• UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    and the empire didn’t

    citations-needed

    They were pretty fucking brutal with the Wookiees for one, and that goes back to old 1970s canon including the Star Wars Holiday Special. If they weren’t enslaved, they were definitely being given “reservation” treatment on their own home planet.

    • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 year ago

      Oh yeah for sure. I’m not really up on my star wars lore. As far as I understand it the joke sort of started because Anakin and his mother is a slave in I, but there’s no “slaves” in the original trilogy, which then makes people wonder how that is, which leads to a humorous observation.

      The text is pretty clear that the empire is worse than the republic, but that’s the joke I guess
      “Sure the text says the empire is worse, but the republic had slaves haha funny observation”.
      Then people sort of started running with it and you end up with unironic empire stans.

      Like it’s just a silly joke noticing one discrepancy (slaves Vs no slaves) without focusing on the bigger picture (brutal political repression, genocide of minorities, apartheid regime, religious repression, etc.).
      I don’t think it was meant as something that could stand up to scrutiny, which is also why it’s so strange it led to actual empire stans.
      It’s also what makes it more ironic to me because the empire stans go “well the empire was better than the republic” (never mind wether it was or not) and completely ignore the rebellion posing a viable alternative

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        1 year ago

        but there’s no “slaves” in the original trilogy

        So the woman chained up in Jabba’s palace until she was fed to the rancor wasn’t a slave? what

      • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        1 year ago

        the joke sort of started because Anakin and his mother is a slave in I

        very-intelligent Well, ackshually, Tatooine wasn’t part of the Republic, so that doesn’t count as slavery in the Republic.

      • CthulhusIntern [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        They’re not going to do a detailed material analysis on the conditions of the Empire, because nobody would care about that, and that would bore everyone except super nerds.