Why Dictators Ban Books | Avatar: The Last Airbender

Is this one of Avatar's best episodes? ~ Tim

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.

Video idea for you: Toph's parents and reflections on how parents desperately try to keep their kids innocent, even to their great detriment.

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.

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.

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.

HAVING FUN ISNT HARD, WHEN YOUVE GOT A LIBRARY CARD

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.

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

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.

Ahh yes, the library that most said didn't even exist!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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"

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

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.

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.