ashwind wrote...
Javik is not a racist, he is an imperialist. "The strong rule the weak, that is the natural order of things. If they do not like it, they can always fight back. If they win, they get to be the boss. Many tried, non succeed."
This (despite your conflation of social Darwinism and imperialism), and to be insulted by Javik's commentary is to be ashamed of one's own origins and to display one's own arrogance. Case in point, Liara is the most angered by Javik's commentary. Her presumption the protheans were "just like" asari was species-centric, short sighted and ignorant, especially in the revealed context the protheans more or less built asari culture and the asari whitewashed the entire thing to pass themselves off as culturally and socially superior to other races. Pointing that out, especially by a member of a dead society that thanks to its own failures did little overall against the Reaper threat save marginally delay the inevitable, to members of living societies that are actually giving the Reapers a good fight, is a toothless gesture designed to remind others that arrogance leads to weakness.
Talk to Javik, and that's the
first thing he (tacitly) points out, that arrogance and complacency are weaknesses. It's the same thing Javik does when he continually tells Shepard what he and his people would do in a given situation, then turns around to tell Shepard to not concern herself with the thoughts and suggestions of others and to do what she thinks is the best course of action. He's a foil, a serial contrarian, and a devil's advocate, and he does it to ensure other perspectives are considered and Shepard's and the squad's own actions are tested in the crucible of introspection before carried out; to put it another way, he's the guy that puts the mirror in front of everyone's face so they take a good, hard look at themselves.
Asari began as unevolved primitives? Well,
no sh*t Sherlock. Everybody did, even the protheans did not magically poof into an advanced galactic civilization straight ouf the ether, and neither did asari. You'd think that as an archeologist, Liara would be the first to acknowledge this fact, but she's not. She ardently defends asari culture and preconceptions to the bitter end, despite the fact asari origins have little to do with the reality they're culturally and socially running the show. To be in denial about asari origins just shows how much of a hypocrite Liara is when it comes to cultural perceptions.
Liara has a very strong distaste for Javik not because of his social views nor that of his society. Liara dislikes Javik because he forces her to take a good, hard look at herself and her culture, and she doesn't like what she sees.
Modifié par humes spork, 24 mars 2012 - 04:05 .
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Good point about Javik being an imperialist. He is also a believer in Social Darwinism...
