Yoda and the Evil Jedi

Yoda and the Evil Jedi

By Philip Pournelle

Now that the Star Wars saga has ended in a whimper, it is time to take a closer look at some of the most iconic characters in the famous saga. If we look at what they did and not what they say, we find the Jedi and their spiritual leader were evil and incompetent. Thus the cause of the Rebellion, and its later form the Resistance, is similarly malignant and destructive as they wage war to restore a theocracy lead by the Jedi.

Star Wars was originally supposed to be a fun escapist adventure movie modeled after the early serialized adventure movies such as Flash Gordon and the like. The movie’s enormous popularity arose in part of because of the masterful blend of a coming of age story of a child of destiny as he joins a movement to free the Galaxy from an evil empire. Luke discovers his father was a member of a noble elite order known as the Jedi Knights who possess magical powers. From the first successful movie sprung the many sequels, books, essays, movies, and television series; mostly for entertainment. But we also see books and essays which try to draw out deeper meaning behind the works,—yet many fail to properly diagnose the true struggle playing out in the saga, particularly in the prequels.

We are told by a former member of the Jedi: “For a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, before the dark times, before the Empire.” Thus we are led to believe the Rebellion, the Alliance, and later the Resistance are the noble underdogs attempting to restore a golden age of peace, justice, and democracy by fighting an evil empire. The problem is, what Ben Kenobi is telling young Luke Skywalker is a lie.

If we judge Grand Master Yoda and his Jedi henchmen by what they did rather than by what they said, we can see they were an evil caliphate which enslaved child soldiers, subverted the republic, attempted to spy on and later assassinate the leader of the civilian government (because of religious differences), conducted war crimes against their enemies, and risked everything on a single capability which turned out to be faulty. Once we understand this, we can see the rebels are not attempting to restore democracy but instead a flawed theocracy, every time they repeat the phrase “May the Force be with you” — a phrase drawn from the religious fanatical sect of Jedi driving their terrorist movement.

Slavery is the Root of the Jedi

The Jedi employed child slave soldiers, a practice that is inherently evil. The Jedi sought out children who are “Force Sensitive,” those demonstrating natural abilities and affinity to employ the techniques of their religion. As an example, when Qui-Gon Jinn encounters Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine he begins a campaign to take the child back to the Jedi temple on Coruscant. He tells Anakin’s mother that had Anakin been born in the Republic he would have been identified early and inducted into the order. When given the opportunity to free the boy or his mother, Qui-Gon Jinn, chooses to take the child prodigy and purposely leaves his mother behind as a slave.

The Jedi separated children from their families and indoctrinate them at an early age. Anakin was only one of many children taken by the Jedi for indoctrination. In fact, we saw many “younglings” who are much younger than Anakin being indoctrinated by Grand Master Yoda and trained to use deadly weapons. Yoda explained the reason for separating children from their families when they are young was to remove attachments outside the Jedi order and in fact objected to Anakin’s training due to his attachment to his mother. In Anakin’s case, the separation will cause deep psychological scarring. But since sentient beings seek relationships, this practice was purposely designed to bind the Padawans to the order and not to anyone outside it. When Anakin’s son Luke arrives at Dagobah to begin his training, Yoda objects saying Luke is too old, and thus too independent.

The practice of enslaving and indoctrinating children to bind them into a fanatical religious order is of course a historic practice on earth. Islamic Caliphates, particularly the Sultan of Turkey, employed the practice of taking young male children of non-believers in occupied territory as a form of taxation, to become Janissaries. These children would be indoctrinated into the faith and fight as shock troops for the Caliph. Turkish Janissaries were known as some of the most fearsome warriors on Earth, up until a coalition of freedom loving Christians routed them at the Battle of Vienna. Janissaries and their Egyptian cousins, the Mamelukes, were intended to be slaves to the state, safeguarding and serving their political masters with complete loyalty. In time both Janissaries and Mamelukes (like the Praetorian Guard of Rome) began to have their own agenda and began to effectively control their respective empires. In the case of the Mamelukes, they ruled Egypt up until Napoleon defeated them.

Who Serves who?

Like the Mamelukes, it is evident the Jedi order has subverted the Old Republic by the time The Phantom Menace begins. In fact the Republic is in the control of the Jedi; the Senate is just a façade to occupy would be politicians while extracting taxes from the people to maintain the well-appointed Jedi temple. The Jedi exercise military, diplomatic, and police powers but report to the Jedi Council, not the Senate which is supposed to represent the governed.

There is no civilian controlled military, the Jedi have taken on that role but its membership is self-selected. Yoda is the Grand Master due to seniority, not because he was appointed by the Chancellor or confirmed by the Senate. Further, Yoda is never called before the Senate to discuss the crisis with the separatists. When it became evident there weren’t enough Jedi (like the Spartans, their numbers had declined due to their practices) to fight the oncoming war, they inducted Clones to fight rather than recruit from the citizens of the Republic. The use of accelerated growth and intense conditioning made the clones effectively child slave soldiers of the Jedi and thus (the Jedi believed) pose no political power threat. No uppity citizen veteran would assert the right to have a say in the government. The acquisition of the Clones is accomplished by the Jedi without discussion. Later the Senate conducted pro-forma deliberations after the fact funding the new Grand Army of clone troopers, led by the Jedi.

Because of the crisis, a new Chancellor was elected. But the Chancellor demonstrated he had his own agenda and instead decided he would control the government’s policy. The Chancellor sought advice from the republic’s military leadership and selected Anakin as his military advisor. The Jedi council’s response was astounding. They informed Anakin upon his selection that while he sits on the council, he would not be considered a master and thus had no voice in setting policy. This would be akin to telling the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that he may provide military advice to the President, but holds no power in military policy making. To add further insult, Anakin is instructed to spy on the Chancellor. The Jedi council admits this is treason, but that it is justified because “we are at war.”

Later Anakin revealed to Mace Windu that he suspected the Chancellor is a member of an opposing sect of the same religion, upon which armed Jedi race off to confront Palpatine. While Windu claimed to be arresting Palpatine in the name of Senate, when Palpatine is defeated Windu’s true intentions are revealed. Windu intended to assassinate the Chancellor the whole time as the Senate and the courts cannot be trusted to carry out the edicts of the Jedi in this religious dispute. No impeachment, no trial, was held. The Jedi set to kill the Chancellor for daring to defy them and being of a different religious sect.

The attempted assassination of the Chancellor is not the only war crime or crime against humanity (sentience?) conducted by the Jedi. On a regular basis the Jedi employed crimes against consciousness when employing their mind control tricks. Jedi often blurred the lines between diplomats and assassins. We heard Anakin boast to Amadia that when Jedi are dispatched to conduct diplomatic missions and are unable to get their way, they revert to “Aggressive Negotiations”—assassinating their counter parts. It is clear why the Trade Federation were very concerned when they discovered the representatives of the Republic were Jedi; they knew all agreements were going to be coerced. We’ve already seen how Mace Windu intended to kill Palpatine after defeating him; only intervention by Anakin prevented the unlawful killing. Similarly, when Obi-Wan literally disarms Anakin, instead of taking him into custody and treating his wounds according to the laws of war, Obi-Wan leaves Anakin to die. This lack of charity lead to enormous consequences for everyone involved.

Worse than a Crime, a Mistake

Others have commented on how the Jedi, masters of one-on-one combat were extremely tactically oriented and poor generals. Like the Imperial Japanese Empire, following the habits of their Samurai predecessors, the Jedi relied entirely on a swift preemptive strike supported by stealth and deception. Their whole organization, numbers and force structure were extremely reliant on one very special talent, their ability to see the future. When confronted with an opponent who knew of and could negate this capability, their entire strategy fell apart like a house of cards. Having developed an order and structure optimized towards the ability to see the future and neutralize any threat, they could not cope when they lost it. Having cut their numbers to a minimum, perhaps to save costs due to the rising expenses to train and maintain Jedi Knights, they had no resources to fall back upon. They were forced to make a hasty decision to employ the Clones, with disastrous consequences.

These are not the heroes you are looking for

In light of what the Jedi do, not what they say, we see a new aspect of the Rebellion, Alliance, and Resistance. They are not freedom fighters, but terrorist seeking to re-install not a republic but a theocracy. They wish to return the Jedi to control of a caliphate; the same incompetent Jedi that enslaved countless children, ran the Jedi Republic with a façade of a Senate, eliminated those with differing religious beliefs, and used assassination as the primary tool of control. Like other fanatical religious cults they employed a phrase of beliefs: “May the Force be with you.”

Upon defeating the Empire, the first thing the leadership of the Alliance does is to rebuild the Jedi temple and send their tender young children to be indoctrinated by the last remaining Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker.

Lessons learned

With the Star Wars saga being almost universally known, many have employed it as a means to convey lessons to a large audience. Others take the series (or more accurately certain fans) to task for trying to imbue excessive wisdom and logic into movies designed for entertainment. Other just have fun toying with ideas surrounding it. But a closer examination of the Jedi, particularly in the prequels where we see certain philosophical and political views play out, exposes dangerous elitism. These views are not necessarily held by the author (another science fiction author, Larry Niven, has often said those who assume characters in a story share the same views as the author are idiots). But we can draw some interesting conclusions from the saga.

Movements and causes must be examined by what they do, not just by what they say. In our case the Jedi may have at one time truly believed they were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, but by the time of episodes one through six, they have certainly become something ugly and wicked. Their existence is based on taking the most promising children of the galaxy from their parents and indoctrinating them into their extreme religious beliefs (albeit which convey considerable power). By The Phantom Menace the Jedi effectively rule and control the Old Republic, living off the taxes imposed on the people. The means they used to stay in power were coercive and were crimes against the sentient, particularly against those who had differing religious views. In our own world, all institutions must safeguard against drifting from the nobility of their calling or violating rights of others while buffeted by the swirling maelstrom of day-to-day demands.

The greatest danger to the Old Republic in Star Wars and the Republic of the United States is one where elite institutions begin to execute an agenda of their own regardless of the will of the people. A Republic becomes an aristocracy when a self-selected enlightened few who have attended privileged academies follow their own dictates rather than those of the elected leaders of the people. In the case of the Jedi, they went so far as to attempt to assassinate the Chancellor and were not willing to follow the constitution of the Old Republic, precisely because they saw he was attempting to throw off their control. In the United States we have seen trusted members of the government break the law in pursuit of their own agenda because they disagreed with the desires of the leader elected by the people.

What may be just as dangerous for a republic is one of disinterested citizens. The citizens of the Old Republic seemed to have become complacent, enjoying the fruits of the peace and justice meted out by the Jedi, and never questioning their actions. One can suppose that if a citizen questioned the actions of a Jedi, the knight would probably have been stunned that anyone actually raised the questioned, that anyone paid any attention. In time a certain arrogance would seep in, the sheep dog having become the wolf. In the United States and other industrialized nations, the number of people who sign up to serve in the military is declining. Certain trends enhance this pattern. The importance of technology and the sophistication of warfare (space, cyber, information, etc.) require highly trained personnel with at least a high school degree. Meanwhile, a lower proportion of our citizens are eligible to serve due to health, drug use, and other reasons. The very peace and prosperity the United State military has endowed the people of the United States has created an economic environment where serving potentially means a reduced standard of living. Fewer and fewer members of our government have served, creating gaps in the knowledge of those who make policy regarding critical issues. Such complacency creates a danger of arrogance in those in positions of power. A lack of an agenda from the sovereign (in the United States, the citizens) will be filled by those who must execute without clear direction.

The Jedi had a very fatal flaw by being so reliant on a special ability. Even if we set aside morality, we see they were excessively dependent on their ability to see the future. Their small numbers, use of small teams, posture, training structure, budget, etc. were all based on this. When they lost their ability to see the future, they were quickly overrun by the separatist movements. When a military organization depends excessively on a special ability, it can quickly become brittle. The United States has highly classified programs known as Special Access Programs (SAP). The classifications are designed to prevent disclosure which would harm the nation. However, designing the force structure around SAPs (often official documents use buzz words such as “Fully Informed” in reference to the programs), makes the force dependent upon them, particularly when the force is optimized to save costs based on the assumption of the SAPs are in place. If the SAP is compromised, does not work as expected, or forces lack doctrine or training to employ them properly, the over optimized force is likely to fail spectacularly. Because the force structure is too lean and dependent on the SAPs, it is far less capable of absorbing shock and adapting to the new conditions. For the Jedi, they were forced to hastily employ the clones (a SAP for the Jedi which not even Obi-Wan was aware of), which of course set them up for order 66.

In light of the Jedi order the Rebellion appears to wish to restore to power, it is no longer possible to see the Rebellion’s cause in a noble light. Some members may very well have legitimate grievances against Palpatine and the Empire. However, when the war cry of the Rebellion is “May the Force be with you,” a statement of faith of the Jedi, we can rightly assume the overall movement has fervent religious overtones. Such creates an environment, as seen in Rogue One, where assassinations (even against allies) and other nefarious means are justified by the ends. This made the Rebellion a religious violent extremist movement, no better than the Empire they claimed to oppose. Those who opposed the Empire but not the restoration of the Jedi were caught between hammer and anvil, becoming that which they opposed. Movements based on hate, even of evil, can easily be corrupted. People must not allow such movements to corrupt or compromise their own values.

Fortunately in the United States, we are far from a civil war. However, we have seen the rise of an ugly side of our politics where those with one view see those with opposing views not as having an honest disagreement, but having evil intentions. Some believe it is not enough to disagree with someone, actions must be taken to coerce and suppress such views. At one time our nation celebrated and encouraged leaders to debate opposing views. Our nation was based on the ideas of enlightened self-interest and the “loyal opposition.” We seem to have lost these ideals and some actively oppose them. This unfortunately has coarsened the discourse of our nation. In such an environment it is no wonder many disengage.

For authors, the lessons learned is the importance of careful world building. While this essay is intended to poke some fun, there are kernels of truth here. This essay presents some serious questions about the implications of what George Lucas and others wrote and put in their films. More than likely, material was made up along the way for a story written for entertaining children and thus there are dangers in reading too much into what was written or filmed. Writers must understand their works will be poked, prodded, and critiqued. Effort is expected of good writers to consider the second and third order effects of the scenes in their stories, lest some smart assed aspiring author come and have fun at their expense. Worse, some may take stories more seriously than intended.

Reader should quite simply not take entertainment books and movies too seriously. Authors are human and their works are flawed. Their job is to entertain you, sometimes get you to think differently about something; hopefully this essay accomplished that.

Conclusions

First, we must acknowledge Star Wars is a very popular movie franchise, for good reasons, but not a way of life. We must be careful not to take it too seriously.

If we go by what the Jedi did and not what they said, we can see Yoda was not a cuddly puppet and his henchmen were actually a very malignant force in the galaxy employing slave soldier children, deceit, and intimidation to maintain control. They were rather merciless to those of different faiths or they thought had become apostates, like Anakin. The Rebellion, and its later incarnations of the Rebel Alliance and Resistance, were nothing more than terrorist seeking to reinstall Jedi control over the citizens of the Galaxy. This was evil regardless of the methods employed by the Empire and its successors or offshoots.

For the United States and other democratic republics, the governed should be involved (and those who can, serve as citizen soldiers) and take care to not be too reliant on a shrinking population to protect the nation and its interests. It is very dangerous if national power begins to reside in an elite political or military caste when too few citizens are capable or interested in serving. Eventually such a caste will be tempted to have its own agenda.

Excessive reliance on exclusive Special Access Programs is also dangerous. Designing a joint force based on the assumption these capabilities will be available in a crisis is extremely dangerous. However, it is very tempting to make such assumptions in order to save money, but it leads to a brittle force unable to cope with shock when assumptions turn out to be wrong.

In the end the Star Wars series is just a story—many stories, if we also consider the books, comics, games, and animated series. It is possible to read too much into an author’s work. The near universally known mythology of Star Wars does lend itself to illustrate certain concepts for a wide audience, and can convey some lessons. However, such things can only be taken only so far. Authors should be very careful when world-building and think carefully about the consequences of choices you made in the galactic or geo-political strategic environment put forward. The lesson of the Star Wars saga for the reader is to not invest too much into a great movie which its original creator admitted was a Saturday Morning Serial.

Good writing should entertaining, perhaps be thought provoking, and that is the fun of being an aspiring author.

 

Commander Phillip Pournelle retired from the US Navy after 26 year of service as a Surface Warfare Officer. He served on cruisers, destroyers, amphibious ships, and an experimental high speed vessel. He served on the Navy Staff doing campaign analysis, at the Office of Secretary of Defense Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, and at the Office of Net Assessment. He is now a senior operations analysts at Group W. He contributed to his father’s last book, Janissaries IV: Mamelukes. The opinions expressed here are strictly his own.