Interesting detail I noticed about the Tuskens

This is how I read it:

"I'd just like to thank all the little people I had to step on to get where I am today."

Do you see how empty the use of the word 'people' is in that instance?

In the case of Palpatine, I think it's just as empty.

It's an interesting observation that you made, but in context, I don't believe there is an real meaning behind it. Sorry.

 

Do you see how empty the use of the word 'people' is in that instance?


Yep, the term "people" can be used very loosely in a lot of situations.
Some primitive tribes in the Phillipines and the Amazon also refer to monkeys and orangutans as people too. Doesnt mean they are.

 

I find this whole conversation a little bit distastful and condescending toward Muslims....I mean Sand People.

 

I havn't read the ANH novelization, but I may have heard it from someone who had. But that sounds about right.

Carnage

 

Interesting...I never really paid attention to the different ways characters referred to the Sand People....

According to wookipedia:

Sandpeople, sometimes referred to as Tusken Raiders, were a group of nomadic sapients indigenous to Tatooine. They acquired the name Tusken Raiders from their attack on one of Tatooine's earliest modern settlements, Fort Tusken, although they referred to themselves as Ghorfa.

Assuming the above to be accurate, neither 'Sand People' nor 'Tusken Raiders' is their true name...though I would guess 'Sand People' to be the more PC term (as the 'Raiders' was coined after an attack on an offworlder settlement).

That being said, Palpatine DID go with a more humane phrasing than he probably could have. Though he first heard the story from Anakin - might Anakin have referred to them as Sand People in his description in the first place?

 

Ya know, even if it doesn't mean anything, at least it inspires conversations and for that, I'm grateful we have posters like Cryo here.
His is at least based on deeper observation that gives the story more interesting with meaningful contexts which sets it apart by leagues from the really wld, pointless theories.
I just happen to not agree with him this time

 

This is the Year of the Raider!!!!! Long live Skeletor..I mean Al Davis

 

I think George decided to use the term "Sand People" as another way of tying ROTS to ANH. I doubt theres much more in than that, really. Just another way of connecting the two movies together.

 

I think you have a point here, Cryogenic. He could have called them Tuskens but he didn't. Nothing that Palpatine says isn't thought out very well. By explicitly referring to the Tuskens as "people" I think he deliberately makes a connection between the "evil sand people" and the evil Count Dooku. Making the point that it is only natural to kill "evil people", if one wants revenge.

 

And I find it offensive to raiders.


[image=http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f205/leiafan/raiders_of_the_lost_ark_49-small.jpg]

 

I'm not looking into this subject more than it needs to be. The terms 'Sand People' and 'Tusken Raiders' are simply that, different terms for the same thing. It's like the different terms used to refer to American Law Enforcement; 'Cops', 'Pigs', 'Police'. Different terms, same thing. However, it depends what side your on for which term you use. If you look at what they did to Shmi as a crime, you probably wouldn't refer to them as "people", but as animals, aka the 'Tusken Raiders'.

 

Thank you for all your responses. mandragora, ever the philosopher, I thank you most of all (and not just because you're kinda, sorta agreeing with me ).

Ultimately, as the consensus has indicated to me, I'm probably reading into this too far. But Palpatine does choose his words carefully; it's therefore a little unusual, even if purely accidental, that he is the first to refer to them as people. Taking it out of the fictional context of Star Wars is silly, though, as some people in here have tried to do. As if you're going to refer to existing groups on this planet as "Sand People"? It would be a pejorative word simply because each tribe/group/ethnicity either has a name that differs from that or eschews labels altogether. But the case within Star Wars is different. "Sand People" isn't necessarily a crude term within that galaxy, and even if it is somewhat insulting, "Tusken Raiders" sounds even worse to me.

But again: it's probably nothing.

I've got other stuff that'll cook your noodle.

 

I still wonder what they did to Shmi for all the time they kept her.

 

I still wonder what they did to Shmi for all the time they kept her.




Good question, you probably should start a new thread on this. What was the point of taking her in the first place? Were they human eaters and holding her as fresh meat ? Were they holding her as ransom ?

 

No need for that. It's been covered before by the Queen and her dog. To answer his question, I'm sure it was torture and nothing more. I had a source to go along with that quite a while ago, but I lost it.

 

[AotC Novel]

 

It's been covered before by the Queen and her dog.

Whos the Queen and her dog ? So they fed her and kept her alive just for sport ?

 

Not doubting the source, but...keeping Shmi for torture only....that just makes the kind of sense that, well, doesn't. The Sandpeople are nomadic people living the harsh life - it wouldn't make sense to keep Shmi alive (albeit poorly) with their limited resources just for kicks. Even if they wanted to send a message to the local settlers, they could have simply killed her.

 

Well, it went further in that it said it was a rite of passage or some such. Torture a victim, but keep them alive for as long as possible. The longer they live, the more honor they have.

I was never too worried about this matter. What they kept her for isn't as important as seeing the results of it, and her dying.

 

"I find this whole conversation a little bit distastful and condescending toward Muslims....I mean Sand People."

when i saw th sand people in AOTC i thought "Indians!"

 

This is interesting:

Padme: "To be angry is to be human."
Anakin: "I'm a Jedi. I know I'm better than that."

Anakin: "I shouldn't have done it. It's not the Jedi way."
Palpatine: "It is only natural. He cut off your arm and you wanted revenge."

What is going on here? Padme and Palpatine telling Anakin about the same thing?