I Haven't Watched The Wrong Jedi Arc In A While Because It's Too Painful, But I Just Saw A Post (no Offense

I haven't watched the Wrong Jedi arc in a while because it's too painful, but I just saw a post (no offense to the OP if they somehow read this!) that I disagreed with... And being that this is the internet, I decided to write a post about it. Because.

So the post said -- I believe -- that Ahsoka let her emotions cloud her better judgment when she decided to leave the Jedi Order. And... no. I really disagree with that. Really.

Let's look at the situation. Ahsoka is roughly seventeen, and she's been fighting on the frontlines of a war with her roughly 22/23 year old master for three years. This is already a terrible, exploitive situation. That alone, had Ahsoka been made aware of how sick it was that she had been a soldier since she was fourteen, was grounds to leave the Jedi Order.

But in the Wrong Jedi arc we have Ahsoka framed for a crime she didn't commit, and then we have the Jedi Order expelling her from their Order -- a seventeen year old child who has very few connections and support outside of them -- with full knowledge that a) the Republic is probably more invested in cleaning up the mess than getting justice (I think this was said in the arc) and b) they will execute this seventeen year old girl.

Maybe the evidence pointed to Ahsoka. But the Jedi Order should have waited. They had the power to protect her, they had knowledge of her character, and they had people -- Anakin, Plo, and Obi-Wan -- who could testify to Ahsoka's character, that she would never do what they were accusing her of. They should have given people time to investigate, to make sure it wasn't a frame up job. She was a child, and she was under their protection, and they threw her to the wolves.

You want to know why I don't like the Jedi Council? Because only TWO of them voted to protect Ahsoka: Obi-Wan and Plo Koon. Yoda didn't. Mace didn't. Everyone else didn't.

Then, after Ahsoka goes on the run, they task Anakin -- if I remember correctly -- with finding her and bringing her in. That's a) sick b) traumatic for both of them and c) a conflict of interest. The whole thing was a dog's breakfast of an operation.

So. To sum up, Ahsoka was scapegoated, betrayed, and traumatized by how the situation was handled. She was nearly executed. It was Anakin's 11th hour intervention that saved her. After that, maybe -- MAYBE -- the Jedi Council's actions could be forgiven. It was a bad situation and perhaps they did the best they could and acted according to their consciences.

BUT THEN.

They don't apologize to Ahsoka. They don't admit wrongdoing. Instead, they try to pass it off as the will of the Force. "Your trauma and pain was necessary to make you a better Jedi." It's not their fault. It's not that they failed to protect a child (regardless of what age is considered adult in this world, she's still a padawan, meaning she is under their care). It's not that they spat on everything she did for them. It's not that they immediately believed she did it, even if it made no sense. It's not that they pitted her and her beloved master against each other. No. It's the will of the Force.

And Ahsoka -- in a moment of stunning maturity and bravery -- sees right through their idiocy and dishonesty and calls them on it, which is something we see basically no else do. Ever. They offer to induct her back into the Order, as though nothing happened, as though everything they did was part of some grand plan they had, and she turns them down. She realizes that she is not safe in the Order. She's not protected. She's not valued. She is a tool and a resource, and they can and will throw her away if it is expedient. She realizes something that Anakin -- heartbreakingly -- never will. (He was a slave and he only stopped being a slave because Qui-Gon saw a shiny Force sensitive who he thought would be useful. He was always something of an object to Qui-Gon and to much of the Order, even if they didn't realize it.)

So she leaves. She leaves to discover who she is outside the Order. This hurts her. It hurts her a lot. She loves Anakin, she loves Obi-Wan, and she loves Plo. If she had let her emotions dictate her decision, she would have stayed with the Jedi. She would have stayed where it was familiar, where she knew what was expected of her and who she was expected to be. But she didn't. She chose to make the safer, braver decision to leave. To leave the cult she had grown up in.

It was not Ahsoka's job to remain in the Order and fight in a war she never consented to being involved in. It wasn't her job to be their soldier. To stay wouldn't have been selfless. It would have been stupid. It would have only hurt her.

So yeah.

Anakin should have dipped the moment space Jesus came to his shithole planet and baby boy asked if they were there to free the slaves and the whole council (all the way from the jedi temple, yes) said "no <3".

Sick and twisted fr fr.

Ironwood's First Time

Weiss Schnee slid her lean arms around the General's broad shoulders, rests her lips next to the General's ear, and said.

"Nervous?"

General Ironwood leans back and melts into Weiss's embrace, his beard brushed against the sleeve of Weiss's dress and he savored the scent and sensation of Weiss's presence through the silk. Ironwood then looked up into Weiss's eyes and said.

"Nervous? Yes. Yes, I am."

Weiss chuckled as she traced the line of Ironwood's beard which wrapped around a jaw chiseled from granite.

"First time?"

Ironwood shrugged and said.

"No, I've been nervous many times."

To be fair:

The destruction of the Jedi Order was less a genocide and more of a religious conflict that the Jedi lost. The Jedi Order is a sect of the collective religious culture of 'Force Users,' and their destruction cannot really be considered genocide as the cultural group of 'Force Users' still exists albeit heavily restricted and controlled by the Sith during the Empire Era.

Secondly:

The entire point of the Prequel trilogy was that the Jedi contributed to their destruction. Their wilful ignorance, isolation, and insulation from the corruption of the Republic they insisted on protecting, to the point the Jedi Council, for example, caused a schism in the Order because they insisted that Jedi Masters act as Generals for the Clone Army regardless of the individual Jedi Master's wishes, led the Jedi to become entirely isolated and perhaps hated by the Republic they had sworn to protect.

Order 66 and the sacking of the Temple were executed to the surprise of the Jedi, and no Jedi was present when Sidious became Emperor of the Galaxy. No one, save for a few Senators like Organa, protected the Jedi when they fell, and during the Rebellion Era, even Organa himself did not approach the surviving Jedi to aid in the fight against the Empire. Somehow, the Jedi even managed to alienate their chosen one and drove him to the dark side, allowing Sidious to turn the Jedi's greatest weapon against themselves.

The Jedi bubbled themselves up and the Council refused to face the problems that faced their beloved Republic until it is too late. Palpatine exploited their ignorance, but it was the Jedi who were ignorant themselves in the first place. That was the lesson of the Prequel Trilogy, speak out and speak loud so that the people are aware and always ready to fight against corruption and oppression.

I've seen a lot of posts on my feed lately that have, in some way shape or form, said "the story of the Jedi is tragic cause the Jedi caused their own genocide" followed by a list of just...stuff that's either untrue or the other option would've been worse in that game of roulette that Palpatine set up specifically to force the Jedi to make questionable decisions and wear them down with the weight of them. (Untagged posts btw, if you're gonna post shit along these lines please for the love of fuck tag it "Jedi critical," there are tags for a reason)

So I'm here to outline why that's complete and utter bullshit in one easy, simple to understand, post! No matter what the Jedi did, or what you think they did, they did not cause their own genocide. The fault of their genocide is solely on those who chose to commit said genocide of their people and culture.

Ignoring the fact that Palpatine's entire plan, the whole point of everything that we see in the Prequels, was to kill off all of the Jedi and erase their culture--so he was gonna figure out some way to do it, with or without Anakin/the clones/Dooku/etc.

You cannot make someone commit genocide against you.

That is the stupidest argument ever.

Committing genocide is a choice, one that you actively have to make over and over again--which we see Anakin do, even long after all (or all except a measly few survivors, most of which were literal children in the Prequel-era and couldn't have possibly done anything to piss Anakin off) of the Prequel-era Jedi--aka the ones that people say "brought this on themselves"--were dead!

The Jedi Order as a whole could've been the shittiest, most repressed group of arrogant assholes the galaxy had ever seen. They could've called Anakin a whiny bitch to his face and told him that Dooku should've gone for his head instead of his arm. They could've danced on his mother's grave and had tea parties with the Tuskens.

And guess what?

They still could not have made Anakin and Palpatine commit genocide against them. It was their choice, and their choice alone.

The only people that had no choice in committing that genocide were the clones and guess who took that choice away from them? Because it certainly wasn't the fucking Jedi!

Which is hilarious because most of these posts I've seen have said something along the lines of "the Jedi used the clones as slaves," ignoring the fact that--even if that were true (and it's not)--Anakin and Palpatine used them as slaves too!

And it was so much worse when they did it because, not only were they not given a choice, they were fucking mind-controlled in order to commit genocide against their will! So they didn't even get the choice to refuse and face the consequences of that--which is an option for them during the Clone Wars, albeit a shitty one.

So no, the Jedi did not bring anything upon themselves.

Start holding Anakin responsible for his own shitty decisions, and start tagging your damn anti-Jedi and Jedi critical posts properly!

Someone: posts a sensible self defence tip.

MMA youtubers: use strawman arguments to 'debunk' the tip and plug their own merchandise.

Someone: *posts a short and sensible self-defense tip*

Tumblr Expert 1: OH YEAH MAN LET ME TELL YOU HOW TO BEAT UP THE ROBBERS ON THE TRAIN WITH YOUR IPHONE USING IT AS A MACE AND CHAIN WITH THE CHARGE CABLE. BE SURE TO PEPPER SPRAY YOURSELF IN THE EYES EVERY DAY TO BUILD UP A TOLERANCE TO YOUR ASSAILANT’S FLYING SEMEN COUNTERATTACK. IF YOU’RE DISABLED THAT’S OKAY YOU CAN JUST WEAR SWIMMING GOGGLES AT ALL TIMES. NOBODY SHOULD JUDGE YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF.

Fandom Contributor: HOLY SHIT HERMIONE DID THAT IN MY FANFIC I CAN’T BELIEVE CONFIRMED FOR REAL

Tumblr Expert 2: If you can’t afford an iPhone, though, you can ABSOLUTELY make a defensive hand grenade by jamming your keys into your soda and shaking it up real hard! Be sure to close your eyes when you throw it so your attacker’s bone fragments don’t blind you! If he’s still alive after that he’ll definitely be stunned, so follow it up by punching his nose bone into his brain with an open palm-heel strike (NOT A CLOSED FIST)!

Tumblr Expert 3: Also if the bad guy has a gun you should do this! *posts several gifs of highly improbable disarm moves that would nevertheless take a shitload of real-life practice with training partners*

Schmuck: holy fuck my ass tumblr teaching us how to wage war

(275,987 notes)

Martial artist/MMA fighter/boxer/gun owner: 

In all honesty I'm getting a little bored of people absolving the Jedi Order of even allowing slavery because the Order was drafted. Muhammad Ali was drafted and he resisted, and others have as well. There's always a choice, however dire the situation. The idea that a 'moral' organisation of Force Users powerful enough to lead the war effort, with abilities, lightsabers and mind tricks, couldn't even think to try is patently ridiculous.

The Reasons the Jedi Order isn't "good" anymore by the peak of the Republic

Slick: "It's the Jedi who keep my brothers enslaved. We serve at your whim. We do your bidding. I just wanted something more."

In the canon, as it is, Slick accuses the Jedi of keeping his brothers enslaved and nobody, not even Anakin or Obi-Wan, deny it. He didn't even accuse them of starting the slavery and system, just helping maintain it. The fact is, the Jedi could advocate for clone rights and side with actually helping people who need them in a meaningful way but they don't because they maintain the status quo, the Republic, however vile and corrupt it gets. Even when they're told, as part of Palpatine's cover story, that their men's brains have just been a little neutered by the 'inhibitor chips' to keep them less aggressive and essentially more servile.

Choose your side, a corrupt state blatantly sliding in to fascism (and believe me it wasn't subtle) as it fights separatists or actually freeing slaves being abused and killed right in front of you. The Jedi choose the former for the vast, vast majority of the War.

This is because...

Master enablers, again

Jedi Master Dooku: "The Jedi blindly serve a corrupt Senate that fails the Republic it represents."

More than once, the Jedi are accused of siding with corrupt entities over victims. This is shown explicitly in the Tales of the Jedi, but it continuously remains obvious with the clones and the Ahsoka trial. Now, I've heard people accusing panicking teenage Ahsoka of "making herself look guilty", but the Jedi weren't even fully convinced of her guilt. The reason they jettisoned her was primarily political.

This is what Mace Windu says in response to Obi-Wan's protest that things don't quite add up and Ahsoka could be innocent.

Mace Windu: "I understand your sentiment, Obi-Wan. But, if the council does as you suggest. It could be seen as an act of opposition to the Senate. I'm afraid we have little choice."

Apparently, innocence is a matter of "sentiment". Again, politics, their dated mandate and the system matter more to the Jedi Order than fighting for the right thing. When laws are unjust, it is a moral imperative to resist them, and allowing unjust courts and slavery is too big a pill to swallow even for war. Plenty of fascist states had soldiers and civilians follow inhumane orders, systems and laws throughout history, it still doesn't absolve them of just going along with it.

Not all that Compassionate

Ahsoka: "It's every citizen's duty to challenge their leaders, to keep them honest, and hold them accountable if they're not.”

From enabling slavery as opposed to resisting to just flat out callous decisions like never investigating Pong Krell's casualty numbers to leaving clones' bodies to rot while pausing a high stakes mission for the late Evan Piell to have a Jedi funeral, none of the Jedi's individual-based kindness absolves them of their role in the Republic's corruption and the systematic hierarchy of slavery that is GAR, draft or no.

Fives: "We are loyal soldiers. We follow orders, but we are not a bunch of unthinking droids! We are men! We must be trusted to make the right decision, especially when the orders we are given are wrong!"

At the end of the day, Fives was more of a hero than any of them and it shows. Resist, regardless! Sure, be smart and tactical, but resist, regardless. The fact we're even debating on the morality of system-propping organisations and characters allowing slavery for "the greater good" is making me despair.