Sulley continues to grow and mature as a Na’vi. We explore the wondrous beauty of the planet with him and the nuances of Na’vi society. But he begins to see aspects of the Na’vi he never noticed before that trouble him. He notices conflicts within the tribe that he tries to solve. But his solutions are not apt and they are not welcomed. He finds he still cannot communicate in Na’vi the way born Na’vi can, and at night, he dreams in English. Images of his former life flash before his eyes. Then a major crisis affects the tribe, and his advice is not solicited. The solution put forward by the tribe requires a significant military role on his part. He disagrees with the strategy and sees major flaws. Nonetheless, he agrees to participate, as his standing in the tribe is at stake. In the ensuing action, the strategy works and the crisis is resolved but Jake himself suffers a fatal injury as a result of misunderstanding the plan due to a nuance in the Na’vi tongue. The screen fades to black as Jake stares dying into the distant stars. THE END.

Originally posted at TalkIslam where I can no longer post for some reason, recycled in an oblique contribution to this discussion.

All my life I’ve heard Latin America described as a failed society (or collection of failed societies) because of its grotesque maldistribution of wealth. Peasants in rags beg for food outside the high walls of opulent villas, and so on. But according to the Central Intelligence Agency (whose patriotism I hesitate to question), income distribution in the United States is more unequal than in Guyana, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and roughly on par with Uruguay, Argentina, and Ecuador. Income inequality is actually declining in Latin America even as it continues to increase in the United States. Economically speaking, the richest nation on earth is starting to resemble a banana republic.

I stumbled across GINI coefficients (a measure of income inequality) a year or two ago that included US state inequality with other nations, only to discover that Michigan had the same GINI as the Philippines! It was startling, but at the same time it helped me to understand one reason why life here in Malaysia feels so comfortable, despite the fact that I make easily a fourth of what I would back home in US dollar terms: there isn’t much difference in the size of the gap between rich and poor. Which isn’t to say that the gap isn’t awful. It is, but it is an awfulness that I’m very accustomed to from life in the United States of America.

A vaguely related point about GINI and happiness is developed in Rebel Sell that I linked to previously:

Absolute wealth, above a certain point, is essentially irrelevant to happiness. There’s no correlation. But relative wealth is still correlated with happiness. So in other words while merely having money, can’t make you happy, having more money that other people provides a pretty good start.

But if that’s true, how come most Americans aren’t absolutely furious at the top 1% that have so, so ,so , much more than them? Americans have no idea how rich the rich are or how poor the poor are. Ignorance really is bliss.