We don't need some guy to point and say "these guys are evil."
Sure we do. And in fact, that is the very first thing that happens. It's right there in the title crawl:
"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory over the EVIL Galactic Empire."
Emphasis mine. The fact that you generalise an entire group based on the actions of a single man only reinforces my point: one side is all good, and the other is all evil. Han Solo is a rogue with a heart of gold, he gets to be a good guy with bad guy traits, because he isn't really part of the rebellion. But the Rebels themselves are all good, and the Empire all evil. There is no nuance. Again, we are never shown what makes the Empire evil, we are only shown that they employ scary names like "stormtroopers", "death star" and the like, and we are shown the occasional atrocity. But nothing about politics, individual freedoms or anything like that. Just "Epire evil, just because." The atrocities shown are not the result of policy, but happen for the practical purposes of quelling a rebellion. They can be used as examples of how
ruthless the Empire is, but not how evil they are. The Allies committed numerous atrocities in WWII as well, even to the point of nuking two civilian cities, yet ultimately one would have to agree that the good guys did win the war.
reply
share
jekporkins (1927)
4 years ago
Holy cow man, I have listed a slew of reasons why the empire is evil and you're saying there is no proof. I don't think they are practical reasons whatsoever for 'quelling a rebellion.'
That's like saying slaughtering the jews in WW2 or the Japanese pulling the Nanking Massacre was a practical purpose of quelling a possible rebellion.
reply
share
Karl Aksel (1453)
4 years ago
Holy cow man, I have listed a slew of reasons why the empire is evil
No, you never did anything of the kind. You listed reasons why
Darth Vader and possibly the
Emperor were evil, but not the Empire itself. Show me examples of POLICY.
I don't think they are practical reasons whatsoever for 'quelling a rebellion.'
Are you serious? So you think nothing they did had anything to do with defeating the rebellion, but just being evil for evil's sake? The stormtroopers attacked a ship because they needed to retrieve the plans to the Death Star. The prisoner who was force strangled, same reason. Destroying the farm, same reason. Leia was being tortured for information about the Rebel base. Her home planet was also destroyed in order to break her. Why break her? Because she was a vital link to the rebellion. These sorts of things happen all the time in war. Except for the planetary destruction, though that can certainly be said to take place on a lesser scale.
That's like saying slaughtering the jews in WW2 or the Japanese pulling the Nanking Massacre was a practical purpose of quelling a possible rebellion.
I'd like to see you justify that comparison. Exterminating the Jews took place because Hitler wanted to, well, exterminate the Jews. It had nothing to do with the war effort itself. We do not see any indication that the Galactic Empire practices ethnic cleansing. The massacre in Nanking, on the other hand, was part of Japanese strategy to break the Chinese will. It was very much in the spirit of medieval warfare: if you besiege a city, you let them go easy if they surrender quickly. The harder a time they give you, however, the harder a time you will give them when they are forced to surrender. That will send a clear message to the
next city.
reply
share
mitzibishi (1621)
4 years ago
I think it was confirmed when the Empire blew up an entire planet, almost at random, to blackmail a prisoner they had.
I've heard of torture and blackmail techniques but killing billions is an brand new one.
Hitler took how many years to kill how many Jews with it being his master plan. The Empire takes seconds to kill billions of innocents they dont even care about and its not even a top level decision, upper management waved their hand and it was done without the CEO or the board of directors even knowing about it.
reply
share
Karl Aksel (1453)
4 years ago
I think it was confirmed when the Empire blew up an entire planet, almost at random, to blackmail a prisoner they had.
It wasn't random at all, it was Leia's home planet.
I've heard of torture and blackmail techniques but killing billions is an brand new one.
You've heard of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, haven't you?
Hitler took how many years to kill how many Jews with it being his master plan. The Empire takes seconds to kill billions of innocents they dont even care about
The difference is merely one of technology.
and its not even a top level decision, upper management waved their hand and it was done without the CEO or the board of directors even knowing about it.
If true, then it is a war crime for which the Empire itself is blameless.
reply
share