The thing is, "stop fighting gaiz" is an argument that works when you and your friend have a pointless squabble about who owes who five bucks from the last time you went out for a chili dog. "Stop fighting gaiz" is a pointless argument in the face of, oh, say, debates about race, representation, and racism. You know, arguments stemming from problems that have tangible effects on the daily lives of others.

And yes, you know what? The Avatar movie is a piece of media--but media reflects and affects the public consciousness. If there are no Asian or Inuit actors (or rather, one South Asian they threw in at the last minute and EXTRAS who are allowed to be Asian) in a big-screen version of a show that had a full cast of Asian and Inuit-derived characters? That's sending a message. Hollywood may not be steepling its fingers and going "how can we disenfranchise PoC today?" but racism is rarely that overt. I for my part am PLEASED to see how many Avatar fans have taken action against this shite; if everyone were shrugging it off and there was no discussion at all? Then I'd be worrying.

So yeah. Agreed on the condescension, and also the severe amount of not getting it.