What makes the Empire in Star Wars evil?

[hooglese]

In the movies, the Imperials/Dark Side are a democratic republic, they kept the galaxy in peace, they only blew up Alderaan because the enemy was gathering there and they allowed freedom to express emotion while the light side of the force achieved none of this.

*Note that I am excluding the latest movies because they were just garbage.

 

[JoJo]

Considering if I recall correctly the Imperial Senate was disbanded permanently by the Emperor at the beginning of IV, I wouldn't call the Empire "democratic", besides the Emperor was pretty much making most of the decisions before that point.

Secondly, if you think blowing up an entire planet containing billions of innocent men, women and children because the rebels were gathering there, you may need to rethink your moral system. If you were to put it in real life terms, it'd be like the U.S. nuking the entirety of Iraq or Afghanistan because there happens to be anti-western militants somewhere in those countries.

Finally they summarily executed Luke's uncle and aunt because they bought a droid with sensitive information on, hardly sounds like a fair democratic republic to me.

 

[370999]

In the movies, the Imperials/Dark Side are a democratic republic, they kept the galaxy in peace, they only blew up Alderaan because the enemy was gathering there and they allowed freedom to express emotion while the light side of the force achieved none of this.

*Note that I am excluding the latest movies because they were just garbage.

There is a lot of protagonist centered morality.

They aren't really democratic. I believe in a New Hope, it is mentioned that the Senate has been formally disolved. Likewise seeing as there is zero mention of things like a free press, any laws constraining the actions of the state, etc, they don't come across as great.

Blowing up Alderaan because the "enemy is gathering there" is not a good enough reason. We don't know if all Alderaanites (whatever that is) are hostile to the Empire. Also the Empire never gave them a chance to surrender, it just straight up annihilated them.

There is no light side of the Force. There is only the Force, and those in tune with it, and the dark side which corrupt and contorts the force into an maloevolent thing. Alos the Sith are a hollow freedom, your emotions are allowed to run wild at the cost of utterly enslaving you to them.


However I'm not a big star Wars fan, so I imaigne someone with a greater knowledge of the Expanded Universe will be better able to explain it.

 

[Eddie the head]

They blew up plaints with billions innocent of people and where going to do it again? Well gee I don't know. Maybe the United States should Nuke china due to the few Hackers that are there. Or you know what there are criminals in L.A. LETS JUST A BOMB IT! Note BILLIONS of innocent people.

 

[Dangit2019]

But Alderaan didn't have any gathering enemies...they blew it up just to show how big their space-dicks were and anger Princess Leia.

 

[Quaxar]

I don't even know what to add there, looks like the OP got Alderaan'd by three posters already.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Secondly, if you think blowing up an entire planet containing billions of innocent men, women and children because the rebels were gathering there, you may need to rethink your moral system. If you were to put it in real life terms, it'd be like the U.S. nuking the entirety of Iraq or Afghanistan because there happens to be anti-western militants somewhere in those countries.

Pretty much this. Also they use torture droids and have no problem whatsoever taking over and oppressing anyone who happens to be in the way. See Bespin, a planet that's only distinguishing feature was the fact the Millenium Falcon was there.

 

[FURY_007]

umm what? Ok i'll bite

The Old Republic was a democratic Republic, the Empire was not. Palpatine manufactured a war to put himself in a position of power (not to mention in control of an army). He then uses said army and Darth Vader to kill off the witnesses in the Confederacy that have any knowledge of his involvement, and then uses said army to purge the Jedi. He then, as mentioned in A New Hope, dissolves the Senate, leaving the ultimate authority to Palpatine, ruling the Empire as a Military Dictatorship, ruling out of fear with an iron fist. Blowing up Alderaan was an interrogation tool for Leia, but also a Weapons Test, and a warning for other planets to stay in line. The Empire was severely xenophobic, regularly enslaving other species, such as wookies. That's where Han met Chewbacca, Chewie was getting whipped and Han went against the officer whipping him, causing him his Imperial Pilot career.

So while the Imperial Army and Navy can claim they were just following orders, as much as any military, can, The Empire was an evil corrupt organization.

 

[C F]

It is the personal dominion of a guy who headed two sides of a war, masterminded the deaths of trillions to rise to power, dissolved any semblance of democratic control, and declared himself emperor of everything. He uses space magic to shoot lightning out of his hands and passively dominate the wills of soldiers under his direct command. He will slaughter everything that stands between him and absolute control, be it rebels, possible rebel sympathizers, or anyone clogging up the blast radius of his newest toys. Every law that is in place serves to benefit him and his regime, while putting the welfare of the citizenry second.
The only reason there is peace is because everyone is too gridlocked by fear to make a move. He conned everyone into trading freedom for safety, and then deprived them of both. If this isn't evil, then I will boil and eat my left shoe.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Because they're a bunch of fascists. They're Nazi Germany in all, but name.

 

[burningdragoon]

They blew up a planet. Period full stop. The fact that you tried to spin that to be a positive thing makes it look like you are either trolling or poorly trying to play devil's advocate, especially since your justification is false.

There's more to it than that, for sure, but to reiterate: They blew up an entire planet to show off that they can blow up an an entire fucking planet.

 

[Aris Khandr]

"Princess Leia: No! Alderaan is peaceful! We have no weapons, you can't possibly...
Governor Tarkin: [impatiently] You would prefer another target, a military target? Then name the system! I grow tired of asking this so it will be the last time: *Where* is the rebel base?
Princess Leia: ...Dantooine. They're on Dantooine.
Governor Tarkin: There. You see, Lord Vader, she can be reasonable. Continue with the operation; you may fire when ready.
Princess Leia: WHAT?
Governor Tarkin: You're far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration - but don't worry; we will deal with your rebel friends soon enough. "

Alderaan was not destroyed because the Rebels were hiding there. It was merely a demonstration to keep the other systems in line. That would be like the US blowing up all of France, just to intimidate Somalia.

 

[uzo]

*EDIT*

Sorry ... captcha error seemed to throw my post from another thread into this one. Hurr durr.

 

[GTwander]

Alderaan was not destroyed because the Rebels were hiding there. It was merely a demonstration to keep the other systems in line. That would be like the US blowing up all of France, just to intimidate Somalia.

I like how everyone is using the US is their examples here...
We nuke a couple Japanese cities, torture some civilians and assassinate dictators we put in power, and all of a sudden WE'RE the bad guys.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Black cloaks and uniforms. Damn them and their evil clothing!

Also, the destruction of Alderaan, which is a planet, just as an 'example' - I could count that as evil.

 

[Nimzabaat]

But Alderaan didn't have any gathering enemies...they blew it up just to show how big their space-dicks were and anger Princess Leia.

Yeah it was a World War II reference.

OT: In the original trilogy there's every indication that the Empire wasn't really evil. Vader's (before "Darth" became a title) reference to "there'll be no escape for you this time" clearly meant that he was being pushed and was stretching the law, which meant there were laws and processes protecting civil liberties. There's also an interesting theory about how the Stormtroopers had trouble shooting civilians because they weren't trained to do that. They seemed to shoot just fine when it was against people in uniform. Then again there's also the mention that blowing up the first Death Star was killing Imperial soldiers who understood the risks of their jobs. Blowing up the second Death Star included a lot of innocent contractors with families. Yeah the Rebels were terrorists and by succeeding in taking down the Empire they just caused a lot of chaos and killed a lot of innocent people.

 

[scarfacetehstag]

People have this pretty much summed up but I want to expand on one point.

It's never really mentioned in anything but the empire is hardcore anti-alien. They don't allow aliens (With the exception of human like aliens, Chiss etc.) into their organizations and they enforce anti-immigration laws is some expanded universe stories. Plus they hunt the Jedi like dogs, and kill whoever tries to protect them, so there's that.

And I feel the need to protect that idea of the Sith being better because they allow marriage and shit. the Jedi operate on that level against a slippery slope, the same way the US won't do something about the WBC basically. Marriage and love and emotions re good, but they can too quickly overtake you when you find your space wife fucking the space poolboy in your own bed. The post empire Jedi order even allows love and marriage, with Luke acknowledging the dangers of it.

 

[Zeren]

Oh nothing much has made them evil... Just torture, slavery, genocide.... Normal stuff.

 

[scarfacetehstag]

But Alderaan didn't have any gathering enemies...they blew it up just to show how big their space-dicks were and anger Princess Leia.

Yeah it was a World War II reference.

OT: In the original trilogy there's every indication that the Empire wasn't really evil. Vader's (before "Darth" became a title) reference to "there'll be no escape for you this time" clearly meant that he was being pushed and was stretching the law, which meant there were laws and processes protecting civil liberties. There's also an interesting theory about how the Stormtroopers had trouble shooting civilians because they weren't trained to do that. They seemed to shoot just fine when it was against people in uniform. Then again there's also the mention that blowing up the first Death Star was killing Imperial soldiers who understood the risks of their jobs. Blowing up the second Death Star included a lot of innocent contractors with families. Yeah the Rebels were terrorists and by succeeding in taking down the Empire they just caused a lot of chaos and killed a lot of innocent people.

But clerks also points out that any contractors on the second death star wouldn't have known what they were getting into. they would have taken the job full well knowing the risks.

 

[Zeren]

But Alderaan didn't have any gathering enemies...they blew it up just to show how big their space-dicks were and anger Princess Leia.

Yeah it was a World War II reference.

OT: In the original trilogy there's every indication that the Empire wasn't really evil. Vader's (before "Darth" became a title) reference to "there'll be no escape for you this time" clearly meant that he was being pushed and was stretching the law, which meant there were laws and processes protecting civil liberties. There's also an interesting theory about how the Stormtroopers had trouble shooting civilians because they weren't trained to do that. They seemed to shoot just fine when it was against people in uniform. Then again there's also the mention that blowing up the first Death Star was killing Imperial soldiers who understood the risks of their jobs. Blowing up the second Death Star included a lot of innocent contractors with families. Yeah the Rebels were terrorists and by succeeding in taking down the Empire they just caused a lot of chaos and killed a lot of innocent people.

But clerks also points out that any contractors on the second death star wouldn't have known what they were getting into. they would have taken the job full well knowing the risks.

The empire has a knack for using slaves. The people building the second one probably were forced to.