Episode 3 - Who is evil: the Empire or Jedi?

[Paul Darcy]

All oppressors should be controlled and squashed under the steel-toed imperial boot of, um, well, um...

nevermind.

They are both evil.

[ast]

All depends on your definition of evil. If you call fighting for what you believe in evil, be you with the Republic or the Empire, then something is wrong.

As someone mentioned earlier about the Nazis, who knew they would rise up and try and take over Europe?

Were the Allies evil in trying to stop them?

History decided the Allies were in the right. Surely history will decide if the Rebels or the Empire were right in their beliefs??

Personally, I plump for the Emperor being evil, they subordinates were only carrying out his wishes.

[stormbard]

Originally Posted by ast

Personally, I plump for the Emperor being evil, they subordinates were only carrying out his wishes.

Hi mate. "Only"? I believe everyone chooses their own path, and just as with the nazis and Hitler, the subordinates knew what they were doing and did it anyway. That makes them as evil as the Emperor himself. Plenty of people rebelled, despite fear of death or worse, so there was always another option.
Anyway, that's my rant. Cheers

[Prefx]

To determine which side is the true 'evil' might be an impossible task. For example, there is nothing in the movies that hint towards the emperor having good motives in trying to give birth to the Empire. One might argue that he revealed a sense of order when he addressed the Senate and brought about the end to the Republic, but in other scenes he merely goes on about 'ruling the galaxy'. Like most people who have the capability to gain more power, he was ambitious. On a side note, was I the only one who drew a comparison to Christianity and Satanism when he and Anakin talked about the Siths caring for themselves and the Jedi caring for others? Satanists think that you should concentrate on making your life the best it can be, while Christians think that helping others is a much grander deed. Both sides are appealing, and neither are wrong (unless you're on the opposing side, of course), but they both bring flaws. As the emperor said, when the Sith Lord trusted his powers with someone else, he was destroyed. Trusting others is very dangerous...

As for Anakin, his heart is with order and setting things right. As some of the fantasy fans might know, there's a difference between 'Order' and 'Good', although both can be respectable positions. Many recent books have touched upon Order, Chaos, Evil, and Good all being different 'sides'. Anakin simply wants there to be a definite power that will, in the end, bring the best for everyone. Through his childhood and on, the Republic has failed him. His mother was a slave, he lost friends, and as seen in the third movie, his trust was played around with. Anakin realizes in Episode 3 that democrocy has its own flaws, and like the rebirth of his body, his mentality changes. Unfortunately, he is too aligned with Order. He goes off and kills younglings for the purpose of helping the plan go forward. Over time, he loses touch with what is good and finds himself becoming ambitious. He mentions killing the Emperor at least twice in the series. Once with Padamy, the other time(s) with Luke.

The Jedi are devoted to Good; I think it would be near impossible to argue otherwise. Unfortunately, Anakin thinks 'Order' equates to 'Good', when in truth it may not (in this case, it does not). As Yoda makes clear through his all too famous Dark Side leads to... comment , one thing can and will lead to another.

Personally, I think the movies show that you can't have everything perfect. The Empire brings order, but it sacrafices good in the process. The Republic brings good, but it sacrafices order.

[Timeros]

A quick note: I would not call the Empire racist against non-humans (speciesist would be more appropriate, but alas). Who was the Emperor's first apprentice? Darth Maul, an alien. Who was his greatest admiral? Thrawn, another alien (Chiss, IIRC).
Though it was mentioned Thrawn was a fool, it should also bear mentioning that the emperor actually LISTENED to Thrawn's advice after being proven wrong by him. Thrawn's nobody's b****. It's just that he's smart enough to know where the power lies.

As for the specieism in the Empire: it seems largely a myth. While it may have been true for many of the lower bureaucrats (as Bel Iblis mentioned it already was in the latter days of the Republic), Vader had no problems using alien bounty hunters, nor did the Emperor with his apprentice.

[Timeros]

As another note on the original topic: The Jedi Order is clearly dysfunctional. In a way, Star Wars' main moral could be stated as: loves conquers all, for good and for evil. And nowhere is this more apparent than in Anakin/Vader. The Jedi Order's blind adherance to the Code for its own sake is beyond sickening. They are the epitome of obeying, whilst forgetting what being a Jedi is all about.

[RaymondOwnzU]

It depends on the way u look at it. If you want an organized, safe, but unfree ruling, then empire is good, but if you think peace and harmony is good, then jedi, but i think with that, there will always be evil and it will always find a way to terrorize

[ScottSF]

jedi weren't evil, just stupid and short sighted. "don't miss you mommy!" Plus I think Jedi should have promoted marriage or at least Jedi breeding since force ability clearly runs in the family. No wonder the Jedi were getting weaker. They paid for their own dispassionate short sightedness.

[Young_Flame_]

As in episode three: "Good is a point of view." In my opinion, The sith and Empire made it so that you could live your life under the rule of a galectic Empire that rule under fear. There by making it safe. The Jedi on the other hand were ruled but were being ruled by the republic. They also kept strict laws and made sure only special indivinuals could join there order to keep thing in hand. Because of this the Jedi were defeated. Luke sought through the blindness and kept his view kind-of neutral. The whole story has a religoin whose name I forget: Everything is equal, everything is living.