"Long Live the Queen" - Red Lotus and anarchism

To think that I thought that shit went down last week. (I mean, it did, but it does not quite compare with this week's episode - Book 3, Episode 10 "Long Live the Earth Queen.")

Do I even need to tell you that there will be spoilers?

After the Red Lotus gives the Earth Queen Mako and Bolin in exchange for Korra when she arrives, they hear that the ship carrying Korra crashed in a desert, and they know that there is no way that Korra would be able to be caught again. They go into the throne room and the Earth Queen threatens to imprison them. Then Zaheer says another badass anarchist quote:

"I don't believe in queens. You think freedom is something that you can give or take on a whim, but to your people, freedom is just as essential as...air, and without it, there is no life. There is only...darkness."

(For some reason, I feel like I need to clear up that the way I punctuated this is actually different than from how it is punctuated with captions. I wanted Zaheer's speaking style to show.)

I also changed punctuation for this to make it more visually-appealing.

Answer the timeless question: is freedom essential to the human condition?

After the Earth Queen's assassination, Zaheer announces to Ba Sing Se that they are now free, and lets out the Queen's prisoners. Ghazan tears down the walls that separate the levels of the city, and we see civilians eagerly rushing towards areas they had never seen before. Next thing we know, looters and rioters are wreaking havoc on the city.

Seriously, hopefully I am not the only one who found parallels.

I guess that would make Mako the Dark Knight.

I have always wanted to write about the walls of Ba Sing Se that separate the levels from each other, and use it to illustrate real-life examples, such as gated communities and Brasil. While I am critical of the divisions, which most likely contribute to the socioeconomic inequality, I realized I had not given thought to the idea of immediately bringing them down before.

Do you believe that lawlessness like that would exist in real life if walls separating different classes of people (that these people grew up with) were brought down? Remember that they are also being encouraged by Bane...er, I mean Zaheer and the Red Lotus. Or would it be as realistic as The Purge?

This speculation got me wondering about Murray Rothbard's "button to end the state" - the gist being if there was a button that ended all the states everywhere, would you push it? You do not necessarily have to believe in anarchism, just in the idea that governments as we know them are over-inflated and that there is no way to bring their power down to a reasonable level with the political processes already in existence.

Personally, I would not push the button. You?

A friend of mine wrote this - it was commentary on a speaker we were listening to, but I forgot what exactly the speaker was talking about:

"To be clear hesitation to press Rothbard's Button can arise from more than just fear of a new, more tyrannical state. It can also come from the desire to see gradualist policies to help make a more peaceful transition to a "stateless" society while also helping to establish a social and economic order that would be conducive to a horizontal, equitable, and free society."

I guess my point is that what the Red Lotus has done to Ba Sing Se is evidence that pushing the button is a bad idea.

EDIT: Michelangelo Landgrave wrote a response to this.

Do you believe what the Red Lotus did to Ba Sing Se was bad? (I do.)

Should Zaheer have killed the Earth Queen? (I do not think so. Then again, I make a terrible violent revolutionary. I feel like it is going to end up like one of those kid shows or movies when we see the character a little bit later, just injured.)

I think we can all agree that the Earth Queen was out-of-line. Are any libertarians still non-interventionist after watching Book 3?

What could have been some better alternatives to liberate Ba Sing Se?

Red Lotus = anarchists of "Korra"

Whoaaaa, Book 3, Episode 9 of Korra - "The Stakeout" ...shit went down.

I thought it would be ones of those episodes where nothing really happened, and I guess that was what the first half of the episode was kind of like. After that, just wow.

If my brilliant writing skills in this particular post have not awed you by now, let me touch upon the anarchist themes that have emerged within the show. DO NOT FEAR - there will be very few spoilers. Actually, if you have not watched this episode by now, shame on you!

While in the Spirit World, Zaheer and Korra have a Q&A session...

Zaheer discloses to Korra that the Red Lotus, which he and his friends are a part of, is a secret society "dedicated to restoring freedom to the world"  and it was "what the White Lotus was meant to be."

For those who do not know, the Order of the White Lotus was formed as a secret society to receive and share knowledge, transcending national and political boundaries. Their members trained Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka, and helped to stop the Fire Nation from conquering the world.

Zaheer explains that after the Hundred Year War, members of the White Lotus came out of hiding and publicly served the avatar as "glorified bodyguards" who served corrupt nations. The Red Lotus, led by Xai Bau, broke off from the White Lotus.

He mentions that "bringing the spirits back should only be the beginning" and goes on further with the notion that "the idea of having nations and governments is as foolish as keeping the human and spirit realms separate."

This Zaheer backs up by trying to appeal to Korra by saying, "You have had to deal with a moronic president and a tyrannical queen. don't you think the world would be better off if leaders like them were eliminated?"

Korra declares that she may not agree with those leaders' choices, but that does not believe that getting rid of the world leaders will do any good, and that it is no reason in itself to do so.

Zaheer continues with his examples of corrupt leaders citing how the Fire Nation attacked Air Nation because of their selfish ruler.

Then he says probably the most anarchist quote ever from both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra.

How could I resist?

Korra points out that that would not bring about balance, but throw the world into chaos. Zaheer replies with, "The natural order is disorder."

"New growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old." He reveals that this quote was uttered by none other than Guru Laghima, an airbender. This actually remind me of "Winter Solstice (1): The Spirit World" - Book 1, Episode 7 - of A:TLA, when Aang learns that without the burning down of the old forest, the new seeds could not sprout.

Do you think Zaheer is taking this quote out-of-context? or was there actually an anarchist airbender?

"WE NEED A VIOLENT REVOLUTION TO UPHOLD OUR IDEALS OF LIBERTY AND EQUALITY!! Except not actually violent. I don't really want to kill anybody, and hopefully none of you want to either. By talking things out, meditating, and maybe an occasional rally, we could really get shit done!"

Kind of sounds like me...

Throughout history, we have seen factions of groups form after disagreements over authority, practices, etc. By the way Zaheer describes things (just by listening to his side of the story), I do not blame his resentment towards the White Lotus. It is the White Lotus' mission to preserve ancient knowledge, but if they changed it solely to serving the avatar, their reasons for forming in the first place are lost. In Book 3, Episode 8 - "Winter Solstice (2): Avatar Roku" - we learn that the Sages once served the avatar, but within the period of the War, they pledged their allegiance to the Fire Lord. When the organization forgets the purpose for its existence, it can easily fall down a slippery slope. While we can hope that there is no evil avatar, would it not be naive to believe that it can never happen? Would members of the White Lotus be able to realize it despite their blind loyalty?

I do not get how the Red Lotus' dreams of reuniting the Spirit World and real word and the overthrowing of corrupt governments came to be. Was this already an argument within the White Lotus? When saying that the avatar served corrupt nations, he seemed to be hinting that some members within the White Lotus had already noticed that before the split. How did the whole Spirit World idea become to be?

What I love about A:TLA and Korra is that their storylines and characters are not always so black-and-white as most cartoons can be. Zuko didn't turn out so bad, amiright? During Book 2, Korra realized that Unalaq was right to an extent when saying that spirits and mortals have no reason to be separated from each other. Now that the two realms are not completely isolated from the other, the Red Lotus is keen on displaying their middle fingers to the state...which involves kidnapping Korra.

In Book 3, Episodes 3 and 4 - "The Earth Queen" and "In Harm's Way" - I joked that the Earth Queen is reason enough to justify an International Criminal Court. Korra felt that the Queen had no right to treat her citizens in that manner, but Bumi pointed out that she does have the right. Bumi is correct, of course, since the Earth Queen is, well, the queen of Ba Sing Se. However, one does have to question why one person is even given the authority to rule over thousands of civilians. As we can see, tyranny is easily achievable with such a form of government, but how about with a democracy of sorts?

Like Republic City? Zaheer does not fail to mention the president of that land, calling him "moronic," which is better than being called "tyrannical." Even when elected (or so we can presume), the leader(s) of a people cannot seem to rule intelligently. We should keep in mind what Plato (or even what a Wikipedia article) has to say on the shortcomings of democracy.

Could there be a compromise made? Like, "Let's just get rid of the bad leaders!" The problem is how do you get around doing that? Especially through the Red Lotus' eyes? Should leaders be elected? Appointed? Be chosen through their bloodline? Just because there was once a great king or queen does not mean it will always be so. Can we trust the public to elect good-hearted and smart leaders, especially through the test of time? There may be a generation of politically-aware citizens, but then the next generation may only see the superficial results of self-serving politicians. It seems Zaheer is fixated on the notion that leaders cannot be trusted, lest they become self-serving, such as how the Fire Nation eradicated the Air Nation because of narrow-minded rulers.

I do agree with the quote, "True freedom can only be achieved when oppressive governments are torn down," but not within the context this was used. If I saw this quote but had not watched the episode, I would have thought that maybe Zaheer was a minarchist. While I could see a plot twist where the Red Lotus members realize their awful ways of achieving freedom and decide to become minarchists, it would not answer the question: Are all governments oppressive? or can all forms of government lead to corruption?

The Red Lotus, or at least Zaheer, believe that freedom is a preferable alternative to "balance," but how far into chaos would they expect the world to succumb to?

Do you think that taking down (oppressive) governments would bring balance or throw the world into chaos?

Do you believe that the natural order is disorder?

If you are a libertarian or anarchist who are fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, you should join this Facebook group.

EDIT: There is now this Facebook page - Red Lotus Reformed: Seeking Harmony.

MORE EDIT: I have written on Book 3, Episode 10 - "Long Live the Earth Queen" - includes criticism of Murray Rothbard.

EDIT: Had to add in this wonderful piece of art from my fellow Red Lotus Reformed admin, VoluntaryistVarrick.