Death Star destruction: terrorism or government incompetence?
The Hunt for Luke Skywalker? Was he a freedom fighter or a terrorist? Photo: Wikipedia
In the 1970s, when Star Wars first exploded on American movie screens, the narrative fit neatly into our national consciousness.
Plucky rebels overcome nasty Imperial overlords, blowing up the horrific “death star” and restore freedom to the galaxy.
A generation later, it’s not so simple.
These days, our imaginations are shaped as much by fears of terrorism, concerns about our own “predator” drone program, and worries about government overreach and incompetence.
So a couple of videos floating around on-line ask the troubling question:
Was the Skywalker family’s deadly attack on a government-owned military vessel the act of jihad-style “Jedi” terrorists?
Or did it reflect a government bureaucracy blinded by red tape.
We begin with Family Guy’s take on the matter, which can be summed up in the phrase, “Better get an estimate.”
And then there’s a new video that’s going viral, suggesting that the attack was an “inside job” perpetrated by a bin Ladin-like clan known as the “Skywalkers.”
All of which raises another thorny revisionist question: Was Gollum pushed?
You just figured that out? Man, what took you so long? ;-)
It is like they didn’t even see the movie. The Force is how he did it. Doubters. Jihad, call it what you like.
The Force, yeah, right. The Emperor accumulated enough wealth to build 2 Death Stars by using the Force? Dont make me laugh!
Those Death Stars were built on the backs of the poor and downtrodden who will be paying taxes on the Galactic debt into the infinite future. Where was the TEA Party? Not one to be seen. They fell prey to a Jedi Mind Trick that convinced them the inhabitants of Aldeberan (sp?) had weapons of mass destruction.
It’s official. The Vietnam War is completely forgotten.
No, John, not forgotten but the analogies are all in the episode that had Jar Jar Binks. We don’t want to go there.
John Warren –
I think your point is actually a good one. The American myth of being the underdog, the plucky rebel, has long outlived any semblance to reality. The urge to perceive ourselves a the scrappy cornered survivor in a dangerous world is going strong.
A new film is about to be released in which the US is victimized by…wait for it… North Korea.
–Brian, NCPR
There is entirely too much fear mongering going on.
I am really supposed to be afraid of North Korea or Iran?
We have enough weapons to totally eliminate both countries and still have enough left over to do it to anyone who would be stupid enough to attack us with a nuclear weapon.
I don’t know if this video is a real North Korean news piece but check it out and see if you can find parallels between this video and US news stories about North Korea or Iran.
http://msnvideo.msn.com/?src=v5:pause:facebook:&from=mpl_en-us_Entertainment_Wonder_sd_dest#/video/85746905-0ab0-c6c7-c62f-97b5c11eac09