Talk:Not Asking for Trouble/@comment-29790899-20170609201340/@comment-53539-20170619113422

It a different culture, so even at their worst they should be shown again.

You don't know how good or bad a character is unless you have a few less impressive characters to contrast them against. And the same goes for the Ponies and Yaks, on the one hand, the Yak's are strong allies for the ponies as they endure whatever hardship is thrown at them whereas the ponies would indeed be too weak on their own and have to ask for help. On the other, they are so proud they can suffer as a result, to the point they won't admit when they do need it, presenting any race that wants to help them with a big issue on the "how".

Even in the real world, a difference of cultures presents a very different attitude on life. There are people who cause suffering simply because they won't ask for help. The Yaks being the prime example here, it caused Pinkie to have to find the loophole in their stubbornness to help them without insulting them. As a consequences, they could have very well have perished without the ponies, the Prince was able to thank the ponies without seeming weak by congratulating them without showing weakness.

But at the same time, remember that sometimes rushing to help someone can insult them, or even make things worst. For example, a very real problem is that will saving a village from a famine is nice by giving the villagers food... One consequences is that if you make the number of villagers grow too high, then the next famine leaves many more people suffering, meaning next time even more aid is needed... Or they can end up relying on the aid, instead of trying to survive on their own, leading to the point where if aid doesn't arrive in time they suffer again... Or even minor incidents become a demand for aid, even if the villagers would be able to cope without it in the past. On the one hand, without knowledge on a culture, insulting is possible since you could give them food which goes against their religious believes or morals or make the leadership look weak leading to inside problems within the village. If the Prince of the Yaks had indee asked for help, then it woul have gone against his culture, making him look weak and causing the other yaks to doubt him. For his culture, its likely a really big deal. However, the young yaks, being young, wouldn't share the same POV as they are too young to understand 100% their own culture just yet.

But the ponies can't learn how to deal with the Yaks unless they interact with the Yaks, its a slow learning process to learn how to best treat the Yaks. The ponies themselves, however can learn things from other cultures which is why I'm glad the show demostrates the cultures it has both within the Equestrian nation, and outside. We get to e why the ponies are so successful and other cultures are not ness. because of their own ways, but we also get to see that Ponies themselves have flaws in their nation.

In short, I hope the Yaks return.