Hello, Sneakers! This week on Episode 261 of Sneaky Dragon, Dave gets off to a hasty start and does some bad rapping; Ian reveals that Victorian times will kill you; they talk wedding blues, marriage bliss and divorce blahs; notice that Christmas is coming; expose scolds, nags and carpers; see fantastic beasts; have another dumb debate: Is the Empire the good? Ian argues for, Dave can’t believe they’re arguing about it (This argument has it all – Dave’s bombastic claims, Ian’s weird idea of heroism, too much Star Wars prequel talk and much, much more.); Ian has another animal fights question; Ian wears George Lucas’ beard; and, finally, kill the Sarlaccs!
Well, you heard Ian’s questions: Is the Empire the force for good in Star Wars? What would win in a fight: a penguin or a bat? And, what are your particular Christmas traditions?
Thanks for listening.
Here is that sketch by Ian that Dave loves:
The Jedi ARE evil!
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Hop boy. While I’m more than a little sympathetic to the idea that The Jedi, as a group, are not universally, objectively, “good guys,” I have a few problems with Ian’s castigation of Leia and Ben.
Jedi, as an order, have more in common with certain Taoist monastic sects, who teach total detachment from emotion and materialism as ideals. This is in line with Taoist thought (which Lucas flirted with) of nothing being “good” or “bad,” but not with the Jedi’s arrogance and meddling in the affairs of galactic politics. As mentioned, it’s not really possible for humans to completely forego attachment—it is essentially human to have emotions and engage socially—but individual Jedi acting in the interest of the greater good are shown. Namely, Ben and Luke.
Who knows whom he might have helped in small ways on Tatooine? Maybe none, maybe a bunch. He’s vaguely watching over, just possibly the most essential person to the Rebellion, in his mind, “our last hope,” he says in ESB. But he knows he can’t be too overt, or he will be found. Attention from the Empire could easily bring Vader himself to Tatooine, and after that, Luke is in grave danger. His power is great, but not infinite. Vader, for all his own power, is also neither omniscient nor omnipotent. If he were, what stopped him from scanning the galaxy like a long ago, far, far away Charles Xavier and killing every last rebel?
The insistence that heroism involves only pure altruism, and no self-preservation, flies in he face of every accepted definition that I know. Needing to save oneself doesn’t diminish the heroism of saving others, as Dave pointed out. Plenty of people could act to save themselves with their compatriots, but don’t. They give up. They cower. They hesitate. Leia is a leader in the Rebellion to overthrow a sadistic, oppressive power. She isn’t handing out orders from an Alderaan palace, she’s actively at the forefront, putting her own life at stake for the cause. She isn’t Kidnapper in the first film, she’s captured while personally shepherding the Death Star plans. She is tortured, reuses to give up her fellow rebels, and expects to die for it. The destruction of Alderaan isn’t foregone. The Death Star isn’t automatically going to kill all people, it’s the ultimate cudgel to keep rebellious systems under the Empire’s thumb. Even when she’s desperate, she still refuses to give up the Rebellion, and the millions or billions murdered by Tarkin are, from that day forward in her mind, on her shoulders. Despite this personal burden, she carries on, risking her life to help the oppressed and bring an end to tyranny.