I thought it was really interesting how they compared the assimilation of waterbending and earthbending into a privileged bending class to the assimilation of different peoples into "whiteness." It was something I never thought about before, but it makes a lot of sense.

I'm not as concerned with Equalists being the "bad guys," though, because I really don't think Amon is a genuine Equalist. I think he co-opted the growing Equalist movement in order to make his own bid for power/achieve his own nefarious ends.

I also don't really see the Equalist who preached in the square as particularly manipulative? At least, no more so than anyone trying to make a persuasive argument. I mean, he wasn't giving a doctoral thesis with footnotes on how benders were oppressing non-benders, but his arguments still had merit. Korra's kneejerk instinct was to use bending to make her point; the Triple Threat Triad used their bending to terrorize a neighborhood, and if you look at all the people currently in positions of power (that we know of), they're benders. Let's cut soapbox guy some slack.