ST The morality of TFA

I think McLaren and Darth Hater would fit in perfectly over here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EmpireDidNothingWrong/

 

It's not even the 'side of good'. It's the deliberate killing of non-combatants without any tactical value other than a vulgar display of power. The Empire attacking and destroying Rebellion warships? That's justified in so far as war is. The stormtroopers capturing the village where Poe had the map? That's justified as the map had military value. Kylo Ren's "kill them all" order after they had surrendered and Poe had been captured? War crime...as it is for those who follow the order. Using the DS (except to attack Rebel warships) or SKB? War crime.

 

I am not sure what else they could have done to keep Phasma out of the way. It's pretty hard to lock up someone who knows all of the security codes, protocols etc. and given the other option would presumably be to simply kill her in cold blood (which would be very suspect for Han, and RIGHT OUT for Finn) then it's down the compactor with her. She can't pull rank on a trash compactor, she's unlikely to be found any time soon and whilst unlikely to be fatal will keep her occupied and prevent her raising the alarm. Basically the ideal solution.

 

What Palpatine did, is a prefect recreation of what happened in Rome, taking it away from democracy:
1. Both the Republic and Rome had a war leader.
2. The war leader didn't return his power after the death of their enemies. The Senate couldn't get it back because the wartime leader had the army.
The only difference in tactics was the Roman war was real, while the Republic fought a proxy war.

As for TFA let me set an example of what the restitance would be in our world:

In the fight against ISIS (TFO) a political leader(Liea) sets up a group of vigilantes to better fight these terrorists without the red tape of a democracy.

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I never thought that they actually intended to kill Phasma, they just wanted her out of the way long enough to complete their mission. So while dumping her down a trash shoot isn't ideal, it only becomes flat-out problematic if they then turn said trash compactor on and kill her (which they clearly didn't). And Finn enjoying getting back as his jerk of an ex-boss on some level just makes him seem, well more human honestly.

The thing about the FO is that, even when they do something that you can kind of justify in a war-time setting (although the war only officially starts when they nuke the Hosnian System, but whatever), they then immediately follow it up with flat out crimes:

-Storming the village because it's harboring info of military value-OK that can be justified.

Ordering their cold-blooded killing when the battle is over and they've already been defeated, disarmed, and surrounded-that's a war crime.

-Capturing Poe and Rey because you know that they have relevant information to your goal-again kind of justifiable.

But then torturing them for said information-that's also a war crime.

-Going after an enemy government-again kind of justifiable.

Blowing up an entire star system full of countless innocent people in the process, and doing it deliberately-war crime.

-Etc.

 

Thrawn082 wrote

So while dumping her down a trash shoot isn't ideal, it only becomes flat-out problematic if they then turn said trash compactor on and kill her (which they clearly didn't).

Wait a minute. Dumping her down and turning the trash compactor on is bad, but dumping her down and let somebody else (accidentally) turn on the trash compactor would be okay?

Solo himself had been once in a trash compactor and almost gotten squashed like an insect. It strikes me as rather odd, that he wouldn't mind any sentient being suffer such a fate, pretty cynical and cold-hearted if you'd ask me.

Darth Hater wrote

Likewise, when Han and Luke killed Imperial Stormtroopers while wearing the uniform of their enemy they were also war criminals.

On the other hand they did so merely to free Princess Leia who was illegally seized (diplomatic immunity violated by Vader), imprisoned and sentenced to death (without a trial) by Governor Tarkin.

P.S. No stormtroopers were killed while they were using a stormtrooper uniform to hide their identities...two black security officers and a few security guards.

 

The black-suited guys are not just security officers but stormtrooper officers:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Childsen

 

If they intentionally did that, then yes it would be. But I doubt that that entered their minds. They had very little time or options and needed Phasma out of the way. So it was either this, or straight-up executing her in cold blood. This, was the less "problematic" option.

Don't forget that Vader also lied to the Imperial Senate by ordering his subordinate to report that everyone onboard Lea's ship were killed (so that no one asked questions about Leia). He then tortured her onboard the DS at least once, and he and Tarkin blew up an entire planet, killing billions of innocent people, basically just to prove a point.