George Lucas would have done a better job with "Star Wars I,II,III" had he involved Steven Spielberg in it, but that is water under the bridge. The link between negative arguments and the behaviors of Anakin Skywalker wasn't very convincing because it is obvious that this was out of George Lucas's league. That is a shame because the story line itself had a lot of promise and I certainly understood what he was trying to demonstrate. I think in his heart George Lucas was just afraid to "go there" and show how a young idealistic person can be ensnared by cult ideas into acting the patsy for manipulative and selfish people. This is because it is cult ideas and not mere demonic possession that drives such people. This is true whether the cult is "Al Qaeda," (really Wahabi) style interpretations of Islam or Neo-Fascism in the US.
Raw publishes this today:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Raw_acquires_NSA_wiretap_talking_points_0913.html
The "ideological struggle" appeals to idealistic and community starved young people who find a sense of community in the ideals of the group. It also appeals to more cynical goal orientated people whose prime goal is to achieve and hold power. Once Fascist / cultish style ideology gets hold of people, the sense of community, the devotion to person, tends to hold tight to them, even after they start to realize the lies and hollowness of the ideas they hold onto. These kinds of ideologies create armies with rank and rewards. Those at the top can completely lose their faith and still be counted members. Once the group becomes powerful ambition and self-interest take over in attracting converts. In Communist China or Fascist countries, joining the party is a pre-requisit for advancement.
Initially they may be attracted by idealism, or goals of achieving rank, or simply the need for a job, but these kinds of groups always want their members bloodied. Guilt and fear of discovery and retribution hold them as squarely after they are bloodied, as ever idealism or ambitious did before. They can't walk away because usually the "initiation" was into doing something illegal. If they walk away they'll no longer have the group protecting them from prosecution. Once that line is crossed, even if a person stops believing he/she won't stop forcing him/herself to believe because the pain of facing the truth will be too much.
He caught that process a little. The story board he wrote got that part right. But its not just loosing self control that drives evil, it is false concepts and usually the idea that one is going to make the world a better place (after breaking it, after defeating an 'evil' enemy, after destroying everything one had previously believed in). He didn't do a good job of showing that link. He somehow thought that such evolutions result from mere temper tantrums, no they follow a logic all their own, and the key transition is when the actors start thinking that might makes right, that "end justifies means."
Had George Lucas cast the Jedi and their Sithi enemies as behaving like cults, then the dynamic of their savagry would have been more obvious, and he'd have captured the psychology better.
So what does that have to do with the link I just posted to "Raw?" Well, one point about ideological cults is that once established they aren't about to let go of their power. If the facts reveal that whole-sale law-breaking is going on, all the members have to do is to lie in tandem. And that seems to be what the administration is asking Senate Staffers to do. Eventually they may well eat their young and destroy the "Jedi".
And the other point is that when the Emperor abolished the Republic, the Senate and Galley cheered. Seems that was a parable about US.
Chris
Posted by cholte at September 13, 2006 06:13 PM