{"id":2673,"date":"2002-05-20T09:58:36","date_gmt":"2002-05-20T14:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=2673"},"modified":"2014-11-06T10:15:11","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T17:15:11","slug":"why_the_empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/05\/20\/why_the_empire.html","title":{"rendered":"Why the Empire is Better than the Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rather thoughtful (though somewhat tongue-in-cheek) analysis as to why, in the Star Wars <\/i>universe, the Empire isn’t all that bad<\/a>. It echoes a few of my thoughts about AotC<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The destruction of Alderaan is often cited as ipso facto proof of the Empire’s “evilness” because it seems like mass murder–planeticide, even. As Tarkin prepares to fire the Death Star, Princess Leia implores him to spare the planet, saying, “Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons.” Her plea is important, if true.
\nBut the audience has no reason to believe that Leia is telling the truth. In Episode IV, every bit of information she gives the Empire is willfully untrue. In the opening, she tells Darth Vader that she is on a diplomatic mission of mercy, when in fact she is on a spy mission, trying to deliver schematics of the Death Star to the Rebel Alliance. When asked where the Alliance is headquartered, she lies again.
\nLeia’s lies are perfectly defensible–she thinks she’s serving the greater good–but they make her wholly unreliable on the question of whether or not Alderaan really is peaceful and defenseless. If anything, since Leia is a high-ranking member of the rebellion and the princess of Alderaan, it would be reasonable to suspect that Alderaan is a front for Rebel activity or at least home to many more spies and insurgents like Leia.<\/p>\n

I don’t buy all of Last’s arguments, and I’m not sure he does, either, but it’s interesting. A lot of it centers around politics — but since Lucas brought that <\/i>whole subject up, it’s fair game.<\/p>\n

(Via InstaPundit<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A rather thoughtful (though somewhat tongue-in-cheek) analysis as to why, in the Star Wars universe, the Empire isn’t all that bad. It echoes a few of my thoughts about AotC….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,372],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-star-wars-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5688,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/23\/pithy.html","url_meta":{"origin":2673,"position":0},"title":"Pithy","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 23-Jan-04 8:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This week's Game WISH: Sum up one or more games that you GM or play in 10 words or less. (Three is best, but not everybody is that pithy.) Don\u2019t...","rel":"","context":"In "Gaming"","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4691,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/07\/21\/weekend_round_u-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":2673,"position":1},"title":"Weekend round-up","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 21-Jul-03 8:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"Lazy, crazy, hazy days ... Doyce's Star Wars \"Prince of Alderaan\" campaign came to a crashing halt on Friday, just hours before the game was to begin. 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Originally shared by +BackintheUSA: People waited on May 22, 1980 in Denver, Colorado to get into a screening of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/star-wars-trilogy-theater-lines-05.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19152,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/08\/tweets-from-2010-11-08.html","url_meta":{"origin":2673,"position":3},"title":"Tweets from 2010-11-08","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Nov-10 10:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Body didn't quite figure out the whole \"No, we get to sleep in an hour later\" thing this morning. Ugh. # Repaired leaky flapper valve in toilet yesterday. Turns out that's not where the leak is, dagnabbit. # Is it a bad sign I'm not even to the office yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7492,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/21\/destroying_the.html","url_meta":{"origin":2673,"position":4},"title":"Destroying the Earth is hard work","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 21-Feb-05 9:41am","format":false,"excerpt":"Not necessarily killing off its inhabitants, or making it a barren wasteland, but actually destroying the planet, Alderaan-style, is not a project for the casual tinkerer, whatever you may have...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129135,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/15\/movie-review-the-empire-strikes-back-1980.html","url_meta":{"origin":2673,"position":5},"title":"Movie Review: "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 15-Dec-15 6:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"For my money the best of the original trilogy, with a more epic scope than the original and less cuteness\/slapstick than the third. 4\/5 stars (and a \"favorite\" heart).http:\/\/letterboxd.com\/three_star_dave\/film\/star-wars-episode-v-the-empire-strikes-back\/ \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/the-empire-strikes-back-dream-poster5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/the-empire-strikes-back-dream-poster5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/the-empire-strikes-back-dream-poster5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46987,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions\/46987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}