Now tell me how you really feel.
OK, I seriously laughed out loud at this because it was a post I was expecting to see.
Then don't watch, much less read the novel of, Rogue One...or read the novel Lost Stars from the new canon...
The Alliance wasn't as pretty and good as some made (make?) it seem...Nor was all of the Empire as evil as some made (make?) it seem...
I could use some real world analogies, but that would start venturing towards forum rules violations, and what some would call automatic fails in the argument, so I'll simply say this: Really look at real world history...
Ruger
Rogue One is an example of how to do shades of grey
right. "He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
The darker parts of the Rebellion in Rogue One - Saw Gerrera's hate, Cassian Andor's selfish devotion to his duty, Jyn Erso's fear - are reflections of the Empire, which is driven by the Dark Side. It is evil, greedy, fearful, hate-filled, and ultimately self-destructive because it cannot truly create anything long-lasting. If they crushed the Rebellion and Palpatine died of old age, the Empire would collapse on his death in a new spasm of war.
And the people who are dedicated to the Empire are driven by those dark emotions. There's a great line out of the Star Wars Rebels cartoon from Governor Pryce which sums up the truly dedicated Imperial attitude: "They fight so hard to gain so little."
The Imperials simply do not understand
why the Rebels fight. They risk their lives and freedom every time they go against the vastly overwhelming might of the Empire, and for what? A few old Y-Wings without hyperdrives? Getting food to starving miners? To say a few words about how suicidal they are across the HoloNet? There's no gain in it, no profit, no long retirement sipping martinis while watching the ocean wash across Corellia's shores, so what's the point?
And that illustrates how the Empire=Dark Side=Selfish. The dedicated Imperials, the ones that aren't even tempted to join the Alliance, are in it for their own gain and nothing more - or they are too afraid of the consequences to leave. Oh, Imperials may mouth platitudes about protecting the people or serving a greater good, but the ones that actually DO feel that way eventually realize they're on the wrong side.
And the morality play part of Star Wars is the fundamental statement that good men SHOULD realize they're on the wrong side and not let their venal greed, deep fear, or misplaced hatred stop them from doing what's
right.
One of my favorite stories about this is in the old West End Games Rebel Alliance book. A veteran Imperial commando is walking through a base in which the Empire slaughtered everyone, the realization that this wasn't what
he wanted to fight for slowly crystallizing - until he finds a young teenager trying to blow up the base's reactor. He helps her finish the job, rescue her gravely wounded mother, and as they're speeding away from the base says, "Well, guess I've joined the Rebellion."
In the span of three pages it encapsulated the entire morality play without a single Jedi.
iamfanboy is not talking about the entire organisation(s) from top to bottom, he's talking about the heads. Of course the other rungs of the Empire, Republic, Rebels, Sith, and yes the Jedi can have their various shades of grey but at the tippy-top, Star Wars is supposed to be clear-cut: Palpatine and Vader are Evil. Yoda, Obi-Wan and Luke are Good. The end.
The key is who and what they fight for. A Sith is only interested in himself, first and foremost - Anakin being afraid Padme would die in childbirth was really about
him and his fear of losing her. A Jedi knows that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few (or the one) - Obi-Wan and Yoda lied to Luke, honed him into a weapon, and aimed him at the Emperor and Darth Vader because they foresaw he was the only one who could destroy the Sith.
Selfish versus selfless.
Compare the Codes of the Jedi and Sith (Sith Code is canon now, Darth Maul was reciting it in Star Wars Rebels!)
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.
Note how the Sith Code keeps using "I, me, my" and the Jedi Code does not once use a pronoun?
I... do kinda ramble about this, don't I? But Star Wars forms such an important part of people's lives these days that it's more than a story. Understanding its moral grounding - selfishness and greed is
bad and Dark Side, selflessness and dedication is
good and Light Side - is fundamental.
