Pierce Tondry
Sep 11th, 2002, 01:08:00 PM
Well, I've been meaning to get my column underway again for about eight months now. Haven't really had the motivation to do it, partly because I've been swarmed under with RolePlaying activities, and partly because my lack of a personal computer with consistent Internet access hasn't lent itself to doing so. But I could only let it slide for so long before I felt compelled to go back to it, and to everything, there is a season.
Turn, turn, turn.
Anyway, the season of my column has come round once again, and I thought I would take a look at why September 11, 2001, in my view correlates so soundly with Star Wars and its' fans across the globe.
Star Wars has always been a struggle of good vs. evil- and let's face it- who honestly does not think of themselves as good? Whether it is under the normal definition of the word or under some wierd, twisted definition, everybody believes that they're doing what is 'right', at least for themselves. And some of the stories of Star Wars fandom about Jedi Knights who've gone too far in the cause of justice show just how tenable and changeable a notion of right and wrong can be.
But there is another side beyond the one of strict morality, an underlying rationale of intelligent and well-thought reasons for choosing to not steal from others, or beat them to bloody pulps because they've insulted you in some way. If you steal from someone, what is to stop someone more capable and affluent from taking your own holdings? And how would you feel if they did?
That answer seems simple enough- let's look at a tougher question. If you kill one person for committing murder, do you kill everyone who commits murder no matter the cause?
My answer to the last question is "no, you don't." If you were a jury member, you would sit down, work out the facts as best you can, set a sentence based on your knowledge of things, relying on your own intuition and logic to fill in the gaps caused by conflicting evidence...
Wait a minute. Intuition? Logic?
Doesn't that sound... very Jedi?
Okay, I think I've arrived at my first point. Lucas' Jedi concept pretty much embodies what many people think of when they're asked about the subject of justice- a reasonable, even-handed settling of affairs that is neither too harsh, nor too lenient, and usually allows for some eventual rehabilitation and redemption of the wrongdoer.
The notion of being an instrument of right and the appeal of the cool Force powers is one of the major attractions is one of those things that keep people coming back time and time again, whether its' to play the Jedi themselves, or to examine the evil that a person in such a position of power can accomplish by playing a Sith.
And I think- though I could be wrong- that the terrorist attacks of September 11 have a lot of people re-evaluating their notions of what they want "good" to be. I think that public understanding of right and wrong has been raised a notch above what it was. Raised, perhaps, to correlate with the concept of "Jedi."
I've read a few pieces of literature about how there are actually people who mark themselves as "Jedi" under census questions on religion, and maybe, just maybe, a lot of them understand how deep that concept actually goes now that evil of widespread proportion has been demonstrated to the world.
Maybe, in a few years, we'll see something born of this movement- something that so very many people want, now more than ever, but something they couldn't really express before.
Maybe one day, there will be an actual Jedi Order that has the same meaning George Lucas gave it back in the 1970s.
Turn, turn, turn.
If the time is right for a season of Jedi, so be it. It will come, or it won't. But my personal message to you is this: don't let a chance to make yourselves better people slip by. Let this day inspire you because you now understand a little more of what it means to be good and and because you've felt how much it hurts when people do wrong.
Encourage the best from yourselves. Inspire yourselves to really go out and make a positive difference in the world. If you get lost or down, just pull out a few Star Wars movies to watch. Let the Jedi way guide your path.
And may the Force be with you. :)
~Brian
Turn, turn, turn.
Anyway, the season of my column has come round once again, and I thought I would take a look at why September 11, 2001, in my view correlates so soundly with Star Wars and its' fans across the globe.
Star Wars has always been a struggle of good vs. evil- and let's face it- who honestly does not think of themselves as good? Whether it is under the normal definition of the word or under some wierd, twisted definition, everybody believes that they're doing what is 'right', at least for themselves. And some of the stories of Star Wars fandom about Jedi Knights who've gone too far in the cause of justice show just how tenable and changeable a notion of right and wrong can be.
But there is another side beyond the one of strict morality, an underlying rationale of intelligent and well-thought reasons for choosing to not steal from others, or beat them to bloody pulps because they've insulted you in some way. If you steal from someone, what is to stop someone more capable and affluent from taking your own holdings? And how would you feel if they did?
That answer seems simple enough- let's look at a tougher question. If you kill one person for committing murder, do you kill everyone who commits murder no matter the cause?
My answer to the last question is "no, you don't." If you were a jury member, you would sit down, work out the facts as best you can, set a sentence based on your knowledge of things, relying on your own intuition and logic to fill in the gaps caused by conflicting evidence...
Wait a minute. Intuition? Logic?
Doesn't that sound... very Jedi?
Okay, I think I've arrived at my first point. Lucas' Jedi concept pretty much embodies what many people think of when they're asked about the subject of justice- a reasonable, even-handed settling of affairs that is neither too harsh, nor too lenient, and usually allows for some eventual rehabilitation and redemption of the wrongdoer.
The notion of being an instrument of right and the appeal of the cool Force powers is one of the major attractions is one of those things that keep people coming back time and time again, whether its' to play the Jedi themselves, or to examine the evil that a person in such a position of power can accomplish by playing a Sith.
And I think- though I could be wrong- that the terrorist attacks of September 11 have a lot of people re-evaluating their notions of what they want "good" to be. I think that public understanding of right and wrong has been raised a notch above what it was. Raised, perhaps, to correlate with the concept of "Jedi."
I've read a few pieces of literature about how there are actually people who mark themselves as "Jedi" under census questions on religion, and maybe, just maybe, a lot of them understand how deep that concept actually goes now that evil of widespread proportion has been demonstrated to the world.
Maybe, in a few years, we'll see something born of this movement- something that so very many people want, now more than ever, but something they couldn't really express before.
Maybe one day, there will be an actual Jedi Order that has the same meaning George Lucas gave it back in the 1970s.
Turn, turn, turn.
If the time is right for a season of Jedi, so be it. It will come, or it won't. But my personal message to you is this: don't let a chance to make yourselves better people slip by. Let this day inspire you because you now understand a little more of what it means to be good and and because you've felt how much it hurts when people do wrong.
Encourage the best from yourselves. Inspire yourselves to really go out and make a positive difference in the world. If you get lost or down, just pull out a few Star Wars movies to watch. Let the Jedi way guide your path.
And may the Force be with you. :)
~Brian