This Will Challenge How We Think About Star Wars Politics

[@blasecascadeanimation4671]

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Thrawn mellowed put, talked things out with Ezra, and we find the two just vibing

[@bradleychan5684]

Nothing creates a lasting friendship like Yuuzhan Vong army running at you like a zombie horde on methamphetamine and steroids.

[@user-lc5of7jh5g]

I hope they're chill like that, would be quite funny and sorta make sense..?

[@bdana7848]

In my opinion, that's the only way Ezra is alive. He was on the bridge of a hostile enemy capital ship. Damaged or not, that ship was full to the brim with imperials

[@user-lc5of7jh5g]

@@bdana7848 yeah it's hard to believe he would survive the whole destroyer, maybe they got separated in the jump, trhawn needed him for something and they made a deal. As much as I would like a dark twist revealing that hes dead, it would be pretty lame.

[@andrewbogard2411]

​@bradleychan5684 that would be a nice surprise tbh, to somehow get the yuzhan vong in starwars they always seemed like a neat faction With them having organic like ships and weapons and if I remember correctly not being effected by the force at all

[@MrEricmopar]

The fact they scrapped all those star destroyers etc instead of retrofitting was a mind boggling waste of money. As I'm getting older, I've come to realize the Republic never did any right, like eliminate the Hut and Pirate fleets, IE let major criminal outfits flourish. But the Empire wasn't the greatest thing either... Both sides let the little guy suffer while they accumulate power... Kinda reminds me of modern politics.

[@jmfowler9062]

The star destroyer was a symbol of oppression. Only makes sense.

[@KkevrockK]

Had more to do with the crew required to operate them than anything, but I agree that scrapping them was the least efficient way of dealing with them. I guess the visualization of them would have been an issue too though.

[@andrewbogard2411]

I think they are scrapping the stardestroyers and using the parts for other ships. The stardestroyers were not a very good ship for what they were used for. Scrapping the big ships and building a few smaller vessels is honestly probably the best option as several small ships can support several different starsystems while a single stardestroyer can just be effectively at one location.

[@orokusaki1243]

The thing about the Underworld is that it is like playing whack-a-mole..hit one, and another just as bad pops up elsewhere. Simply not enough resources to weed out the deep criminal roots throughout the galaxy. The NR can't even weed out imperial loyalists in key areas. The ideal is what they're hoping people will believe in, but if there's little to no buy-in by the populace, it becomes a tough sell and people will try to find an angle so they can at least secure their own future. Padme only survived the assassination attempt because of the decoy thing. That rodian senator was poisoned. Fear/intimidation/coercion is a powerful tool of control. Even if one isn't part of the Underworld proper, surely there is ambition and greed in many hearts.

[@mrspeigel3593]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

[@bdana7848]

A few points on Thrawn's bombardment of Lothal. 1. He just arrived back in system from a very frustrating task he was on for Director Krennick (pardon the spelling, I've never seen that name written) after which he was cheated out of his TIE Defender funds. 2. He arrived in system to the worst possible tactical scenario to be in, arguably a completely unwinnable one, and still managed to find a way not only to win, but to capture Ezra. 3. We never actually see any civilians hit or even injured leading me to believe it was a bluff. We have seen character deaths and injuries in the show before so it may or may not be relevant that we didn't in this scene. 4. Firing intentionally at a bunch of civilians with intent to kill is pretty out of character for Thrawn. That's not necessarily evidence but something to be aware of as it isn't something he's really done before. Now the Emperor may have been influencing him through the force, or more likely threatening him as we see him do in the 3rd Thrawn book. But if that is the case then it's evidence that Thrawn was in fact acting out of character due to outside influence rather than just suddenly becoming evil.

[@tomcopple7633]

I think another point to consider was that the rebels plan was to blow up the base with all the Imperials inside. When Ezra talked to Thrawn, he said that they might let the Imperials live if Thrawn takes his forces and leave. I don't think Thrawn took Ezra for his word for a minute. However, with all the Imperials inside the base, as Thrawn said, he could bombard the city without any Imperial casualties. No I don't think Thrawn chose to go cruel. I think he adopted the mantra from KOTOR when Canderous said that if it took enough firepower to level a city to take down a bases shields, then they will do it. They weren't the idiots who built a city right next to a military base. So for Thrawn, Ezra threatened his men, so Thrawn hurt Ezra's home. If Ezra didn't want the city to be bombarded then he shouldn't have so brazenly took the Imperial garrison hostage.

[@lightningleopard]

Yeah that is understandable for Thrawn to go out of character cause he’s at a point where he doesn’t know if Palpatine will keep his promise and if he’ll execute Thrawn for treason

[@lukedalton]

Thraw litteraly say to Ezra that if he not surrender he will obliterate the city, a defensless city full of innocent civilians...so yeah the man is a very pragmatic, cold and calculating monster and no is not out of character, the contrary while not a sadistic soldiers he is a very amoral one for him collateral damage is not a thing (as noted in his introduction in Rebels when Kallus stated the enourmous numbers of civilians that died in his antirebel campaing and he basically shrug it off) as he interested only in the success of the mission. Sure that's not seen the death of the civilians in Rebels finale, it's a family show but it's implied to be high and better remember that among other things Thraw job was making sure that the strip mining of the planet using slave labor keep going without problem so i doubt that he have too much problem in killing some civilian to achieve his objective. As i read in other place: Thraw in the book is Rommel as is depicted in his legends, Thraw in Rebels is Rommel as it was in reality

[@bdana7848]

@lukedalton So, the massive amount of civilian casualties mentioned by Agent Kallus happened during the battle of Baton. It was the battle that saw him promoted to Grand Admiral and is an event written, in detail, in Timothy Zahn's book titled "Thrawn." The civilian casualties were actually completely caused by Governor Price. She detonated explosives planted on a huge munitions dump while it was under a shield. The shield redirected all of that force inwards and downwards rather than allowing it to disperse, making it much worse for the people living under that planetary shield. This was all done to cover up her murder of an ISB agent. Thrawn's reaction was complete surprise and horror, and his first action was to send rescue teams to assist survivors. Notice how in that scene with Kallus, it isn't Thrawn who justifies the death of civilians, but Price.

[@sokratikas]

​@bdana7848 thrown comics also go into those events,thrawn even wanted to recruit the rebel leader to the cause of chiss ascendancy

[@ВладиславДараган-ш3ф]

That's a whole point of Thrawn - pick Lesser Evil, but push towards Greater Good

[@vikingsword3485]

I do think a few people can defeat many but I cannot hate Thrawn for not seeing the change in tide

[@antenglish1]

I see what you did there 😂

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Machiavelli’s big idea in The Prince was basically “don’t let your fear of being called evil keep you from doing the right thing.” That said, the Empire is pure clown car full of axe murderers and they’re not being called evil idly.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

The Greater Good.

[@vikingsword3485]

@@Justanotherconsumer That is important and I think most people miss it

[@HolyknightVader999]

The NR is far more incompetent in Legends. At least in Ahsoka and the Sequels, the bad guys are deniable. Nobody believed the First Order was a real threat before Starkiller Base fired, and as far as the rest of the galaxy knows, Ezra and Thrawn are dead and guys like Moff Gideon are more like pests rather than real threats. The NR in Legends whored out to the Vong while shafting the Jedi, forcing the latter to call on the Empire for help against the Vong as the Vong were burning entire sectors. They turned against the Vong way too late. This led to 365 trillion people dying. The Legends NR's incompetence is more deadly than Sidious' open evil.

[@thekaxmax]

dunno; if not stopped Sidious would have killed or destroyed more, and eaten whole sectors for his personal power.

[@HolyknightVader999]

@@thekaxmax Not really. Sidious is a bureaucrat, not a black hole like Darth Nihilus.

[@Adila10]

I'd argue the NR in legends went to crap when the old guard (Mothma, Leia, etc.) retired or mostly left politics. We always knew Feyla could be a self-serving snake and he proved it until the end. The NR going to crap in canon is actively happening under the watch of the old guard, even if some like Leia is trying their best to stop it.

[@JudgeLazar]

I dunno how you can be more incompetent than ignoring warnings from the people who defeated the empire, then demilitarize, park your only fleet in one place and have the entire government get taken out in one shot.

[@thekaxmax]

@@HolyknightVader999 He spreads pain and fear to increase his power, and sends Vader to sterilise populations and worlds. If not stopped this would have continued. Just because he's not sucking the life out or worlds personally doesn't make him better. Still would have destroyed the whole galaxy, as Nihilus would have if not stopped, just a bit differently--Sidious spread pain and suffering by getting people to destroy each other, rather than sucking the life out himself.

[@GGBlaster]

Sadly, I feel like this portrayal of the NR is necessary because if even a 10th of its politicians, citizens, military personnel, etc. were as diligent as ppl like Hera, Ahsoka and Leia, of course the First Order would have had a much harder time rising to power.

[@thekaxmax]

it's an action/adventure movie, the resistance to the bad guys _has_ to be weak somehow to make them badder.

[@tomraineofmagigor3499]

​@@thekaxmaxdid you watch Empire?

[@thekaxmax]

@@tomraineofmagigor3499 which one?

[@tomraineofmagigor3499]

@@thekaxmax Empire Strikes Back. The Empire was anything but weak in that movie. The heros lost and ran away scared

[@GGBlaster]

@@tomraineofmagigor3499I think he was saying the resistance has to be weak…

[@orokusaki1243]

"Evil will triumph, because good is dumb." ~Dark Helmet

[@blackdragon6]

Alternatively, Evil triumph because the people who seems to be good aren't actually as good as they pretend to be.

[@orokusaki1243]

@@blackdragon6 :screams in crying wojak: "NO!! That's a movie quote of great renown!" But seriously. "Evil" certainly seems to have more of the deck to play with than "good". The bad guys will go to great lengths to make their dreams come true..and while the good guys may also do that, they are restrained - they can't do bad things otherwise they too become just another bad guy. Truly a classic quandary.

[@samueldimmock694]

@@orokusaki1243 On the other hand, the restricted deck that "good" is playing with contains many of the most effective cards. Evil has more options, but most of them are stupid and ultimately counter-productive.

[@orokusaki1243]

@@samueldimmock694 Absolutely. Uplifting vs. down-trodding.

[@TheLastKentuckyIrregular9524]

In the original EU, Thrawn defeated the New Republic. They were beaten. It was practically over. He'd walked through their best leaders he won but was betrayed. And then we found out later that his Empire was way better than the NR anyway.

[@Grz349]

NR is incompetent because Disney decide they have to loose to the First Order. Don’t blame Filloni he’s just trying to explain why Disney’s films came about.

[@SwaggerLikeUz]

Exactly

[@matthewk4912]

I hope the (New) New Republic and (New) New Jedi Order in the upcoming Rey movie aren't incompetent. It would feel like we're going in circles and not in a good way if that happened again.

[@bradykenny5485]

@@matthewk4912visible disgust even thinking about that movie being real

[@TimLSim]

@@matthewk4912it really feels like for the new government to really be not incompetent, it must ditch the republic system of government for good and embrace more of democratic socialism.

[@ChristopherJohnson-np4dv]

@TimLSim Nah. Subsidiarity is where its at. What possible reason is there for a galaxy-wide bureaucracy anyway? Any single star system at the tech level of Star Wars has more than enough resources to sustain itself indefinitely and limited trade agreements could handle the rest. Literally the only reason for any galaxy-spanning government to form involves moral busybodies convinced they know better how everyone else should live conning people into giving them the authority to impose on other people "for the greater good" (chorus: "The Greater Good") and then bureaucratic inertia of people who produce nothing themselves but pester people over having the needed forms and permissions to do what in ages past they'd have been able to do as a truly free people. The ideal government for something the size of a galaxy would be a thousand thousand independent systems looking out for their interests. Too small to cause a galactic crisis, but big enough to handle any local to its region crisis. You could still have your interstellar wars, but it'd also be a galaxy where 998 out of a 1000 governments are at peace at any given time.

[@MrKacper1324]

Honestly this is amazing. Starwars, movies for kids and awakening for adults. The best part is that you come off as a political in the sense that your view is just the desire to see improvement in a system thats flawed.

[@TheEmperorsChampion964]

The problem with the New Republic is that they're unrealistically blind and naive about things. No government in its right mind would demilitarize so rapidly and turn a blind eye to the enemy in their ranks. That's what is so frustrating to me about the New Republic

[@Albertalorian]

You should see what happening here in Canada since 2015.....

[@TheEmperorsChampion964]

@@Albertalorian oh yeah....... Trudeau .......

[@Albertalorian]

@@TheEmperorsChampion964 Yea.....In terms of the Canadian military tho, since 2015 = Scrap all the defense contracts and procurements when elected, gut the armed forces, talk tough to Russia, make the Military go super woke, abndon all UN and Coalition Missions, panic as ISIS happens, panic as Ukraine happens, panic as the UN bitches, Re-start all defense contracts they cancelled for 10X the cost, offer all the Veterans assisted suicide instead of VA benefits, wonder why the recruitment and retention numbers drop to 0. So yes, it is possible for a REAL LIFE government to be as stupid as the New Republic, esp with Military Matters.

[@brynstarkiller7419]

Many senators inc Xiono are clearly on the Imperial remnants and poss the First order.

[@TheEmperorsChampion964]

@@brynstarkiller7419 that certainly explains a lot

[@thenotoriousdrbreen]

the only place where the new republic is even semi competent is in the squadrons game story mode

[@thenotoriousdrbreen]

even then the managed to lose their starhawk

[@sorcererberoll4641]

@@thenotoriousdrbreenthey at least managed to use it to take out an entire imperial fleet and keep the people who built it alive that goes for something

[@dougsides6038]

The character Baylan Skoll is quite interesting. He's calm, collected, seems to have a strong connection with the Force, and doesn't seem to be violent just for the sake of violence. And yet, he can be cold, ruthless, and is fiercely determined. So what is 'the greater good' he spoke of to Sabine? What's his endgame? It seems like Thrawn is ultimately a means to an end with Baylan. As such, and given Baylan's apparent Force sensitivity, I believe that Baylan knows that Palpatine survived and is in hiding with his hidden armada. Quick refresher, Palpatine returned in the Rise of Skywalker film; he had been in hiding on a Sith planet in the Unknown Regions with a massive fleet of star destroys. If I recall correctly, his body was destroyed on the 2nd Death Star but was able to retain his essence, long enough to possess a clone body which didn't take well given his poor physical state in Rise of Skywalker, which is ultimately why he needed Rey to get a new body. Getting back to the Ahsoka series, if Baylan knew about Palpatine it would make sense that the best chance to ultimately stop Palpatine would be Grand Admiral Thrawn. That's just my theory

[@callsignblaze4388]

Freedom takes work. Tyranny can rise easily and you have to stand against it. That was part of the inspiration George had for the story.

[@LockNesTom]

I've said it before. The Old Republic was a failure headed for a civil war long before Sidious and his Master came about. All they did was change the dynamic and sped up the process by a few decades, a century at best. It was a corrupt failing oligarchy disguised as a Republic. The Alliance to Restore the Republic was a laudable and noble effort but critically flawed. They were fighting to restore a failed state, so its no surprise it's following an accelerated path of the Old Republic. Was the Empire good? Nope. Is it the lesser of two evils without Palpatine... tbh if it wasn't for the slavery it's almost too close to call. There is a reason that there was a pazaak variant called Republic Senate. To close this out I'll leave this quote. "All right, but I'm out of credits, so it's Republic Senate rules. That's where we waste a lot of time trading cards and trying to beat each other, but in the end nobody wins, everybody loses, and nobody accomplishes anything. It's like stalemate, except the goal is to pass time until the audience gets bored and leaves."

[@thekaxmax]

as always in such situations: avoid fascism, get as close to democracy as possible no matter how flawed, then fix the democracy. Same they are both to be avoided is not correct thinking.

[@CommunityFan]

Without the slavery, the Empire is still the worst of two evils

[@thekaxmax]

^^^

[@nextcaesargaming5469]

@@CommunityFan Depends on where on the Political Compass you fall and what interpretation you reach when studying history. If it wasn't more nuanced than simple "Authoritarian bad, Liberty good," or "Liberty bad, Authoritarian good" and one of those two answers was objective fact, then this debate wouldn't exist; discussion on what Star Wars's politics are, what the prequels mean, and who's the lesser of two evils, it would all have a irrefutable answer set firmly in unchanging fact. But it isn't that simple. And the answers depend as much on the background of the individual as they depend on what information they take in.

[@LockNesTom]

@nextcaesargaming5469 Exactly. I'm quite pro-democracy but as a student of history and a reader of the lore and legends it isn't always so clear cut. The Old Republic as it stood wasn't really a Republic anymore. As stated. It was an oligarchy at that point the senators were quite literally bought and paid for by businesses. Hence the Trade Federation having actual senators, they weren't alone either. This New Republic has less lore but it's not looking any better. Legends NR was just as bad if not worse, in the later stages. In Legends the Imperial Remenent was a thing and in the later stages was quite stable and prosperous surprisingly, though that had more to do with most of the corrupt officials coming down with a quite severe case of death in the decades since the death of the Emperor. Thrawn has quite the depth of lore in legends and the new lore so I know he would be quite the fair ruler. So honestly between the New Republic and a Thrawn led Imperial Remenent it's a close choice but not too close considered this isn't too long after Palpys death and his corrupt and cruel officials remain pervasive @thekaxmax

[@jarlaxle2421]

I belive this is the best star wars channel on KZbin. Its more than regurgitating facts about movies, tv, comics and books. Its personal, relatable and makes you actually think about it. Thank you. Sometimes its my only light on dark days.

[@facelesshalo5174]

The new Republic is incompetent but they aren't unlike our current systems of government. We get the exact same divide on political lines down here on Earth. We call the opposition extremists. They are certainly extremists but not everything is solved by bureaucracy either. When you have such a wide spanning system of government you get MUCH more unstable regions that can foster extremists views more readily and the lack of oversight generally means they fall to their own methodology of governing. We saw this happen with our own great spanning empires that fracture into factions. Conquering civilisations also tend to only last as long as the conquering is happening or the unifying force (the conqueror) is dead. It's frustrating seeing the good guys fail to govern but they are not the "good guys" they're the rich elite who think fancy talks and political dinner parties are more important than having senatorial discussion and tackling issues. And even the good ones are unable to fight against the prevailing movement happening within the government.

[@samueldimmock694]

To be fair, I'd imagine that more gets done at political dinner parties than an senatorial discussions, as far as tackling important issues is concerned. Which is probably not a good thing, but...

[@jenniferstewarts4851]

The reality is... the rebels were never a "government" force... they had some politicians, but reality is, they weren't a bureaucratic force. When they took over they lacked everything they needed to make a functioning government, and this we see in reality, time and time again after revolutions or replacing a government, the new government tends to be corrupt and problematic.

[@wildfire9280]

To be fair, the 1848 Spring of Nations begs to differ.

[@thereseemstobeenanerror1219]

​@@wildfire9280 The real question was that the exception?

[@IslamistSocialist371]

i have a history from my country. The Life long second president (likely installed by CIA) overthrown by a revolution 25 years ago. And the new government now is more corrupt and incompetent.

[@RasakBlood]

If anything the new republic is surprisingly competent having formed a republic again at all. A more realistic outcome would be a splintering of the galaxy into blocks. A combination of people wanting to avoid another empire and separatist elements finding a new chance for freedom etc etc etc. Like yes there is some really stupid pure incompetence things present. But some things, like the republic being overwhelmed with bureaucracy and not having resources to send out to help a random non republic planet on the rim is very believable. Going from a system of "do what i say" to a system of "can we all agree" will create bureaucracy. Even more so when everyone is paranoid about another empire forming. But still some things are cartoon lvls of stupid.

[@jenniferstewarts4851]

@@RasakBlood That's sort of what happened in actuality... you had the new republic, you had splinter sectors controlled by warlords, had splinter sectors controlled by imperial remnants that, had independent groups that didn't want the republic.

[@dominickgaramella6431]

So far Baylan is shaping up to be an awesome character and I'm super excited to watch the development rest in peace Ray Stevenson

[@pacihu962]

Love the content, but what I love even more is your background

[@williamjanak2013]

I love how you try to tell people how much Star Wars is about telling us about what the real world is like. It is truly an old fashion opera/myth with lessons to be learned. And not just mindless entertainment to distract us from what is going around us. Thank you for all the great work you do.

[@markcohen7991]

This is related to the new movie, Heir to the Empire. Filoni knows what he is doing. The question is what happens when Thrawn shows up.

[@Radjhitoocool]

I also like Andor and the war profiteering themes in the modern Star Wars

[@ronaldalexander5517]

I recently subscribed to your channel and I am really impressed with your ability when talking about the mythology of Star Wars You have a way of talking about our current reality. That and I have learned so much of the mythology of Star Wars in of itself. Thank you

[@sergioaccioly5219]

This last week I saw a few videos about Ahsoka and collected them into a theory. Apologies for all of those that contributed to this but I can't name. Succintly, I think Star Wars is leaving the galaxy we know for the one Thrawn and Ezra were exiled to. They are going the Mass Effect: Andromeda route. Instead of trying to fix the mess that the SW galaxy became, Filloni decided to bring his favorite characters to a one-way trip and start a new batch of stories. Ahsoka will take a ride with Hera from the Purrgil to there, find some kind of mess thattakes her attention and go from there. Mayvbe, when they get there, they'll find themselves in a situation that'll forcethem to ally themselves with Thrawn to save the locals from a terrible menace - the yuuzhan vong, maybe? Some corolaries from this theory: Baylan Skoll decided to found his version of the jedi Order in that galaxy, replacing the Force with the magic from that galaxy, that the Nightsisters tapped from ancient times. Also, there's a fairly good chance that Sabine will be much more proficient with this magic than she is with the Force. The next weeks will tell how right thosetheories are. I don't expect to be 100% right, of course. Anyway, it's been an interesting journey these last few weeks.

[@Buddy74656]

I was wondering if Thrawn's trip to another Galaxy is what makes him aware of the Yuzzhan Vong and the threat they pose to the Galaxy Far Far Away.

[@TraysonMartin]

Almost everything Filoni writes has a reason. I feel he's been working up this story for Ahsoka since the middle of Rebels. I'm sure at first with Clone Wars him and George Lucas were writing Ahsoka as a piece that maybe written off in a comic or novel around Revenge of the Sith. But after the Disney sell, and the direction Kathleen was taking SW, he really stepped up and started to build up his characters and stories to work up to something greater. And in the process bring back a beloved Legends character, Thrawn, and make him fully canon.

[@ohrick8707]

My compliments on your understanding of our constitutional republic, which includes a representative democracy… as opposed to a (majority rules) democracy. As a combat Marine veteran/Vietnam… and a 9.8.66 Trekker… it gives me hope there are still some citizens who understand the good and bad in most civics. And why my oath to defend the Constitution never ends. 🤙

[@commoncents7330]

Just like after finalizing the constitution, Ben Franklin was asked if we had a monarchy or republic. He replied with "A republic if you can keep it." and damn was he spot on. Wish people would see the writing on the wall and stop with voting for 1 of 2 parties that just work to continue their own existence, and not the best thing for we the people.

[@ASDeckard]

politicians were never intended to support 'we the people.' Actually read their writings. Ambition must be made to check ambition. We prevent tyranny by setting the powerful against each other. That was always the point of America.

[@maxwell_j_R]

Voting for a third party isn't so useful though because of the first-past-the-post voting. We need more direct measures/propositions to change the voting system to allow for third parties to be useful.

[@kenle2]

Nice thought, but most of the "third-way" parties seem to be led by whackjobs who may be less corrupt, but don't seem to have a firm grasp of reality.

[@phoenixmapping932]

The American electoral system rules out third parties effectively in its current form, if you want 3rd parties to be something worth a vote a change is needed

[@andrewbogard2411]

It would be cool if in this new universe they are going to they at the end of the season introduce either the yuzhan vong as an extra galactic enemy or even the grysk, but alas probably not even thinking that far ahead

[@MsCadamia66]

thank you for highlighting America's strength AND weaknesses

[@WilliamJames48]

Allen actually lives on Coruscant now.

[@GenerationTech]

theres a serious rakghoul problem going on right now

[@Deamon93IT]

I suppose we'll see a reinterpretation of Heir to the Empire and the original Thrawn's trilogy, as Thrawn should be able to run circles around the New Republic. On top of it I'm looking forward to see the dynamic with Baylan

[@Whitzes]

Man i always appreciate the last 3 to 5 minutes of your videos. Harkening SW back to our own conflicts that we're experiencing now is very poignant and thought provoking. Much ❤

[@marcocom6963]

i found the subtext of this insightful analysis to be really qualitive. fucking gold dude. you shine light on how art reflects life and here it is to see for us, the struggle, the rebellion, the good fight. great monologue

[@nissutobor9078]

I gotta say, I really enjoy how you cover the political aspects of SW. Not many channels like to get political (in a broad sense), and even less actually have a solid understanding of political ideologies to begin with. And as a side note, I often hear the "America is not a democracy" argument as well, and it can be very frustrating. Particularly how pervasive it is amongst well meaning, but ostensibly apolitical people who don't understand this narrative is intended as an assault on their own right to participate in government.

[@isaiahgrey2458]

And it sucks that it is used that way by some, because the true underlying idea was and is, "Instead of just one national democracy where we all vote on one set of rules, why not have 13 (now 50) democracies that in turn work together in a different system to build a single nation?" Hence the people/state balancing act.

[@TimWells]

If Thrawn comes back to this galaxy, his highest priority would be to return to the Ascendancy. Anything else wouldn't be true to his character.

[@CommunityFan]

Well, if they're gonna make him more like Heir to Empire thrawn, him wanting to destroy the NR would fit his character

[@TimWells]

@@CommunityFan True, but I'd like to think they'll keep with the Disney canon version of the character for consistency sake. Lol...who am I kidding? It's Disney.

[@Nubin2000]

Why can Thrawn not both rejoin the Ascendancy and rebuild a Second Galactic Empire to fight the Grysk and New Republic.

[@TimWells]

@@Nubin2000 Read the Ascendancy trilogy (Recommend Chaos Rising & Lesser Evil). I don't think he'd have any interest in starting a 2nd Empire.

[@RasakBlood]

Thats fine and all. But do it even exist in current cannon? And if so you need to introduce it to viewers. Books do not main audience attract. And the draw of adding thrawn to live action is his personality traits and work with the empire. Not the ascendancy.

[@Tyranidus7]

One thing that could be interesting if taken advantage of we'll have to see is the sort of accidental world building of the feelings of the common folk in the Star Wars movies. While never directly shown the people of the Old Republic were certainly fed up with them and their incompetency and bureaucracy, Palpatine used that very thing to take office. Then through Palpatine's machinations though completely unaware to the galaxy at large a Separatist insurgency came along and destabilized the Galaxy for 3 of the bloodiest years the galaxy had seen in generations. And to Palpatine's credit, his use of Droids and Clones on both sides desensitized the public to war, violence, and even in a sense empathy. The public didn't shed one tear for the decommissioning of the Clones, living beings who saved them, and many became homeless like in the Kenobi show. This was timed perfectly as the population was first made used to violence then the military and police forces were replaced by regular people. Now if there were any further rebellions, they would kill regular people and make zealots of the friends and family left. This is a population who would welcome stability at almost any cost and for those who did not get in the Empire's way weren't punished, as long as the Empire's atrocity's occurred elsewhere the regular man probably didn't care. Heck it took Andor being completely mistreated by the empire to finally turn into a full blown rebel, he wasn't coerced by Luthen's cause, the terrible things had to happen to him first. But the Rebels didn't really craft a Galactic feeling or transition of culture. They simply took those who were wronged by the empire and then set them loose on the empire. Except for the extended editions show of wide scale parties of the Empires fall even on Coruscant. I would argue that this wouldn't have happened, on far off subjugated worlds maybe but for most in the core and on Coruscant they would probably view the destruction of another Death Star and the fleet there with contempt as friends and family were probably stationed there and a bunch of criminals came and blew it up. This feeling even seems to have carried over into the sequel trilogy when no one was willing to help the resistance (still despise those movies though) and it took the way overly belligerent hand of the First and Final Orders to force everyone into action. Granted it wasn't action spurred by empathy for those who suffered or for any higher ideal, everyone came because they learned the Empire was literally going to kill everyone with their Death Star Destroyers. For all of the "look we came together for better cause" I don't see that in the wider populace. Small pockets believe in these things but the entire galaxy seems far more concerned to make sure shipments run on time, pirates are taken care of, and they don't much care how it is done as long as it is.

[@TheOutsider69]

I've grown extremely fond of your videos. I come for the star wars and stay for the thoughtful analysis and comparisons to our real life situations. I think you're right in that Star Wars isn't necessarily a critique of democracy but I do think there are elements that do address the unique weaknesses of democracy. No system is perfect but I think, intentionally or not, there are critiques of American style democracy baked within Star Wars. Namely that there are certain undemocratic things we must be willing to do in order to protect democracy itself. Things that the Republic was NOT willing to do, and things that the US is not willing to do in order to protect itself. The idea of becoming complacent, I think, and how people's fear can be weaponized into making irrational decisions. To give a real life example: I think it's important that if we care about freedom of speech for instance; we must be willing to silence certain groups that do not believe in this concept in order to protect the very concept itself. Those that would use it against itself are inherently dangerous because they will use the power of free speech to gain power, then do away with it once they gain that power. This is why I think it's important to disallow certain radical groups such as Neo-Nazi's and other fascist organizations the ability to spread their anti-democratic, anti-freedom message in a system that claims to care about just such a thing...

[@isaiahgrey2458]

The counter to this is the same one the Supreme Court offered up when it said Texas couldn't arrest a man for burning the American flag: If a system truly represents freedom of expression, then it cannot have any philosophical limits to that freedom. The only way such a system works is if the people themselves self-motivate to learn why their predecessors built such a system and then engage with the system democratically to preserve it for the next generation. We can burn the flag because it represents a system that does not punish those for challenging and criticizing it. At least, that is the counter. I disagree with you and it, just wanted to throw this out there anyhow.

[@j.simpson2191]

You said it during the middle to end of your video…”it is reflective of our world today”, and that’s the problem with starwars now…I want to escape to it like when I was younger, not be reminded of much of a difficult world we live in, not be reminded about what short sided point of view that people think are right. Science fiction and Fantasy are about dreaming and escaping, not reminding and never getting away from what the constant. Anyways, love your videos. Thank you for all the hard work on them

[@GenerationTech]

She's just another human being not some crazy monster, and all the information we have about her comes second from either journalist or these social media influences. I imagine if you met her in person you'd find she's far more reasonable than you would think... most people are. I do agree with you on incompetence though, that is usually the case far more than evil intent. Disney definitely has created some stinkers, but lets not forget that the EU was also full of trash. At the end of the day I don't think disney is purposely trying to do anything other than make a lot of money. Its usually the simplest answers that lead to the truth.

[@piotrksawery5205]

This channel gets better and better every time - Star Wars + Politics + Philosophy...

[@alexm469]

I think this new representation of the new Republic interesting it doesn't show them as the "good guys" like in the OG movies and instead shows their neglect for vital flaws which is to be expected since they were originally a loose collective of rebel cell groups

[@angry_popeye]

That homage to Orwell's 1984 in The Mandalorian...

[@teamdoghouse82880]

There's definitely a lesson to be learned about contemporary, real world politics from all of this. Star Wars has always had this aspect and it is something I have always truly appreciated about the franchise. The writers are telling us that ANY GOVERNMENT, LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE is only as good as the people who run it. And corruption comes in all colors, shapes, sizes, choices of faith, and political parties.

[@colleens1107]

My theory…and this is pending if Filoni even cares to acknowledge the books…is that Sidious got into Thrawns head similar to how he got into Anakin’s mixed with Thrawn being afraid of Sidious. The last book really shows how much strain Thrawn was under after Pryce blew up the fuel depot on Lothal and effectively killed his defender program. AND it culminates with the Grysk attacking. The last words Sidious says to Thrawn in the last book is when you come back here we’re gonna have a LONG talk. Yeah, we know how Sidious talks…it involves force lightening. I think Thrawn attacked Lothal to placate Sidious so he wouldn’t kill Thrawn. That’s my theory but again it all comes down to whether Filoni wants that complexity vs THRAWN IS A VILLAIN THATS IT.

[@charltonmoore]

As Benjamin Franklin said, "it's a republic, madam, if you can keep it." Masterful video...truly

[@sundragon7703]

As Star Wars evolves, it is showing shades of the tone of Gundam..."Three steps forward and two steps back." In the best storylines of Gundam, incremental positive change comes as the price of truckloads of pain, suffering, and death,...a Pyrrhic victory.

[@anthonydukamp430]

Being shown as beyond incompetent so “somehow, Palpatine has returned” actually makes sense

[@apaiva788]

Chlamydia infested koala bear...my new favorite insult

[@mwidenst]

The philosophical Star Wars channel. Great in-depth discussion as always!

[@brynstarkiller7419]

🙏

[@jfsciaraffa]

That was a phenomenal take on where Star Wars is heading, and why it’s relevant beyond the screen.

[@randalcook325]

Wow, your speech at the end of this video was very profound. Your words were so pure and honest. They spoke to the very heart of what is wrong with this Nation today. You sir, should run for office and use those very words as a platform. You would have my vote and the vote of a lot of your other fans i would bet.

[@arthurbrandonnielsen]

Something I think people miss about the Battle of Lothal is that Thrawn was in direct contact with Palpatine during those events. Palpatine likely ordered the bombardment without a care for friendly fire.

[@oliverforrest4488]

Thawn's desire was always to control everything. Even in the Legends concept that is also what he's doing, his approach with respect had an agenda. Thats whats evil about him and I'll admit so well done with his character. The Force scares him because he can't control it cause he doesn't unstand it like he does with art.

[@wildfire9280]

His “loyalty” to Palpatine could have been borne out of a belief stemming from the exactly that; the Force must be subdued and controlled so that is it no longer a variable he both cannot account for and cannot afford to not account for. And so, he could have quickly turned towards the Sith just from their trademark farewell similar yet polar opposite to the Jedi: “May the Force serve you well.”

[@brynstarkiller7419]

He’s make a good grand chancellor of the new republic . He knows that the politics are doomed to fail in the senate.

[@generationdana9]

No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. ~ Sir Winston Churchill

[@dirtydaveofretford6194]

I mean the orbital bombardment on lothal was to get erza on the ship over winning that battle

[@charlesdesmond1]

Allen, this is the 5th or 6th video of yours I've watched and I am glad to have finally received the political commentary that I'd been waiting for. Keep up the great work.

[@nextcaesargaming5469]

Gotta wonder how much of this would have changed had Dooku just realized he had the stronger military force than Sidious and simply tossed Palpy's script for the Clone Wars into the dumpster. Would love to see a Separatist Victory timeline explored. Hell, I'd love to see a serious Separatist POV of any kind beyond just an episode or two in The Clone Wars series.

[@xxmiltxx9037]

Dooku’s plan was to kill palpatine he wanted obi wan as his apprentice, Sidious didn’t believe in the rule of two after he killed his master.

[@nextcaesargaming5469]

@@xxmiltxx9037 Oh, I already know that Dooku *wanted* to kill Palpatine. But, Dooku was far too hesitant to make the final moves to betray his master because he didn't believe his armies were strong enough to beat him. Had Dooku realized "wait a minute, I have a military that literally outnumbers the organic population of the Galaxy, I can just steamroll Sidious and the Republic without much actual effort" then things would have been substantially different..

[@paulab5264]

I'm glad your enjoying the show and finding it intriguing. I also like to postpone final judgement until the series finale, because some plot points make more sense when we know the whole story. I have to say I like the direction the show is going in so far, but I could not predict that when I watched epi one. I liked epi one, but epi 3 really got me on board, and epi 4 solidified all that. Looking forward to epi 5 and hoping Ahsoka is injured and unconscious at the bottom of the cliff, dreaming of the WBW with Anakin's spirit, until he tells her she is not ready to cross over yet and she wakes up in a bacta tank.

[@georgepapatheofilou6118]

Clever use of grammar. Truly appreciated. Kudos. Not always in synergy with your point of view but thumbs up man

[@Enigma75614]

They should have the Rebels and Thrawn fight, but then the Grysk show up so they have to reluctantly work together. You could also show how their clashing ideologies make it difficult for them to work together. They should also show the different Imperial Remnant factions sabotaging each other. I doubt Disney has the writing talent to pull this off though.

[@techpriest6252]

Thrawn going empire of hand is going to be pog ( and maybe he even made over white erza to survive , his brains and erzra force-ness)

[@Toms3110]

I get the feeling that Baylan Skoll wants to rebuild the Jedi Order, but in HIS image, not having a Council, but a Leader, not necessarily an Emperor to rule an empire, but a Jedi Order that is more rigid than the previous one

[@ImperialsExplained]

Great video 👍and it's very interesting to think Star Wars could be so different in future series leading to the rise of the First Order. Thrawn shall return with the aim of restoring imperial order to the galaxy under a new type of imperial leadership but not like Palpatine's evil dictorship. Thrawn sees that the Empire has the strength to bring order and peace to the galaxy.

[@pacihu962]

Your political messages and comparisons to Star Wars at the end are always so inspiring true and balanced. I couldn’t agree more and I really really love it, never give up on that

[@strambino1]

Thanks for the kind words to our vets Alan.

[@renesrelics]

You have THE BEST Star Wars Channel on KZbin. Thank you for all of the amazing content. 👏🏾

[@SwaggerLikeUz]

Ayo great content Allen! Love your background view. 😂

[@TheSirSpence]

I adore your content, highlight of my day

[@Celestial_Reach]

You have a balanced veiws and i love your way of telling the people they are idiots without telling them they aew idiots

[@josephryman3799]

Hi you should do a video on Gilad Pellaeon he was one of the best leader in legends at fought in multiple wars he seen the fall on two republics all wale leading the Imperial Remnant back from ruin

[@josephkush1032]

Thrawn isn't clear cut and evil which is why he's my favorite antagonist in starwars

[@sineaterdred1]

I think you're absolutely right. I would love to see a series on the streets of Coruscant. A detective show or a gangland thing. "The Gangs of Coruscant" a detective story. You can see the real effects of imperial vs new republic governance 🖖😎👍

[@Dewydidit]

That was a fantastic and insightful episode!

[@festusfive9157]

Bro im an entire week behind on generation tech videos and wont be able to catch back up until after wednesday bruh this semster is not messing around

[@stevenmcgrath5114]

2:22 Dagger of the mind.

[@elenadirectorofmiiss7942]

I'm reminded of the famous Benjamin Franklin quote on the last day of the Constitutional Convention; he was asked by a woman in a group of onlookers as he was exiting, "do we have a republic or a monarchy?" He responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."

[@trollsnrats]

Your message at the end is spot on dude

[@ironthunderbolt]

Excellent video. Truly one of your best if not the best.

[@wesleysmith4864]

God damn man. I came here for a Star wars video and I left wondering why you're not running for office...

[@Michael-fb1rl]

As George Lucas stated Years ago after the first three movies came out, "Star Wars, is not about the space ships,or the organizations in the story, it's about the story of a family, it's about the eternal struggle between good and evil, the light side versus the dark side of the force, and above all its a story of the fall of humanity and it's never ending journey to be better and one day be redeemed and rise once again to our higher existence before the fall."

[@xeta-p4u]

It makes no sense for it to be an eternal struggle then to say anakin brought balance to the force even though the struggle remains

[@R_SENAL]

The problem with the New Republic is the same problem of the Rebel Alliance - The Empire had already rooted out and destroyed most of the best, brightest, and bravest amongst its enemies by design, early on. Papatine got rid of the Jedi, but planned for insurrection of almost every kind and eradicated it. The Battle of Yarvin would never have happened had it been up to the Rebel leadership. Those leaders rode the coat tales of Rogue One and profited from their courage, stepped in and took over with no idea how to efficiently manage what they now had. They also tried to make things as they were before the Empire, when the way things were before was part of the problem! They didn't fight for a better Galaxy, they fought for a return to form, a form that had failed. All that said, you are absolutely 100% correct in your assessment of the lessons of Star Wars. The very idea that a republic, or a democracy, is just fundamentally bad is frankly only an argument a fascist could make, or a totalitarian. Governments of the people, by the people for the people are the best forms, but they require work, responsibility, intelligence, science, facts, wisdom, with empathy and strength in equal proportion. Freedom and Order balanced and upheld for the good of all. The Empire and the First Order were the worst of the worst because they sought to impose their will, their power, their worldview onto everyone else, without obtaining any consent of the governed. Well, save for maybe a small contingent of douche-waffles at the very top of their hierarchical system. The Empire was doomed to fail from the start. You can't oppress all of the people all of the time and not expect blowback. The New Republic faltered and failed, for a time, but all of its ideals were in the right place. If it had just had more competent practitioners left, things could have gone so much better.

[@bgibel]

That monologue to close the video was an amazing call to action for real life politics! Alan for president!

[@buffalobill4892]

Star Wars as a whole, both in Legends and Canon, has always had this habit of making otherwise well-meaning governments, militaries, and authority in general either uselessly incompetent or a deliberate hindrance. This allows everything to nicely fall to a lone group of protagonists to heroically save the day. This also ties in with how the Original Trilogy follows the romanticized notion of noble rebellion against tyranny and/or corruption. As for the Ahsoka series and whatever comes after, my hope is just as Generation Tech says; that Thrawn's return will whip the New Republic into taking things seriously and remind everyone why it is a cause worth fighting for. After all, Thrawn's plans as the Heir to the Empire will hardly be a quiet affair. And the New Republic, especially Senator Xhorian, will have no choice but to admit they dropped the ball.

[@geekiusmaximus1882]

I'm still wondering if we could be seeing some kind of timeline split with the New Republic- Perhaps in the original timeline with the sequels Thrawn isn't supposed to return and that lets the new republic continue to grow more and more complacent and corrupt. Maybe Thrawn's return is enough to change history and cause the new republic to rally and check itself? Idk, either way it's gonna be mental gymnastics

[@wildfire9280]

What really boils my blood about how the New Republic is portrayed isn’t simply that “well the Republic is supposed to be good!”-especially given the CIS’s very legitimate grievances the Republic could never have peacefully resolved without curtailing its crippling, dare I say paralyzing corruption-but instead the fact that it’s just “years after the Galactic Civil War”. First, from a storytelling perspective, this shouldn’t be happening at a time when the very oppositely portrayed Rebel Alliance (and arguably the failures of the -old- middle Republic) should be fresh in everyone’s memory unless there’s some intense scheming and maneuvering behind the scenes to keep the memory out of actually guiding the New Republic going forward. Second, from an in-universe perspective the revolutionaries are still very much alive and would most likely not be in retirement or exclusively in civilian life. I get that there’s a number of internal factions, but virtually all of them have the same fundamentals that successfully patched them together in the Alliance. I’m thinking something like the patriotic fervor that swept the early United States in the years following the revolution, as well as the substantial internal reforms-and desire for more substantial reforms-that it brought to the surface. Or the initial spirit of the Russian Revolution that was only completely crushed after a *decade* of hard fought power struggles culminating with Stalin and perfectly signified by his reopening of the Imperial era state-owned vodka factories the Bolsheviks shut down as a pretty central wedge issue. And I just can’t see any of that at play in the New Republic’s portrayals. It feels like these shows just wanted to have fun playing with a sandbox which, realistically speaking, has no logical reason to be a sandbox if not no logical reason we’ve been offered so far.

[@zerolxlcool]

Well Said Gen Tech

[@arpaddanos9416]

Another thoughtful video from this channel

[@thekaxmax]

For consideration: these are action/adventure movies, the good guys have to be weak in some way to make the bad guys badder but still beatable. Taking the point of view of a writer of such a story, what we see is pretty well what we'd have to see. Making the good guys effective and strong and still making the bad guys an existential threat makes them more 'impossible to beat' rather than 'apparently impossible to beat'. If you can do it, cool, but it takes a hell of a writer to do that, and such writers are rare.

[@thenatural1759]

My introduction to Thrawn was the Ascendancy trilogy and then the trilogy that followed. I couldn't get enough, but then I listened (audiobooks) to the 1st trilogy and what a contrast that Thrawn was. He seemed a classic narcissist with much less than the depth of the other two trilogies. I fear Dave Filoni will go for Heir to the empire Thrawn over the other two trilogies.

[@cad2988]

I want canon thrawn and grysks not HTTE. He should let zahn write his own character. Filoni should stick to ahsoka and stop messing with characters that are not his.

[@thenatural1759]

@cad2988 yeah, why can't they just work together?

[@windempireweimperikaspirin2965]

To be fair Thrawn bombarded Coruscant and Honoghr in Dark Force Rising and Last Command.

[@michaelhuff3391]

that jerry jones joke was so unexpected but so very true

[@lerneanlion]

This leads to one question I always have about Attack on Titan: Between living under the Marleyan oppressive rule or died by the Rumbling, which is the lesser evil? Why living under a tyrant while dead means freedom?

[@derricklung]

Nice Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference. The interstellar highway network is important infrastructure!

[@briangrover873]

"... requires an educated populace...", and there is is the catch, especially when the populace doesn't want to put in the work to be educated. but, none the less, great connections, critique, and insights as always.

[@jedsithor]

JJ Abrams wanted Stormtroopers in his movie. Because of this, we ended up with an incompetent New Republic that was arguably worse than the Old Republic and our heroes were turned into complete failures. The victory at Endor and the whole point of the rebellion was completely undermined, all because Abrams wanted to recreate the Star Wars of his youth, regardless of whether or not it made sense to do so. The whole point of the Battle Of Endor wasn't to defeat the Empire, it was to convince the galaxy to shed its fear and rise up. That's why Lucas added the galactic celebrations in the Special Edition. The Empire isn't defeated in the traditional military sense, it collapses and becomes the Republic again. This was the point of the rebellion, it's why the Death Star was so important to the Emperor. Sure, some Imperials would want to fight to the bitter end and that leaves room for a Thrawn story but Thrawn's war is a last gasp act of defiance, a promotion of regime that the galaxy has rejected and has no intention of returning to. So the idea that thirty years later, the New Republic, founded by the heroes of the Rebellion, would allow Imperial wannabes like the First Order to rise unopposed is absolutely ludicrous. But again, Abrams wanted his stormtroopers. Because of the nonsense of the sequels, we now have a situation where novel writers and writers of these shows have no choice but to make the New Republic an incompetent, lazy and corrupt institution, all to justify how we got from Endor to Jakku.

[@ravenactual2133]

I think a lot of people agree with your final statement. We have a lot to learn and hopefully we will learn the lesson before it’s too late.

[@publicprofilename4273]

The more you let little bits of your political beliefs creep through your comments, the more my respect for you skyrockets. You are far wiser than most your age. Respect.

[@luisemoralesfalcon4716]

Thanks for videos like this.

[@stevenm732]

Good closing statement Alan. Well done.