “I can’t help you with that, do you need help (with clothes, finding a product, ordering)?” or “Can I take your order?/Can I help you find (a product)?”

If they persist, insist they leave the store. “If you’re not going to order, please leave the building.” or “I can’t help you, have a nice day.” and, if you can, leave. If you can’t leave, call for or help the next customer.

If they still persist (by now they may be aggressive), threaten to call the police on the basis of them becoming aggressive and refusing to leave the premises. Some people will leave at that point, others stay. When the police get there, explain the situation but still do NOT confirm the existence of the employee they’re looking for to the police until they have been escorted out of the area.

Regardless of if the customer know the employee’s name, description, or daily (not hourly) schedule, even if they look like the same race and claim to be family, you NEVER confirm the employee’s existence.

The only exceptions are if the employee tells you themself they’re expecting someone to come in for them (ASK FOR A DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON), and if you personally know who they are in relation to the employee. When anyone I know has to come in because I asked them to come in, I describe what they look like and what they usually wear. I go into deep descriptions, even including how they walk.

If youre in the US it is against federal law to give out anyones personal information (this includes numbers, names, and schedules) without writen and signed permission.