Star Wars, Capitalism, and The Empire May 19. 2005

My friends Maura, M.Lovely and I went to the midnight showing of Star Wars: Episode III. Maura had to do a report for the paper and she bought my ticket... so how could I say no? (Even thought today I am so tired sitting here at work). I don't want to give anything away for those who planning on seeing it but I will repeat my favorite quote from the show. This was a dialog between Darth Vader and Obi Wan. Darth Vader tells Obi Wan, "You are either with us or you are the enemy." To which Obi Wan responds, "Only the Sith think is such un-nuanced binary terms." (or something like that, it was like 1am when I heard it) I just laughed and laughed because all I could think about was the quote from George W. Bush, "You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists" George W. Bush is a Sith! The funny thing is, when I was watching Episodes IV, V, and VI with Maura in preparation for this Episode my mind continually saw the stark similarities between American domestic and foreign policy and that of the Empire's in Star Wars.

In other news, I have been thinking a lot about just how inherently evil capitalism is (please don't confuse this with democracy. They are completely separate ideas). Capitalism is an ethic of fear and scarcity thats supreme goal is security at the cost of others who are unable to compete (read: greed). It is a system that worships "money" and ownership of materials. Both of these things are fictions and are extensions of a prideful mindset. I see far too many of the socialist institutions in this country being eroded by those who worship this Capitalism and follow its tenets. I haven't fully thought about these things and I need to learn more if I want to articulate anything more than I have already but think about this little bit of information I learned about Capitalism in high school economics class. Capitalism as a system of economy requires there to be a group of poor and oppressed people for the system to function correctly.

So with all that, I wonder if the Empire of America will be defused before it is coalesced or if far greater oppression will rise before the Culture of Fear and Scarcity falls from it's own internal hate and suffering.
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David  Thursday, May 19. 2005 @ 12:07
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my mind continually saw the stark similarities
Hasn't Lucas gone on record saying that he was deliberately modeling the Empire after America, or at least the path to the dark side that it could easily tend towards? So definite similarities, on purpose. Specifically, he wrote it during Vietnam, but much of it stands true for Iraq as well.

Capitalism.. I think it's easy to find the symptoms of evil in it, but a far more worthy challenge to propose something better than Capitalism, or where Capitalism can/should be tweaked to be less evil. For all of it's evil, where is it worse than any of the multitude of other failed forms of society/state interaction?
#1 Justin Walters (Homepage) on 2005-05-19 13:10 (Reply)
That could totally be true about Lucas. I really don't pay attention to pop entertainment news and whatnot. If it is true, he did a marvalous job at it.

Capitalism is inherently evil. It is not a thing or a being but rather it is an idea and an ethic or way of living life. Ethical modes of living can be inherntly selfish and immoral. That is not to say that moral and good things can't be tacted onto the evil ethic. For example, social security is a means of preventing the evils of capitalism from over taking the individaulistic and privitized drive found in capitalism that would render weaker people oppressed. Some would key this term as "welfare capitalism" it creates a balance between the evil of the ethic and the desire for people to live in community. Something else that has been put forth as an alternative to the Empire of Capitalism, or globalization, is Democratic Socialism.

I'm really just thinking out loud. I have no real "course of action" as the moderists would say.
#2 David (Homepage) on 2005-05-19 14:43 (Reply)

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