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Is the SW Universe an Idiocracy?

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We all know how dumb most people act in the star wars films. But here's a question: are people in the SW galaxy statistically dumber than we are in our own world? It would help explain why the Emperor was able to rule the galaxy by the end of the PT, and this idea was from another user here, but it helps explain a lot of plot holes in the six movies. 

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Maybe when the Jedi suspected he may have something to do with it, a quick blood test (as Qui-Gon did with Anakin) to test his midichlorian (wince. Hate typing that word) count would've been revealing? My, his count is just as high as Yoda's. Hmm now there's a thing. No they was all too dumb to even think of it.

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I would think that Palpatine has an IQ slightly below average (90-95), but most people around him are dumber than him and are easily manipulated, plus the Jedi as shown in the prequels are no longer the ideal guardians they supposedly were before the prequels. So if anyone is born in the galaxy who is smarter than him, it would be a threat. 

Maybe Palpatine invented the dumb prophecy about an akin bringing balance to the force in order to have his implies creation destroy the weakened Jedi order, because they are stupid enough to believe it. 

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 (Edited)

That means George Lucas has the same intelligence level as Palpatine. This was just a left-handed explanation of the PT. 

on second thought, he did study anthropology back in college. Maybe the SW galaxy is an example of a world without intelligence. 

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generalfrevious said:

That means George Lucas has the same intelligence level as Palpatine. This was just a left-handed explanation of the PT. 

False. Writing the actions of a fictional character in a fictional world is not the same as being able to achieve those same goals were you in that position.

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

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"Statistically dumber than we are in our own world"? Apparently you don't follow politics nor study history. People voted for idiots and brutal simpletons - and still do in our times.

I saw the original theatrical release of the Old Trilogy on the big screen and I'm proud of it...
How did I accomplish that (considering my age) is my secret...
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It gets to me when I hear 'Palpatine cleverly manipulated the Senate and fooled the Jedi'. No he didnt. Anyone with half a brain cell can see that. This civilisation is so clever they've mastered space travel, built fantastic planet sized cities, numerous species harmoniously interact with one another. But noone amongst them was savvy enough to studiously watch the increasingly and openly suspicious Palpatine? Corruption is rife amongst the Senate. Is it really? And how do you know this? Why are you not reporting who is corrupt and allowing the Jedi to investigate and deal with these corrupt senators? You obviously seem to know a lot, so come on, give us the full SP. 

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

Come to think of it, Luke's plan for rescuing Han at the beginning of ROTJ is about on par with George's strategies for improving the OT.

The difference is that Luke's plan worked.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

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Hey, it's me. said:

It gets to me when I hear 'Palpatine cleverly manipulated the Senate and fooled the Jedi'. No he didnt. Anyone with half a brain cell can see that. This civilisation is so clever they've mastered space travel, built fantastic planet sized cities, numerous species harmoniously interact with one another. But noone amongst them was savvy enough to studiously watch the increasingly and openly suspicious Palpatine? Corruption is rife amongst the Senate. Is it really? And how do you know this? Why are you not reporting who is corrupt and allowing the Jedi to investigate and deal with these corrupt senators? You obviously seem to know a lot, so come on, give us the full SP. 

I agree with this. That Palpatine was able to deceive so many people is a huge stretch. People sometimes refer to the shroud of the dark side of the force clouding people's judgment, but to me that's just a lazy explanation (or lack of explanation) for the sheer stupidity of all the people in Coruscant, the Senate, the Jedi Order, etc.

I grew up thinking the Jedi Order was this group of badasses who were in touch with common people and protected them from oppression. They could have been like magistrate judges. In reality they were a bunch of boring, narcissistic fools who just sat around doing nothing but waiting 10+ years for answers to magically come to them. A bunch of lazy, uninspired dolts who thought doing nothing was the best approach.

Then again, all this bears striking similarity to how we deal with political and social issues in our culture and world. Maybe Lucas really is a genius and we just haven't seen it. ;)

“Grow up. These are my Disney's movies, not yours.”

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Corruption usually comes down to one thing. Money. At least in our reality it does. The pursuit of riches, for those after it, usually means morals and ethics are the last things on their minds. Was this the ideal behind the 'supposed' corruption in the PT? An advanced Galactic civilisation and yet all everyone gave two shits about was how much cash they had in their back pocket? I'm richer than you!! (While sticking 2 fingers up). 

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^^ isn't the same happening to us now? After decades of TV... Internet kills newspapers... books are either audiobooks or electronic format - for your Kindle, iPad or whatever is the current fad, dear hipster. Forum idiots respond with tl;dr... people prefer to watch a video than to read a review...

Our civilization toys with nanotechnology, antimatter, cloning, and plans a manned mission to Mars... but it's still run by power-hungry greedy bastards (often with little education), while the rest of the population either only cares about their latest Playstation or starves.

 

On the other hand, surely I will admit that the Prequels' plot was weak, just like the "seduction" in ROTJ ...but this has already been addressed in other threads?

I saw the original theatrical release of the Old Trilogy on the big screen and I'm proud of it...
How did I accomplish that (considering my age) is my secret...
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I really do think that the innocent and naive "idiocracy" was a theme that George really tried to pull off in the PT without being too heavy-handed with it, but it just came off as really bad acting in the end. I think I remember GL at some point even commenting on it yet I can't recall where I saw it. I seem to remember him saying something about how the Jedi of the PT (along with everyone who looked up to them) were ignorant in the ways they taught about love, empathy, compassion, and attachment. It turns out that while some attachments are bad, especially the forbidden kind, that the right kind of attachments are in fact a good thing and that passion is fuel for a hero so long as it isn't out of control.

Luke, Leia, and Han are proof of the concept of how without the love they shared for each other they wouldn't have as much passion and drive to save the galaxy. This is why I believe that while Luke wasn't the chose one, he was in fact the greatest Jedi ever because he was the first one to say "Fuck you Ben, Yoda and all Jedi ever, I'm going to save my friends on Bespin because I love them!" And it turns out that while Yoda's foresights were correct about it being a trap and his FEAR about it came out in his speech to Luke before he leaves, in the end Luke's confrontation (and failure) with Vader actually turned him into a much greater Jedi in the end and could have never matched the experience he would have had if he'd listened to Yoda and stayed on Dagobah for more rock lifting and vine climbing. This is why I feel that a huge percentage of fans consider Empire the greatest movie of the three because we get to see how Luke's passionate failure at Bespin is actually the reason why he becomes the greatest of all Jedi. It's the most accurate depiction of real life struggle told in the most exotic way.

The PT, with it's idiocracy or bad acting, for me has always been a good representation of the dark side and honestly based on some people's attitude's about their quality I really do think that these movies have succesfully turned a large portion of Star Wars fans to the dark side of fandom aka pissed-off purist critics who don't realize what's really happened here. It's the most genius thing GL probably never planned on doing: give them something to hate to test how much they really love SW. It's like he's inadvertently testing us to see if we remember what he'd taught us in the OT "hate is the path to the dark side" and most people failed hard at that. It's the ultimate ruse! He turned us to the dark side instead of Anakin!

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I'd say that the SW Universe is in the final stages of heat death and the overwhelming stupidity of its inhabitants is just a byproduct of near-maximized entropy.

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The obvious answer is that the script was being written as the movie went along. 

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generalfrevious said:

The obvious answer is that the script was being written as the movie went along. 

If true, then no wonder it culminated in being a mess. I mean, who in their right mind makes the script up as they go along? Surely if your doing a trilogy the meat and bones of the production (story, script) are meticulously fleshed out before the director says 'Action' for the 1st time? You need to get those fundamental requirements set in stone before anything else. Not just wing it. How amateurish is that? And I know the famous, 'I love you' 'I know' scene was ad-libbed but that's because Ford had the balls to say 'hang on,' and Kerschner let him run with it because they both knew the original response 'I love you too' didnt fit with Solos character.