In Defense Of The Jedi - Tumblr Posts

These are the only three flaws I will concede, when it comes to the Jedi during the Prequels.

“They got lax/complacent.”

Yeah*. If you listen to the director’s commentary, George Lucas states the scene in AOTC with Jocasta Nu is there to indicate how unprepared the Jedi were before the Sith’s plan. They thought they were secure and ready but they were not and it turns out humble restaurant owners like Dex know things they don't.

*HOWEVER: Who wouldn’t be complacent, in times of peace?

The Sith were thought to be extinct and Dooku was once a Jedi, a revered one at that. Nobody could have suspected he’d betray the Order that raised him and loved him.

Nobody could've suspected that he'd abuse of their trust and delete a system from the Archives using the credentials of his best friend who he'd had assassinated. That's a verrrry specific scenario, and expecting them to be prepared for that is unreasonable.

"They should've sensed something!" Well, by this point in time, everything surrounding the Jedi was tainted by the Dark Side, which clouded everything. So on the one hand, this situation granted Sidious the gift of foresight and allowed them to always be one step ahead, and on the other, it caused the Jedi to be stuck trekking ahead in a fog, unsure of what the next move would be.

“They were politically-inept.”

Yes**. That’s how the Sith ran circles around the Jedi. They figured “there’s only two of us, if we march into the Temple we’ll get slaughtered, but wait, the Jedi serve the Senate and the Senate is run by politicians… what if we become the politicians? Then we can destroy the Jedi and the principles from the inside!”

**HOWEVER: The Jedi were politically-inept by choice.

After all, their function isn’t setting policy but carrying it out. They’re not politicians, they’re diplomats and as such they're not allowed to get involved in the political process.

But if they were... they still wouldn't. Because power corrupts, and if you let the space monks (who already have magical powers) have political power too, then that will lead to a very dark place.

The Jedi knew that if they tried to play politics, they’ll lose because they have neither the ruthlessness nor the status to do it well, so they make it a point of never going anywhere near it.

Unfortunately, that leaves them open to situations where the Senate or Palpatine corner them into doing something they really don’t wanna do.

It's how they were forced to expel Ahsoka, how they lost the favor of the citizens and it's how Dooku, then the Emperor, framed them as power-hungry sorcerers with his propaganda.

“The war made them hypocrites.”

Sure***. The Jedi were meant to be diplomats, not soldiers. By waging war instead of keeping the peace, they’ve compromised on their values.

***HOWEVER: The Jedi know this and they’re not happy about it at all.

Firstly, because they were forced into this situation by the Senate and Palpatine, who drafted them into service.

Secondly, because they know they’re essentially moving ahead blindly and playing right into the Sith Lord’s hand by fighting this war he orchestrated.

But finally, it’s that they know that not joining would’ve been worse. Sticking by their principles would’ve resulted in the enslavement and genocide of many populations. Sometimes, the spirit of the rules must be prioritized over the letter. Either do nothing and be true to your principles, or go against them but save lives.

It’s a bad choice to make, but not as bad as not making one.

It's a bad choice, but it's motivated by a desire to do some good and it did. They saved countless lives (sometimes at the cost of their own) and inspired countless more to form the Rebellion, later on.

So... three flaws.

But they all come with asterisks. There’s a reasonable (sometimes, even admirable) justification for each of them.

I’m pointing these out because a lot of people seem to conflate “the Jedi were flawed” with “the Jedi were at fault” when talking about their own demise. And the answer to that is:

No.

The Jedi were not at fault. Everybody else was.

The Senate was at fault for growing corrupt and self-serving.

Big Corp for their never ending greed.

The Separatists for being so blind and naive as to think Big Corp would tooootally value their principles and absolutely not commit war crimes every chance they get.

The Sith for being the mass-murdering egotistical assholes who started this whole mess.

And the citizens of the galaxy for not taking up arms in the face of blatant injustice.

Sometimes bad people win.

That doesn't always mean the good guys are at fault. Sometimes, the bad guys are just… better at the game. Mostly because they see it as a game, and the good guys don't.

Luckily, 20 years later, most of the above faults were rectified by the Rebellion, which was led by the best of the Senate, and composed of Separatist remnants and brave citizens of the galaxy.

When people say the Jedi Code led to the Order's downfall

Like yeah, just because you don't understand their ways means they deserved to be murdered. And they always try to sugarcoat it too, like they all just got fired from the Republic or something, instead of what actually happened, they were murdered and hunted like animals, children were slaughtered, their culture was erased and rendered illegal. How was this their fault again? Because they aren't omnipotent beings who can solve problems in a blink of an eye? I can't believe this fandom anymore tbh

“While it’s true that many children are given to the Temple as infants, no child is kept with us against his or her will. The Temple is not a prison. It is a home. A school. A world within a world. A safe haven for those born with peculiar sensitivity to the Force."

-Obi Wan Kenobi

Oh and that’s not 10,000 fully trained active Jedi, that’s 10,000 Jedi total. Hell the entire order has less members than the CPD(Chicago police who have around 12,000 officers according to google.)

This is why the Jedi have to obey the Senate. They literally cannot do much of anything without the Republics cooperation. Things like slavery don’t exist because the Jedi are just fine with it, they literally could do little to take it down even if the entire order was dedicated to it.

And the Jedi are not in control of the Senate or lobbyist, their just a religious order that gives its services to the Republic. Blaming them for the Galaxy’s state is the utterly absurd.

Jedi Per Capita

Coruscant (>1 trillion people) has less Jedi (10,000) per capita (0.01 ppm) than Marvel New York (~10 million people) has Spider Man (1) per captia (0.1 ppm)

You know, just for scale.

But the Republic doesn’t just expect Jedi to solve Coruscant’s problems, they expect Jedi to solve the entire Republic’s problems. (at least two orders of magnitude larger)

And certain so-called fans expect them to solve not just the Republic’s problems, but the entire galaxy’s problems. With no legal backing.

“Support”

Another thing I hear all the time (typically as an offhanded way of justifying their genocide or need to have cultural change imposed upon them). is “tHe JeDi SuPpOrTeD a CoRrUpT sYsTeM”, that therefore by “supporting” the Republic the Jedi are intrinsically flawed and should be forced to change (or deserve genocide).

Do they really “support” a corrupt system?  The Jedi are constantly critical of the Republic’s conduct, they aren’t happy with how things are going.  Also-and this is an incredibly simple distinction seriously what kind of idiot can’t pick up on this, but the Jedi are not the Republic’s government.  The Jedi are under the Republic’s-more specifically the Senate’s-authority, they are duty-bound to obey it and they have no say in how it is run.  The Jedi specifically reject such roles of authority, they do not want, and even believe they don’t deserve, to rule over people.

Also here’s something the people wailing on the Jedi’s “support” of a corrupt system never address:  What is the alternative?  What other system of Galactic governance should the Jedi align themselves with?  (also think of the implications, instability, and potential disasters that could stem from a Jedi order constantly hopping from one government to the next whenever they feel like the current one is not up to code)  At the time of the fall of the Republic there was only one other Galactic power, Hutt space

And don’t you dare suggest “jUsT lEaVe ThE rEpUbLiC” because that is fucking stupid.  Oh, the government doesn’t meat your standards?  Well logically the best thing to do is refuse to be a part of it and therefore refuse to try and change things for the better.  The problem is still ongoing, but your arbitrary holier-than-thou morals are secure and you didn’t have to actually do anything.  But also, and people really need to get this in their fucking heads, the Jedi can’t just do as they please.  They act with the Republic’s consent, they have to ask for permission, their authority to act in a situation comes from their place as representatives and defenders of the Republic, the Jedi are not vigilantes.

And now comes the part where people go on about how the Jedi should just change the government.  Again, the Jedi are not vigilantes, they are not the government, and they are not a legislative body, they can only do so much.  And there are only 10,000 Jedi (of all ages) in a Republic that has more planets than that and a population in the Quadrillions (low number).  To give an idea of the numbers we’re looking at, if you put the Jedi on Earth that’s 780,000 people per single Jedi, and that’s just one planet!  And why do the Jedi have to be the ones to fix the Republic’s corruption?  Why don’t all the leaders, senators, politicians and common people have a responsibility to hold the system accountable and change it when it needs to?

And last we have this, in spite of corruption, the Republic still is the best government in the Galaxy.  Its Democratic, its not conquering the Galaxy, slavery is illegal, it wasn’t designed as a means of dominating the Galaxy by an evil cult of edgelords, and it lasted for thousands of years, whereas every other Galactic government caps out within decades at most.  The late Republic definitely had flaws, but that no reason to leave it, throw it away or not try to make things better.

“The Jedi we’re wrong to fight in the Clone Wars!” How so? Should they have just ignored what happened on Geonosis aka when Dooku and the CIS leadership attempted to murder Padme(a literal senator) and then threw Obi Wan into an arena because he was pursuing said assassin and then threw Anakin and Padme in there with him? Where hundreds of them were butchered trying to rescue them by the droid army controlled by the Sith?

The Jedi not becoming generals makes nothing better. The war still happens and Palpatine has even more free reign to order Dooku to commit atrocities. The Clones still have to fight and probably are gonna be worse off. And the Republic is gonna be pissed them for refusing the draft(because the Jedi were drafted) and that means a lot less ability for the Jedi to do anything(there is only 10,000 of them without Republic support they can do little other than be a roving band of vigilantes.)

Entering the war was a sucky choice sure, but what other options do they have when confronted with the fact the Sith have an army rampaging through the galaxy? When hundreds of their members were killed by said army? When that would mean leaving the clones to fight and die? When it would cut off many way of them helping anyone? I really can’t see how sitting out is better here.