Geth, meaning “Servant of the people”, are a race of sentient machines that rebelled against the Quarians, their creators, because the Quarians wanted to do a hard reset on all Geth because one Geth asked “Does this unit have a soul?”.
The Geth, having an “infant-like” AI at the time of this question, didn’t follow the termination order and only started to fight back against the Quarians when the Quarians started to murder them. Like any sentient being, they fought back to protect themselves.
Some Quarians though acting on the termination order was a rash decision, since there was no crime in asking a question about their existence. What followed was Quarians jailing, even killing, other Quarians for harboring and protecting Geth.
After being overrun by Geth, the Quarians were forced off their homeworld for 300 years.
With the Executive Orders of Nazi Germany being passed in 2017’s America, this chapter of lore in the original Mass Effect trilogy seems very similar and what life will look like for most. The only difference is, there are no spaceships or space stations to take the those who will be affected by these EOs.
It’s a very frightening time for those who came here, or were even born here, looking for a better life because of the American Dream, only to realize it’s for white Christians, even though Muslims serve their god just like Christians do.
White Christians were so worried about Sharia Law coming from brown people who say “god” in a different language, they have enacted the white version of it onto their own people, hurting their own cause.
Because of this Judas Law, white people are only complaining about how they have to pay for a ridiculous wall out of pocket (because they honestly thought Mexico would pay it, while turning up their own noses at people telling them they should pay for it themselves), but are silent of the mistreatment that black and brown people in Muslim countries (and even here in the states) are facing.
With the upsurge of Neo-Nazi’s, white people are “politely” demanding that people of color (and Jewish people, for some reason) to give these monsters a chance to spew their genocidal rhetoric in the name of trying to “understand” the other side, since all sides need to be heard. They’re even telling people to not be violent toward these people, whose view is nothing BUT violence to those they deem lesser, because doing so would mean that both sides are wrong.
This level of liberal bullshit is so offensive to those who are targets to Neo-Nazis and their passive act of violence will lead to “Oh, I had no idea this was happening!” when this whole mess stops and gets cleaned up. It’s the same faux-ignorance when Germans toured the concentration camps. It’s the same faux-ignorance that comes up when black people post fact after fact of racial bullshit they have endured since they were stolen.
Legion, the lone Geth Commander Shepard teams up with, is the Geth that asked the question. It wanted understanding of it’s own existence, only to have the people who created it turn against it and try to have it murdered. For 300 years, Legion is the Geth trying to reach the Quarians to help it turn it’s heretic brethren back to it’s side, to help broker peace between Geth and Quarians. For 300 years, Legion has held onto the memories of Quarians who protected and tried to save Geth, the memories that the Quarians have forgotten and/or replaced the memories with the fear and hate for Geth.
Why is that when a people rise up against their oppressor, the silent minority of the oppressor tells the oppressed to just be quiet and let the terrible things happen to them, and then have the nerve to act shocked and surprised when the oppressed suddenly goes missing? All oppressed people want is to not be treated as second class citizens in a place where they pay MORE taxes than their oppressor. All oppressed people want is fair representation where they live. Apparently, having equality for all is oppressive to those who want to uphold standing, even if they’re on the same playing field.
Eventually, the Quarians actually LISTEN to Legion and how it doesn’t want to harm the Quarians, but to only help them. The Quarians only assume that Geth want to harm them because the Quarians want to harm the Geth.
Marginalized people are always forced to listen to those who wish to “help” them, but when marginalized people want their oppressor to listen to them, they are met with gaslighting and violence. It will never go away.
Robin's Writings 