| abstract | - From the get-go, we, the audience know that Amon and the Equalists wants to rid Republic City (if not the entire world of Avatar) of benders. From a distance, one would see them clearly as a rogue group of villains who clearly want their ultimate goal fulfilled. However, there may be some legit points they raise. There is a clear drift in social classes in Republic City, as the sudden appearance of Sparky Sparky Bush Man clearly indicates in the first episode. There are also Street Urchins like Skoochy that wander the streets of Republic City asking for money from strangers. There are sets of gangs who terrorizes civilians and actively participate in illegal activities, like bribery and extortion. The citizens in question would probably be pretty sick and tired of seeing benders impose their will in this manner, if they have not already have resentment about their powers. This is where Amon comes in. Here we have a charismatic guy with a passion in his voice that probably mirrors their complaints about benders. They look at him and say to themselves "Wow he's been through the same things we have" and they quickly find a connection with him that they can easily identify with and understand. The massive crowd that showed up at Amon's rally rectifies this. They see Amon as a Robin Hood-esque hero who tries everything in his power to help his fellow people. Of course, this could all be smoke and mirrors so Amon could replace the Avatar as a world hero that succeeded in riding the world of benders, so this all could be an elaborate ruse. So, this really depends on the viewer's interpretations.
* Amon is intended to evoke comparisons to the Communists (and to a lesser extent, the various fascist movements of the 1920's).
* Skoochy is actually an earthbender street urchin, according to the Welcome to Republic City flash game.
* In the Magic: The Gathering Character Alignment stance (which is quite Grey, to say the least), the Equalists pretty much count as White villains, being fundamentally a Well-Intentioned Extremist organisation that fundamentally desires equality, only that they went too far and use methods like terrorism and soul rape. Even from a pratical stand point in regards to attack mechanics they are very White, preffering to incapacitate their foes above lenghty combat or killing.
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