No Honorary Marleyans

 There's this show that I watch, and it's pretty popular. It's called Attack On Titan.

Spoilers ahead.

In the show there's a race of people called Eldians, whose ancestor Ymir made a pact with the devil to gain the powers of the Founding Titan- a near god-like entity who made the Eldian race the dominant superpower on the continent. For years, they conquered and colonized until one of the titans, called the Warhammer Titan, betrayed them to their enemies, the Marleyans. Marley then took over, forcing most of the Eldians to flee with their king to an island called Paradis,  where he wiped their memories and built massive walls around his people. He brainwashed them into believing that humanity beyond the walls was dead, and wanted nothing more than to live in peace, despite the plight of his people. 

Not satisfied with subjugating the Eldians who stayed behind, the Marleyans want to end them once and for all. So they tell the Eldians, who now live in ghettos and are forced to wear armbands, that they can become Honorary Marleyans if they volunteer their children to take on titan powers, go to Paradis, and recover the Founding Titan. 

These children, like all Eldians, are raised from birth to hate their ancestors and to feel guilty for the sins of their nation's past. Even the descendants of the Warhammer Titan, who are exempt from wearing the armbands and live in decadence, believe themselves to be the spawn of devils. They're taught they deserve every bit of abuse and degradation heaped upon them because of what they are, and what their ancestors did to Marley. 

Naturally, those selected for the Marleyan Warrior Program, where children are trained as soldiers and given titan powers, desperately want to succeed and earn the right to be called Marleyans, a "privilege" that extends to their families. So much so, that the main character's half-brother actually turns in his own parents, when they try to use him to infiltrate this program so he can then save Paradis instead of destroying it. (This is why you homeschool your kids instead of sending them to your local indoctrination center. Or maybe they didn't have a choice?)

Anyways, we see how grueling this program is, and how seriously it's taken by the participants. Anyone who expresses skepticism at the prospect of becoming a warrior and a titan shifter is angrily derided and mocked. No one talks about the fact that becoming a titan shifter shortens your remaining lifespan to thirteen years, after which you either pass on the power to someone else, or it's reborn into a random Eldian. No one talks about the fact that you still have to wear an armband that clarifies you're still an Eldian, just one with Marleyan privileges. Even in other countries, you're never seen as anything more than another devil-spawn. Other Eldians who join the military are used as cannon fodder, suicide bombers, and even injected with titan serum before dropping them out of airships.

When the inhabitants of Paradis finally invade Marley, they don't try to reason with these self-hating Eldians. 

When you're fighting for your life, there's no time for traitors. The Marleyan Warriors made their choice, and they chose the wrong side. If being forced into a ghetto and being treated like second-class citizens isn't enough to convince them to stand up for their racial pride and their civil rights, then nothing will. They're treated just like the rest of their enemies- more food for the titan shifters that they have on their side. 

Follow their example. Don't try to convert race traitors. They will never stop trying to be like the people who hate them, to be their slaves. They will learn in the end:

There are no Honorary Marleyans.