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- Jan 18, 2018
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Okay, hold the fuck on
"We can just talk it out" being a philosophy that only works for those carrying a big stick is definitely an insightful statement.
But the thing is, if you do have a big stick, it's very frequently the most productive way for something like this. Those in a position of some power thinking and talking calmly (with ultimately the implicit threat of capacity for damage to back their words up, though preferably as many steps as practicable removed from an explicit threat) is, at the end of the day, the way a lot of things ever finally get solved.
And crucially: The protagonist cannot simply straight-up violence his way out of people hating or fearing dark elves, what that fuck line of thought is that?? Of the ways to escalate the situation, that is the worst. (We're not talking about trying to drive people in power to the negotiation table through demonstrating a practical capacity to effect retributive violence, nor are we supposing that oppression might be given pause by showing a particular community's capacity for self-defense. It's seemingly literally positing that racial hatred in general can be helped by the stronger people of the discriminated class responding with violence to 'teach a lesson'. That's not how it works. No one will hear that 'lesson', they'll just feel like the reasons for their hatred are confirmed and justified and their hatred will just as likely redouble as they get their asses whooped.)
I can respect you wanting that aesthetically, but I am compelled to note that A) contrary to your assertion, I find there's really still no shortage of 'evil races' nowadays; every other isekai has the protagonist slaughtering goblin and orc tribesmen without a second thought, their villainy so assumed that it often isn't even mentioned and it's usually cartoonishly sensationalist whenever it is, and B) notwithstanding that, the increased caution fiction takes nowadays is a very good thing. It's come alongside our societies going "now wait, maybe just don't call your enemies evil without questioning it, and don't just blithely assume entire ethnic groups are unified in thought either", and always doubting the fantasy chruchs' declarations of some-group-or-other as Inherently Evil really exercises important mental muscles!
"We can just talk it out" being a philosophy that only works for those carrying a big stick is definitely an insightful statement.
But the thing is, if you do have a big stick, it's very frequently the most productive way for something like this. Those in a position of some power thinking and talking calmly (with ultimately the implicit threat of capacity for damage to back their words up, though preferably as many steps as practicable removed from an explicit threat) is, at the end of the day, the way a lot of things ever finally get solved.
And crucially: The protagonist cannot simply straight-up violence his way out of people hating or fearing dark elves, what that fuck line of thought is that?? Of the ways to escalate the situation, that is the worst. (We're not talking about trying to drive people in power to the negotiation table through demonstrating a practical capacity to effect retributive violence, nor are we supposing that oppression might be given pause by showing a particular community's capacity for self-defense. It's seemingly literally positing that racial hatred in general can be helped by the stronger people of the discriminated class responding with violence to 'teach a lesson'. That's not how it works. No one will hear that 'lesson', they'll just feel like the reasons for their hatred are confirmed and justified and their hatred will just as likely redouble as they get their asses whooped.)
I can respect you wanting that aesthetically, but I am compelled to note that A) contrary to your assertion, I find there's really still no shortage of 'evil races' nowadays; every other isekai has the protagonist slaughtering goblin and orc tribesmen without a second thought, their villainy so assumed that it often isn't even mentioned and it's usually cartoonishly sensationalist whenever it is, and B) notwithstanding that, the increased caution fiction takes nowadays is a very good thing. It's come alongside our societies going "now wait, maybe just don't call your enemies evil without questioning it, and don't just blithely assume entire ethnic groups are unified in thought either", and always doubting the fantasy chruchs' declarations of some-group-or-other as Inherently Evil really exercises important mental muscles!
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