Greetings, Star Travellers, this is Man in Ushanka.
The scenario for this video was written in collaboration with my Kazakh friend, Abz Lore,
the link to his channel in Russian is in the description.
Thanks, mate.
And yes, today I will also try to use my newly acquired accent to try to sound more authentic,
more Tarkin-ish.
Ok. let's go.
So, in the recent time I've noticed a tendency to consider the First Galactic Empire to be
worse than the Old Repbulic in every aspect possible.
In my opinion, such a position is just a result of the superficial level of knowledge of the
Star Wars lore, by taking only films, TV series, and maybe gameplay from a game or two into
account..
Of course, there can be no doubt that the events described in the noted works of art
are canon, but one should never forget that they narrate only from one point of view.
And, as well as we cannot judge about the Second World War only by films, one should
never judge the Galactic Empire according to the stereotypes formed after consuming
the products of a mass genre.
It is not a surprise that after watching only eight episodes of the film and some episodes
of the Clone Wars TV series, a not very attentive viewer can form an opinion in which he or
she might consider the Empire to be an absolute and brainless form of evil and the Republic
to be the embodiment of a pure good.
However, if we would dive a bit deeper, by, for example, reading books, we can be sure
that there are some works that show the Galactic Empire in the good light and depict its enemies
in the bad one.
The Universe of Star Wars, especially in the old canon, now called the legends, is not
black and white.
It is a colored one, just like our own universe, without pure good and with no instances of
pure evil.
The perfect example for our world: both the USSR and the USA cannot be considered absolutely
benevolent or absolutely malevolent.
They are something in between since both the regimes had both great achievements and dark
moments.
That is why we should always try to see and compare all of the points of view and then,
only on the basis of concrete facts, we can derive conclusions and make loud statements.
And that is exactly why I started making this video today – to refute the statement of
the Galactic Empire being absolutely evil and the Galactic Republic being absolutely
good.
I think, it would be easier for us to begin with refuting the main and the most frequent
arguments that can point to the Empire being utterly wicked.
So, what about the racism and the anti-alien discrimination?
Of course, it would be silly to presume there was no racism or, as we should better call
it, ''speciesism'' was absent in the Empire.
It was present and it was quite widespread.
But is wasn't as outrageous as some might think.
The same point is with slavery.
The mere fact of the presence of this institute allows us to say that the Galactic Empire
was very-very far from being a paradise.
But this Empire wasn't alone in this regard.
The Galactic Republic was also filled with slaves, with the obvious example being Anakin
Skywalker and his mother.
In fact, during the reign of the Galactic Empire we could see less slaves on Tatooine,
I honestly don't remember even a single slave shown or described to us in films or
in any of the books except for the unfortunate dwellers of the Jabba Palace.
By the way, did you know that before the Empire got rid of old corporatocracies like the Trade
Federation, the noted corporation tried enslaving entire species, not only in the Outer Rim,
but also in the Mid Rim, not that far away from the Republic Capital, without any major
sanctions from the corrupt Republican Government and the Senate.
There is actually a historical factor that guaranteed the popularity of intolerance among
the citizens of the Galactic Republic and later, of the Galactic Empire.
Thousands of years before the events of the films, the Republic was controlled by an authoritarian
regime that based its power upon the principles of a humanocentric cult called Pius Dea, During
that turmoilous era the Galactic Republic experienced one of the bloodiest series of
conflicts in its history – the famous Pius Dea Crusades that also included measures of
''witch hunting'' and xenophobic propaganda.
Even millenia after the end of the crusades major portions of the Republican population
felt the longing for the militaristic past.
Just imagine the scale of the events that took place during that era of internal and
external strife.
Entire species were eliminated, entire worlds cleansed.
And on the other hand we have the Imperial aggressions that literally fade on the background
of the evils that were committed by the Republic in the past.
Of course, one may say: ''Didn't the Galactic Empire destroy
an entire planet of Alderaan?
Didn't the imperials use the Base Delta Zero Naval Code to destroy the populations
of entire planets as well?''
And yes, of course they did.
But here one must also know the context of the events.
The Galactic Empire destroyed planets not because it just wanted.
Of course, there were a few crazy-minded individuals like Tarkin, for example, but the ideology
of the Galactic Empire was not based upon the actual annihilation.
It was based upon fear and obedience.
And Alderann, while pretending to be a pretty peaceful planet, was VERY disobedient and,
I must even say, radical.
It was the Alderaanian rebel cell that planned and initiated the operation to destroy the
planet called Bilbringi, using a baradium fission device.
Fortunately, thanks to the sanity of Quip Fargill, a smuggler who decided not to follow
the instruction of his rebel friends, the tragedy was avoided.
By the way, do you know about the destruction of the population of planet Caamas performed
by the Imperials?
Yes, it was an act of violence and those who ordered the massacre can indeed be called
war criminals, but the fact is is that Bothan spies, the very agents who will later help
the Rebel Alliance to acquire the plans of the Second Death Star, played a key role in
the Destruction of Caamas.
Why we mentioned this particular example?
Because it shows that the Universe of Star Wars has no clear distinction between the
good and the bad.
Sometimes even the so-called ''good'' factions commit bad deeds.
By the way, it is time to talk about the rotten and corrupt apparatus of the Galactic Republic.
To prove our point we can cite the information form the Imperial Sourcebook where we can
learn about the predecessors of the Imperial Intelligence, about the 5 bureaus of the Republic
Intelligence that fought between each other now and then, following the whims of different
Senatorial factions.
But that is just a triffe.
The Quasiconfederational Republican Apparatus of Power caused literal chaos in the Outer
Rim where pirates, slavers and CIS remnants held entire sectors under their control.
Some of them even called themselves ''kings''.
All this mess was later cleared up by the Galactic Empire.
In facts, that is what the Emperor ordered right after establishing himself an eternal
ruler.
All of these adventures of the Imperial Armed Forces in the Outer fringes of the Galaxy
received the name of the ''Reconquest of the Outer Rim''.
The noted operation lasted for 2 years, from 19 to 17 BBY.
By the way, in the preceding years the Republic also tried to conduct the ''peacekeeping''
activities in the Outer Rim.
Should I even mention they failed dramatically?
And that is mildly said.
In the conflict called the Hux War the Galactic Republic showed its bad sides by putting sanctions
upon the victim of the war, planet Kalee, that was under attack of a technologically
advanced Insectoid Race of Hux.
After the sanctions bill was enacted, some of the planets in the Outer Rim experiences
devastating hunger, hunger that, undoubtedly, killed millions of lives and maybe even promoted
cannibalism among the Kaleesh population.
Oh, and there is also Malastar, the native world of Dags that was occupied by Grams who
enslaved the whole race by the legal actions they performed in the Galactic Senate.
We should also never forget that the Senate gave the right to vote to the Trade Federation,
the act that allowed this mega corporation to acquire the right to own a whole fleet
of space warships.
By the way, do you remember this face?
Yes, you are right, this is Bail Organa, a kind defender of disadvantaged people, a real
social justice warrior.
That is exactly how he was described in the Rebels TV series, as well as the Ahsoka book.
But was he really like that?
Of course not.
It was he who tried to legalize the usage of Baradium bombs and it was ultimately he
who was responsible for supplying the most radical rebel cells, including the infamous
Alderaan cell we previously mentioned.
Of course the dissolution of the Senate that was performed by Palpatine, an act that was
a part of his ultimate strategy of centralizing his authoritarian power was not a very democratic
move and his actions ultimately lead to an increase in corruption levels.
But we can't even compare it with the situation that was omnipresent in the Galactic Republic.
Yes, during the heights of the Imperial Reign, the freedom of speech was frequently obstructed
and nepotism rates were growing, yet during the last years of the Galactic Republic things
that grew were chaos, oligarchy and the law of the jungle.
Both of these forms of government were, mildly speaking, not the best but, choosing from
the two evils, I would better pick the Imperial one, especially since the reforms that took
place after the death of Palpatine, when Pelleon, Natasi Daala and, later, emperors from the
Fel dynastly, changed the Imperial society to better.
Of course, The Second Galactic Empire was not a paradise but it was shown that the Imperial
Order can have the humanistic face and develop the society in the humanitarian course.
And yes, I should also mention that after Palpatine started the process of power centralization,
the so-called ''Department 3 ''of the COMPNOR fought against smugglers and black
market agents, spreading the rule of law to the deepest fringes of the Galaxy Far Far
Away.
Unlike the Galactic Republic, that could only boast with hundreds of big ship, the Galactic
Empire produced thousands of capital ships every year, creating the biggest military
starfleet in history.
Trillions and trillions of soldiers served in the newly created Imperial Army.
And no, those soldiers were no conscripts.
They were no cannon fodder.
They were skilled warriors that agreed to serve by their own volition.
But it wasn't only the army service that was prestigious.
Finally, after all the years in the course of the Galactic History since Valkorion, the
common folk received an opportunity to work on factories that were build all over the
Galaxy.
Of course, the working conditions were far from ideal but working on a factory was way
better than wasting your life as a pauper or dying as a hutt's slave.
Besides, the Galactic Empire actually cared about the upbringing and education of children.
The SA Group of the COMPNOR was responsible for turning a child into a real citizen.
And now, to finally smash to pieces the opinion that the universe of Star Wars is unipolar
and one-sided, let's remind ourselves about some progressive Imperial Remnants and about
the Fel Empire, the direct successor states of the Galactic Empire.
Yes, there is no doubt that after the death of Emperor Palpatine, many moffs and admirals
became the same kind of arrogant ''kinglets'' that different pirate leaders and hutts used
to be during the Republican Era.
But the general conditions of life in the Galaxy became better and more people started
to believe that the brighter future is coming.
After Pelleon came to power, xenophobia was prohibited.
Another famous high-ranking imperial official, Natasi Daala, saw to it that all of the declared
rights of women had finally became real.
In the Second Galactic Empire all of its citizens had equal right and even aliens could finally
serve in the stormtrooper corp and take positions previously reserved only to humans.
While summing up the conclusion of our today's video, I would like to clearly and openly
say one more time that the universe of Star Wars is not a black and white universe.
In the Galaxy Far-Far Away, especially in the old canon, there is no true greater good
and close to no absolute evil.
Of course, if we only consider the kindergartenkids-oriented TV series, our perception can be easily fooled.
But if we only dig a little deeper into the Star Wars lore, we can see the clear and more
full, more logical picture.
In the universe of Star Wars, as well as in the real world, there is no clear answer what
state or organization is the best.
We can easily say that the preferences a person might have towards one form of government
or another are very subjective and, even considering all of the positive sides of the Empire, the
rapid economic growth and the bigger rate of stability, some people may dislike the
Galactic Empire for obvious reason, like limiting the freedom of speech, for example.
The main idea of my today's video was to show that the universe is not simple.
Understating the universe, even a fictional universe and, especially our universe, requires
critical and system thinking.
A person who prefers to see the world through rose-colored glasses is always easily manipulated.
By the way, I plan to include a bit of philosophy like this into my future videos as well so
don't forget to subscribe and leave a like if you want to see more.
Thanks for watching and, as the ancients said, ''Let the Force go With you.
Always!''
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