Is the Empire the real good guys?

I like Luke's answer to Ben on this subject:

"Why don't you ask the people of Alderaan. Oh wait, it isn't there anymore!"

 

You know I can't help but wonder if from a human perspective the Empire was a good thing. Supposedly it promoted human dominance of the Galaxy, and as humans would any of you want an alien species to take that roll from you? I don't think I would. Survival among sentient species on a galactic scale might be quite Darwinian.

 

That's like saying from a white perspective slavery was good as it maintained a white dominance. The Rebellion simply wants non-human sentients to have the same rights as humans as they did in the Old Republic.

 

It would be the same thing if blacks and whites were too completely different species. When it comes to actual different sentient species then it might be fair to prefer your own to any other. If another pigmentation of humankind takes over as the dominant influence on Earth that doesn't threaten the long-term survivability of your own pigmented group. However if another life-form, which you can't breed with, does then your species has definitely lost ground. I wonder if something like the Star Wars galaxy would actually work in real-life, assuming there is intelligent life out there.

 

Yeah, as soon as I had shut off my computer I realized that was a flawed analogy. It's workable but flawed. I would argue the point that those in favor of slavery/racism don't believe that another racial group coming to power threatens the survival of their own pigment group however.

I don't know if it would, but at least in Star Wars humans were still one of the more dominant species even after the Republic had stood for 1,000 generations of letting multiple species have equal rights so humans likely would have little problem functioning and remaining influential in whatever government the Rebellion would set up, especially since humans represent so many different planets while most species only represent one.

 

Lucas made a number of admitted correlations between what you see in the movies regarding the empire and regimes and dicatatorships in our own world and history. Yes people cheered Hitler in Munich, and People cheered Mussolini in Palermo and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang. The true question is how many people went because they honestly adhere to what's being said at these rallies or they felt they had no choice but to attend a state sponsored event? Sure there was lots of cheering for the dictatorships of our 20th century, but there sure was a lot of cheering, if not perhaps even more when we toppled those regimes in those same places.

As for people stanging up in the Republic senate and cheering the formation of the 1st Galactic Empire? Hmmm....Palpatine raised an Army and a Navy more or less overnight, the guardians and protectors of the galaxy (the jedi) were wiped out in days. Clearly these people had a choice, join the "winning" team on the surface and strive for change from the inside.

Technically speaking, yes the Rebel Alliance were terrorists, but no more so than the men and women whom began the American Revolution. It all depends on what side of the street you are standing on when it goes down.

As for the other topics, Palpatine was famous for his predjudices against any non-human species with extremely limited exceptions and if you look at the Jedi Search novels even more so against women. Alien worlds were the brunt of the harshest treatment all in the name of law and order. Any society or government which limits the very things that your creator gave you to you, free will, open thoughts and opinions and a chance at a "fair" life with as little suffering as possible is evil and wrong.

Both sides of argument have thier loyalists and thats the beauty of a democracy. They have the right to choose which side they subscribe to.

 

I just find it sad that there even is argument. I mean, it should be obvious that an Empire who destroys a planet, enslaves multiple species, etc. is evil.

 

It was all to make the galaxy more able to resist the Vong, you see. ( just kidding )

 

I started this thread a long time ago, but I would like to bump this up to get some opinions from people who were not members when this topic was hot. I just noticed that the thread is locked. I guess it's like me too old.

 

This thread hasn't been active for over six years, so it's staying locked. 'Necroposting' - bumping a long-dead thread - is, for the most part, not permitted.

Feel free to start a new thread on the same subject, however.