PT Qui-Gon Jinn

It's the first rule in moral systems that are built on the interests of society. People taking crap from each other all the time would lead to grudges, loss of resources, and hoarding, things that are bad for a community.

The Jedi derive their morality from feel-good mystic hoodoo that put's the freedom and welfare of individuals above everything else. Under such a morality the specifics of what a society does or doesn't condone would be transitory to them.

You don't see Jedi chasing after tax evasions and holonet piracy, do you? They choose their battles specifically on the basis of preventing people from being abused.

 

Theft is a violation of one’s property rights and relies on the use of force. Qui-Gon outsmarts Watto in a game of chance by rigging a portion of the wager, yes, but not by rigging the game itself. Furthermore, he never forces Watto into the bargain either. Watto was still free to play at his own risk; to bet his own goods voluntarily. If theft was Qui-Gon’s act/intent then he could have just as easily stolen Shmi as well, could he not? Would he have not?

Now, the issue becomes increasingly murky given the fact that Watto was already violating the rights of both Anakin and his mother (regardless of how nice he treated them), and thus rendering irrelevant the question of theft: one cannot steal slaves, only liberate them. So perhaps Qui-Gon should have taken Shmi as well, regardless of the local laws. He doesn’t. In fact, he stated from the beginning, "I didn’t actually come here to free slaves." Therefore, it could be argued that he liberated Anakin less for liberty’s sake and more for the sake of his own prophetic beliefs, only because it served his own interests. I think such is a theme worth exploring, as is the idea of subjecting Anakin at such an early age to an environment that forbade a natural, healthy bond to his mother. I also consider these themes intentional.

 

They had implants, which cause the victim to explode if they're taken too far from the master. The TPM novelization had Anakin mention them at dinner- can't recall if the movie did though.

 

You know slavery is working for no money right? Being someone else's property. The only way a slave-owner can treat slaves well is to free them.

 

He offered him credits. And how was the best rigged? Anakin was the ultimate underdog. Qui-Gon simply had faith in the boy.

 

It did.

 

That said, there are differing degrees of treating a slave badly.

 

They didn't work for nothing. They received compensation -- they were fed and housed. It seems quite comfortably, as well. The family was kept together and had a roof over its head. Annie got to play with pods and build protocol droids for no reason.

 

Anakin had to keep both of those secret otherwise Watto would have taken them from him.

And being raced in one of the deadliest sports in the Star Wars universe, is not exactly treating him well- even if Anakin seemed to like racing.

 

Credits that were completely worthless. Might as well have offerred him some bottle caps and pocket lint.

 

Only worthless to people on Tatooine- Watto could have hired somebody to go to the Republic and trade those credits for goods that he could use.

 

That would actually have been less offensive.

Sure you can steal slaves. You may not like people being traded as slaves, but by definition they are (treated as) property to be bought and sold.

Didn't Cliegg Lars buy, and then free, Shmi?

 

Or they could have traded their fancy-pants ship for a less fancy one that works.

Or they could have hired a space pilot in Mos Eilsley who might actually take Republic Credits who could take them to Coruscant.

 

Again, who would trade an working ship for one that doesn't?

The movie establishes that Republic credits are worthless on Tatooine. If he's on Tatooine, he wouldn't accept it.

 

To who, Watto? That makes no sense. To the audience? I agree it's something to consider.

No one is disputing the legal or commercial definition, as deemed by the local gangsters of this planet. The question concerns a moral definition: Can one steal that which does not morally belong to another? But I reiterate, Qui-Gon never technically steals from Watto to begin with.

 

I don't have a horse in this race, but I've heard it suggested before that Qui-Gon might've considered making such an offer to someone while on Tatooine.

And, well, I imagine many folks would consider it. If you were a person who moved goods and who owned a used, but perfectly serviceable, I don't know, Toyota Camry, and someone offered you a $300,000.00 Ferrari, in need of, say, a new transmission, straight-up, would you not at least consider it?

I mean, a lot may depend on my circumstances at the moment, but I'm sure I'd at least listen to the offer. In fact, my first reservation would be that it sounds too good to be true. If I could somehow be convinced that everything was on the up-and-up, I'm almost certain I'd consider the proposal (especially if the Camry wasn't my only working vehicle).

 

A better comparison would be: you have a private jet without an engine. Nobody has an engine for it except one person and nobody on the country (make it an island) you're stuck in accepts your currency. As such, the jet is worthless to anyone but him.

 

Yeah, maybe, except that it wasn't without an engine - the ship was perfectly flyable (even if you weren't likely to get far off of Tatooine without a hyperdrive).

Like I said, if I'm a dealer with a couple of low priced transports, I'm seriously considering making the trade for a top-notch Nubian like that. The value of the Nubian, even minus a working hyperdrive (and in whatever monetary or barter system you like) is certainly multiple times that of your standard fare vessel found on Tatooine. Even if all I do is break my new purchase down and sell it for parts, I'm more than coming out ahead on the deal. Hell, I'll make it a point of selling it to an off-worlder, if that's my only way of ensuring a massive profit.


But you know what, even after saying all of this, I don't really find any fault with Qui-Gon, or his methods. He may have been viewed as a maverick, but as far as I'm concerned, he was pretty on-the-ball.

 

Which is the point of a ship like that. But anyway, the values and all it's pure speculation. I see your point though.

 

Actually credits are the units of the monetary system in SW.

 

Wow. Are you actually defending slavery? Ani didn't get to play with pods. He was made to race by Watto against other people who wanted him dead. He got to rebuild droids from scratch to assist his overworked mother who was also a slave.

The slaves brought over from Africa were also provided with food and housing, I bet they should have been happy with their compensation as well eh?

 

Perhaps you need to acquaint yourself with the conditions of actual slavery where one can be worked to death and starved, disposed, and a replacement purchased. And families were rarely if ever kept together.

 

Which were exactly the conditions Shmi and Anakin were under. The difference is that Watto chose not to work them to death and starve them.

 

We don't see any evidence of truly harsh slavery in Star Wars. It seems to be more of "indentured servitude".

Furthermore, Watto had a used parts store, not exactly a plantation. Come to think of it, did Shmi work in the store? No evidence of that. So either Watto had more businesses (no evidence of that) or he kept Shmi as a pet. We have a "slave" who doesn't appear to do any work, who has a protocol droid to help her, uh, with her ettiquette and protocol?

Well, on second thought, there's the clones. They are truly slaves, born and bred.