Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-37719459-20181220032704/@comment-2601:600:8180:3660:7175:6510:143D:6219-20191124194934

Exactlly! It's important to understand that maybe humans have done some bad things, but those things generally come out of a drive to improve. The elves talk about how much better off humans would be if they united together as one. Well, there are over 7 BILLION people on this earth, it just doesn't make sense that everyone would get along perfectly. And if that was to happen, then the rate of change and invention would be much slower. People's ideas would die because they wouldn't want to disagree and competition, which is one of the greatest driving factors in this world, would be gone. The elves have no competition with themselves, and see where they are. They've been living in the same ways for centuries! Perhaps humans don't have special abilities, but with the touch of a button we can talk to someone on the other side of the world! We can type in a scentence and have a world of information at our fingertips. Is that not magic? The elves just claim these things to be "human technology." Well, let's take Linh (no hate to her, she's amazing) a hydrokinetic. She can absorb and manilpulate water. She has this ability given to her. Humans have machines which can do the same things! Perhaps not as well, but we worked hard and made these machines from our minds. And these machines allow for anyone to use them. Sophie's inflicting is another example. Humans have guns and tazers and other machines that can do harm. We could easily claim that these are simply genetic mutations in elves that allow them to live for so long and have special abilities, but we call them special abilities. Because we recognize the fact that we humans don't have this power and tell the elves, yes, you guys have these cool things that are good and we don't have. Good job! Elves don't recognize any of the technological advancements humans have made. We are constantly changing, and sometimes those chages are bad, but we learn from those changes. We strive to imrove, and the splits in our society only help spur those chages on. It is also important to note that humans think they are the only "smart race" on this planet. The elves and the ogres and the goblins don't get along. Why don't we humans simply say, if you guys united, then life would be easier? Because each of these spcecies have different values and we can understand that these races cannot come together because of these different values. But elves just say humans should join together without actually knowing much about humanity. They think we are all the same, but we aren't. We are a species of people who each have their own values and point of view. This allows us to find solutions and create advancements in ways that simply wouldn't be possible if we were all the same. The elves are all about peace and kindness and are generally the same (in regards to values) this makes it so they don't have the same fast rate of change as humans and make it so they are basically doing nothing as the Neverseen get stronger and attack! They think that the old ways will hold and the good guys will win. But that doesn't always happen! The Neverseen are changing and finding new ways to use their powers which is why they always have the upper hand. That's why the scene with Marella and Linh trying to combine their powers is so important. They are finally trying to find something new, and trying to find change. And the way Sophie reacts, almost dissmissing what they are doing is honestly just, no. She herself isn't open to change, relying on her powers and using the same stratageys. That's why the Neverseen say that Sophies and her friends are so predictable. They always do the same things. One of the most beautiful things about humanity is that we are unpredictible. You never know what we are going to do or how a failed experitment can lead to a different solution. The elves just dismiss this, only focusing on the bad parts of humanity. They blame everything on us and Sophie, who is supposed to be the "voice of humanity," just agrees! She's basically a bad foreign minister. Like how when the Europeans came to the "New World" they all wrote back saying the Native Americans were horrible and like animals, when we now know that this is not the case. What Sophie is doing is less extreme, but she is giving only the bad parts of humanity. Also, I would like to bring up art. The elves have no art. Perhaps the flasher shows are the closest thing to art, but humans have music, movies, paintings, story books, all kinds of things. Art has the power to shape a society and take contriversal viewpoints and put them into something that many people can see and understand. Art allows for different viewpoints to collaberate and make change. No wonder elvin society hasn't been changing. There is no art! And imagine how boring life as an elf would be. You have a birth fund so there is no need to make money. There is no art for you to entertain yourself with. The society isn't changing. And you live on and on and on. It honestly sounds quite horrible. In the first book, Alden said that the only reason elves had jobs was because they needed something to keep themselves entertained. Elvin society, to me at least, just sounds so bland. Sophie could have brought art with her, could have brought music and stories, but she didn't. She simply converted exactly to the elvin ways, almost if elf society was some sort of cult. Another thing about humans is that whenever we have the power to change something, we use it. This leads to further advancement, and sometimes unsavory consequences. Yes, we may have gotten ourselves doomed with globel warming, but we have endured much as a species, we'll probably move to mars or something. Elves on the other hand, have so much power to create change, its difficult to wrap your mind around it. With a few elixors they could cure cancer and whatnot, but they don't. Why? Because they'd rather not. They say that humans would "abuse these elixor," but would they really? The elixors at Slurps and Burps have unfortunate side effects so the user doesn't get addicted, so this wouldn't be a problem. Honestly, just the way humanity is portrayed is wrong. Shannon needs to change a lot of stuff.

I'm sorry for the really bad grammer and spelling. Thank you for listening to my TED talk

--Potato Person