Things crossing my mind while at work:

[bzarcher]

Nintendo's apparently dropped the GameCube to $150. I hereby state, much like I did with the DC, that if it goes below $75 any time soon, I might just have to get one. (As it is, I -doubt- that the PS2 will get any cheaper...but wouldn't it be nice if it did?)

"A case for Empire." This makes a lot of sense.

We had an actor from the Ohio Light Opera (they perform at the college, and live in our Small Houses) call 10 times over the weekend because his dell wouldn't connect to the internet. He hadn't bothered to install the drivers for his new Ethernet card.

More people need to use the phrase: " can make you sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet your pants."

Dell apparently has started employing convicted criminals in their computer recycling plants. I wonder if they get paid better than I do...

I'm feeling really horny and I have no clue why. Can hormones spontaneously manifest if you haven't used them in awhile?

Comments

[sk4p.livejournal.com]

> This makes a lot of sense.

OK, let me rip it to shreds for you. :)

Which makes the Jedi ... a royalist Swiss guard.

So, um, the Jedi cannot "pass on" any genetic traits, as you yourself have observed (unless they have some "non-attached, non-love-based" breeding program, which is not out of the question). However, the author's argument seems to hinge on midi-chlorians being the cause of the Force, as opposed to something which shows up in quantity as a side effect of the Force. I don't remember the exact dialogue in Episode I about it, but I don't recall Qui-Gon asserting that they were a cause, just a reliable indicator of Force-attunement.

The distribution of Force-attunement is more democratic/egalitarian than the so-called Imperial "meritocracy", of which more later.

He asserts that separatists are more or less nice guys whose motives should be trusted, because they just want a "fresh start". Yeah, but how many innocent lives are they willing to sacrifice? They are willing to present their Clone Army to the Republic and use the threat of force to achieve their ends - not a very good stance philosophically for people with an "absolute commitment to capitalism".

He cites Palpatine's "motives" and basically takes Palpatine at his word. He doesn't take Leia at her word about Alderaan. He cites good reasons not to trust Leia, but overlooks the fine reasons not to trust Imperials, including Palpatine. (Example: Tarkin gets info from Leia about the Rebel base "on Dantooine", and then blows up Alderaan anyhow - not because he doesn't believe her, mind you! He is highly surprised and agitated at Vader when Leia is shown to be lying.) So he's inclined to give the Empire and its agents the benefit of the doubt, but not extend the same to his opposition.

The full response is too long for LJ, so I'm posting the rest in a moment. :)

[sk4p.livejournal.com]

Imperial "meritocracy". Yeah, a meritocracy of the humans. Ever notice how the Rebellion has no problem with using the best "people" for the job, no matter what species those "people" are, while the Imperials are (without exception in the canon, i.e. the movies) all humans. The Empire is clearly a racist entity. (Example: "Where are you taking this ... thing?" as opposed to simply "Where are you taking this Wookie?") A meritocracy that excludes based solely on race is no meritocracy.

Yes, Vader seems to have "less evil" motives than the Emperor. We know that. If he didn't, he wouldn't have killed him in Episode VI. That doesn't diminish the overall evil of the Empire as an organization, or its leader as an individual. Vader is not the leader of the Empire. Palpatine is.

As to "Leia can't be trusted, thus blowing up Alderaan was justifiable": (a) See above - when he chose to blow up Alderaan, Tarkin did believe Leia, at least beyond a reasonable doubt, or he would have said to Vader "As we expected, she was lying" rather than being surprised. That eliminates the argument out of hand, but furthermore (b) Assuming Tarkin was even remotely in a position of sufficient authority to authorize the destruction of an entire planet of people, clearly he must have had other sources of information about said planet at his disposal besides Leia, so he must have known - whether she was lying about the rebel base or not - that she was at least being truthful about Alderaan being a peaceful, weaponless planet. He must have known he was taking on a planet with inadequate or non-existent defenses.

Even an Empire that placed "order" over "goodness" would have to recognize the invalidation of order inherent in the destruction of a planet, even if a portion of its population was tied to the Rebellion; at least without a warning. "Unless you surrender the Rebel dissidents to Imperial custody in the next thirty days, your planet will be destroyed; and we have a fleet of Star Destroyers in orbit to blockade any would-be escapees." That would be a commitment to order.

As for his "After the Rebellion" section, this is completely ludicrous. I grant that the movies are vague about ideals of restoring the Republic, etc., but not having specific ideas about a better system of government is no justification for tolerating an existing system which is massively murderous, fascistic, and racist. Even if the galaxy fractures into a bunch of different regions governed by various "potentates", no one of them will have the resources to execute the mass terror and destruction inflicted by the unified Empire, and each can be (relatively) easily absorbed into/liberated by whatever better system the rebels do establish.

And furthermore on that last bit, the fact that Episodes IV-VI don't show us extensive constitutional conventions on the part of the Alliance don't prove that said conventions never happen. However, I admit this line of argument on my part is a bit weak, since one could equally argue that the Empire does massive humanitarian and charity work "off-camera", but I think the rest of this comment conveys sufficient arguments to assert my conclusion:

Bullshit.

(Mind you, I think the Empire is pretty cool, and I can imagine absolute autocracies governed by actually benevolent despots, but the Empire of Eps IV-VI ain't one of them.)

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

*grins* I think the problem with both our arguments from here out is that they require off camera evidence, but I would note that for a "human supremicist" empire, they had no problem working with other species, or apparently leaving a majority of "alien" worlds with local autonomy, not to mention relying on alien species for major needs. Hell, they have to be giving the non-humans a good bit of leeway, or how the hell could they go and build all those ships and cruisers and fighters for the Rebellion without the Empire noticing? (I can't accept that in a 10,000 world empire, they're majority human worlds. Can't.)

Okay, so the military appears human dominated. Fine. It could also be argued that as it began as a cloned human force (and may still draw on such creations for manpower), they simply continued with what they knew how to easily make. Hell, it could even be suggested that the human military is put on the line because they are more expendable. Not less. But that's also supposition, I admit.

All in all, however, what I really like about that article is how it generates discussions like this.