[Thats okay, Zuko's been Firelord a few years now, he's gotten plenty good at speeches himself.]
What is inevitable, is that right will always triumph over wrong. And you, despite your perceived noble aspirations of equality, are wrong.
I have heard the same arguments made from the mouths of others. If your cause is righteous, there is no need to decree as such with such fervor, work in the light. Let your actions speak to those you would inspire. And yet you do not, you skulk in darkness and strike with overwhelming force. The picture was painted not by us, but by you yourself. From what I have seen your actions border on terrorism, simply because you refuse to hurt those unable to bend does not excuse your hurting those people who are able to.
I hold no illusions, Equalist. I do not paint benders as heroes of justice, simply by virtue of their gifts. I have seen with my own eyes those drunk on their own power, using it to terrorise others and take what they want. You push forward the idea that all benders are like this, judging the whole by its part. Your view takes into account only one facet of the jewel, a leader cannot afford to be so blinded lest he become a fanatic.
I decry you as nothing, your intentions, however warped your methods of achieving them may be, are the same ideals Avatar Aang and I have worked so hard to uphold. Violence is never the answer, however. It is simply the easiest route. Had Aang chosen to strike down my father, do you think the Fire Nation would have welcomed him? He chose mercy, diplomacy.
Your strike from ire, from hatred. That's why you are wrong. You want equality? Work for it. Tearing down what has been built before in order to build anew is a romantic picture, but hardly a practical one. Build from within, expand what has gone before.
What you do brings only suffering, and that is why there are those who will always stand against you. To prevent you from hurting the innocent. How long until one of your bombs inadvertently kills a non-bender, Amon. Before falling debris crushes an innocent child? How many non-bending children have you made fatherless, motherless? Can you say you have absolute control?
Solutions solve problems, Amon. All you've done is instigate. [Check. Your move, Amon.]
[impressive. amon would clap, if he wasn't preparing a counterattack of his own.]
Wars are not won without sacrifice, Fire Lord. Or did you think your own struggle against your father was without innocent casualties? That blood may be on my hands as well as my enemies', but such is the burden I must bear. The world's future demands nothing less.
I will never tire of benders, particularly ones in positions of influence, telling us that our method of striking back against our oppressors goes too far. Your people have had decades to curb bending tyranny- and yet what was done? Criminals extort money from honest shop merchants in the streets of Republic City. A bloodbender all but rules the city, and would have succeeded had I not stopped him. Only the latest in a long line of atrocities- atrocities of which you and I have both been victims. Touch that scar on your face and tell me again that bending brings nothing but good to people.
Your people had their chance to stop this, Fire Lord. They failed. So now we do things my way... no matter what the cost.
[You'll find that politics is a cutthroat game, Amon.]
It's easy to talk of sacrifice when you aren't the one who loses those things. Tell me Amon, if you succeed, if you "free" the world from benders, what then? Will you dedicate your life to making reparations for those innocents hurt in your campaign, or are they merely "casualties" a romantic weight you'll bear at the fringes of your conscience?
You say bending is the source of the world's ills? Those with the power inevitably abuse it? I make no excuses for the atrocities committed, but bending didn't cause them, it only made them easier. A thief will always be a thief whether a bender or not, a liar always a liar. Should we take the hands of thieves and the tongues of liars as well? It is not given to us to judge. [Touches his scar] This scar is a reminder to me that bending, like any other tool can be used to commit wrongs, just as it can be used to set those wrongs right. Would you try take my bending? I who have dedicated my life to peace, righting the wrongs caused by the benders of my nation?
The chance to stop it? You see crimes committed by benders and assume bending the root of all evil. I see crimes committed by all manner of men. Do you hunt non-bending thieves as fervently as those with bending? Non-bending murderers as fiercely as those who employ it to kill? Tell me Amon, once all the benders are gone and the non-benders begin to hurt each other, will you take their lives from them to stop them?
You see only a part. You act in haste. I would not try to stop you, there are already those who are. But speaking man to man Amon, I tell you, this will not end well for you.
The Equalists are far from one man, Fire Lord. There will be some to heal, just as there are some to hurt. My intention is not to destroy this world, as your father's was. My goal is to save it.
I would take your bending, and I will. You may be dedicated to peace- but what of your sons, and their sons? You cannot speak for the world. Bending is an unnatural abomination, and so long as it exists there will be those who abuse it. That its destruction would cause them to turn to other methods to spread their evil does not concern me. As I said, it is not the benders I seek to destroy- it is bending itself.
You misunderstand my purpose. Your kind always do. It's never been about righting the world's wrongs, or making things better... It's about making things equal. It's about leveling the playing field for all peoples. Or do you think it's right that some are born benders, while others are not?
What happens to me is unimportant. If I fall, another will take my place.
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no subject
What is inevitable, is that right will always triumph over wrong. And you, despite your perceived noble aspirations of equality, are wrong.
I have heard the same arguments made from the mouths of others. If your cause is righteous, there is no need to decree as such with such fervor, work in the light. Let your actions speak to those you would inspire. And yet you do not, you skulk in darkness and strike with overwhelming force. The picture was painted not by us, but by you yourself. From what I have seen your actions border on terrorism, simply because you refuse to hurt those unable to bend does not excuse your hurting those people who are able to.
I hold no illusions, Equalist. I do not paint benders as heroes of justice, simply by virtue of their gifts. I have seen with my own eyes those drunk on their own power, using it to terrorise others and take what they want. You push forward the idea that all benders are like this, judging the whole by its part. Your view takes into account only one facet of the jewel, a leader cannot afford to be so blinded lest he become a fanatic.
I decry you as nothing, your intentions, however warped your methods of achieving them may be, are the same ideals Avatar Aang and I have worked so hard to uphold. Violence is never the answer, however. It is simply the easiest route. Had Aang chosen to strike down my father, do you think the Fire Nation would have welcomed him? He chose mercy, diplomacy.
Your strike from ire, from hatred. That's why you are wrong. You want equality? Work for it. Tearing down what has been built before in order to build anew is a romantic picture, but hardly a practical one. Build from within, expand what has gone before.
What you do brings only suffering, and that is why there are those who will always stand against you. To prevent you from hurting the innocent. How long until one of your bombs inadvertently kills a non-bender, Amon. Before falling debris crushes an innocent child? How many non-bending children have you made fatherless, motherless? Can you say you have absolute control?
Solutions solve problems, Amon. All you've done is instigate. [Check. Your move, Amon.]
no subject
Wars are not won without sacrifice, Fire Lord. Or did you think your own struggle against your father was without innocent casualties? That blood may be on my hands as well as my enemies', but such is the burden I must bear. The world's future demands nothing less.
I will never tire of benders, particularly ones in positions of influence, telling us that our method of striking back against our oppressors goes too far. Your people have had decades to curb bending tyranny- and yet what was done? Criminals extort money from honest shop merchants in the streets of Republic City. A bloodbender all but rules the city, and would have succeeded had I not stopped him. Only the latest in a long line of atrocities- atrocities of which you and I have both been victims. Touch that scar on your face and tell me again that bending brings nothing but good to people.
Your people had their chance to stop this, Fire Lord. They failed. So now we do things my way... no matter what the cost.
no subject
It's easy to talk of sacrifice when you aren't the one who loses those things. Tell me Amon, if you succeed, if you "free" the world from benders, what then? Will you dedicate your life to making reparations for those innocents hurt in your campaign, or are they merely "casualties" a romantic weight you'll bear at the fringes of your conscience?
You say bending is the source of the world's ills? Those with the power inevitably abuse it? I make no excuses for the atrocities committed, but bending didn't cause them, it only made them easier. A thief will always be a thief whether a bender or not, a liar always a liar. Should we take the hands of thieves and the tongues of liars as well? It is not given to us to judge. [Touches his scar] This scar is a reminder to me that bending, like any other tool can be used to commit wrongs, just as it can be used to set those wrongs right. Would you try take my bending? I who have dedicated my life to peace, righting the wrongs caused by the benders of my nation?
The chance to stop it? You see crimes committed by benders and assume bending the root of all evil. I see crimes committed by all manner of men. Do you hunt non-bending thieves as fervently as those with bending? Non-bending murderers as fiercely as those who employ it to kill? Tell me Amon, once all the benders are gone and the non-benders begin to hurt each other, will you take their lives from them to stop them?
You see only a part. You act in haste. I would not try to stop you, there are already those who are. But speaking man to man Amon, I tell you, this will not end well for you.
no subject
I would take your bending, and I will. You may be dedicated to peace- but what of your sons, and their sons? You cannot speak for the world. Bending is an unnatural abomination, and so long as it exists there will be those who abuse it. That its destruction would cause them to turn to other methods to spread their evil does not concern me. As I said, it is not the benders I seek to destroy- it is bending itself.
You misunderstand my purpose. Your kind always do. It's never been about righting the world's wrongs, or making things better... It's about making things equal. It's about leveling the playing field for all peoples. Or do you think it's right that some are born benders, while others are not?
What happens to me is unimportant. If I fall, another will take my place.