This satirises how some folks view others through a blend of ignorance and hubris, armchair anthropologists who see foreigners as though they're some art exhibit to be studied.

Second, Vimes' reaction to realising he's been well and truly had satirises those of us who have liberal fingers on our pulse - to see others right, no matter who they are, or where they come from.

The Watch became a diverse force in Men at Arms (1993), and while Vimes grew to trust those different to himself, he didn't fall off the other end of the spectrum with zeal. He sees colour/size/silicon/clay/vital signs 𝘱𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, to the point where his entire beat is a free eye test.

Vimes might suspect the City's character, but this, in its own way, still accepts the proverbial terms of debate that his fellow Morporkians establish: that the fault lies squarely in the character of a foreign country and its people.

The real lesson, however, is that neither Ankh-Morpork nor Klatch trust their own citizens; in the first place, for states to justify fighting each other over stupid shit, they have to persuade Us that Them can't be trusted.

> ..It was much better to imagine men in some smoky room somewhere, made mad and cynical by privilege and power, plotting over the brandy. You had to cling to this sort of image, because if you didn’t then you might have to face the fact...

> ...that bad things happened because ordinary people, the kind who brushed the dog and told their children bedtime stories, were capable of then going out and doing horrible things to other ordinary people.

> It was so much easier to blame it on Them.

> It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them.

> No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.

It's a far greater commentary on racism and xenophobia than Witches Abroad could ever be.

I've gone 3000 words without saying it: I will fucking suplex you if you think this thread smacks of anything that suggests we need to """""CANCEL""""" #Discworld.