User blog comment:Gundam Legilis/The Fallacy of The White Fang/@comment-27.115.118.196-20140428021655

Actually, although the actions of a subsection of humanity against the Faunus in RWBY is appalling, one must place the events of whatever is going on into a historical context. A mere one hundred years ago, Americans were still considering blacks subhumans. During the High Middle Ages, Jews were being burned to death for being heretics while on the other side of the globe, the Aztecs were sacrficing thousands of people while the Chinese invaded Vietnam and massacred the population. Even in three thousand years ago, Ramses the Great boasted how he had made the Hittites his slaves and even further back, all the way to Sumeria, the ancients in the Fertile Crescent boasted how they had killed all those "subhuman" barbarians. Although it sounds completely horrible, it is a definite truth that humans are genetically predisposed to group people. This isn't just a cynical view on things, however, humanity is one of the few animals on Earth that can actively rationalize. We should acknowledge it, and conquer it.

That said, although I highly doubt it will happen, I hope RWBY shows the struggle between Tradition and Progress. Tradition is highly important--it binds together communities, sustains to endure all odds. When early Christianity was unde persecution from the Romans, or the Jews suffering under the Nazis, it was this shared sense of purpose that gave them the will to survive.

Yet, on the other hand, the same traditions lead to cruelty and intolerance. We've all heard of the brutality of the Crusaders--but have you heard of the Great Jewish Revolt? This was a massive uprising of Jews where a self-proclaimed Messiah, Simon Bar Kokhba, proclaimed that the "unbelievers must die" and wreaked a genocidal campaign across Judea, killing thousands of innocent Roman's and horrifying even Hadrian, an Emperor that had campaigned for years under Trajan in the Middle East against the Persians.

So is the same thing with progress. Unbridled progressivism leads to crazy things like the corporate takeovers and irresponsible spendings that led to the Great Depression, but also the birth of the American Dream and the chance for people to make their own lives without the specter of a king or tyrant.

Just my two cents.