Why does emet selch consider us not to be alive?

[WhiteArchmage]

I'd need to mention that "I don't consider you [a person]" has historically been used to further -ist and -phobic schools of thought, propaganda, and outright violence. The more correct term would be "othering", and it's generally meant to, well, paint other people as something "other" than human (and by necessity "less than" human), and so any crimes against them wouldn't really be a crime. In this case it's simply that Emet considers us "less than" Ancients and thus not worthy of living.

Now, yes, the sundered are "less aetherically dense than" Ancients, but the whole theme of the story is that they're still people. They have feelings and lives and hopes and wishes, and deserve to live said lives to the fullest so their lives aren't worth less than the Ancients.

[Cleretic]

I'd need to mention that "I don't consider you [a person]" has historically been used to further -ist and -phobic schools of thought, propaganda, and outright violence. The more correct term would be "othering", and it's generally meant to, well, paint other people as something "other" than human (and by necessity "less than" human), and so any crimes against them wouldn't really be a crime. In this case it's simply that Emet considers us "less than" Ancients and thus not worthy of living.

Now, yes, the sundered are "less aetherically dense than" Ancients, but the whole theme of the story is that they're still people. They have feelings and lives and hopes and wishes, and deserve to live said lives to the fullest so their lives aren't worth less than the Ancients.

Yeah, this really needs to be said directly, and was what I was trying to get at. As someone who gets that sort of treatment in real life, this stood pretty obvious and starkly, and is why any justification of his view on any level comes in distant second to the intention of the statement itself.

He calls us 'not really alive' specifically because it makes us acceptable targets. We can't and shouldn't instead come at it from the other direction of 'what evidence could he have that we aren't really alive', because to do so is to legitimize an inherently illegitimate argument made solely for the purpose of Emet's own moral justification.

His feelings don't care about facts.