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antianakin · 1 year

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"The Jedi repress their emotions!"

Actually, that's Anakin!

"The Jedi have unhealthy relationships with people!"

Actually, that's Anakin!

"The Jedi are too embroiled in politics to truly be able to help people!"

Anakin is literally in the pocket of the Chancellor and continuously insists that they have to abide by the law while multiple other Jedi, particularly Council members, generally try to avoid that whenever possible in order to better help people on the mission.

"The Jedi aren't involved in politics enough to truly be able to help people!"

Despite living in the Chancellor's pocket, Anakin literally has no idea how the political system works as evidenced by his criticism of it in AOTC and TCW "Heroes on Both Sides." By contrast, we see that Ahsoka has clearly gotten an education in politics and has been taught that it's important to be involved in politics in order to try to keep corruption from happening, an education good enough that she's literally capable of teaching other kids her own age about it. It's also the Jedi who we see actively recognizing that Palpatine is corrupt and choosing the do something about it, unlike Anakin who just keeps making excuses for Palpatine.

"The Jedi didn't fight enough for the clones!"

The Jedi are the ONLY ones we EVER see fighting for the clones in ANY WAY. We see Jedi criticize EACH OTHER for negative treatment of the clones, we see Jedi fight back against the Kaminoans to save the clones, and we see Jedi literally dying to protect the clones. Yoda himself makes the argument to trust the clones after they discover that the clones are probably a Sith trap for the Jedi. There is NO ONE ELSE who ever fights for the clones at all, but the Jedi are seen to do so MULTIPLE TIMES. And I will note that aside from fighting on the battlefield with them, none of these examples include Anakin, who is frequently seen to EXPLOIT his own men, particularly Rex, for his own selfish agendas.

"The Jedi steal babies!"

This has been debunked over and over again by people with more resources than me, but guess who actually DOES steal children? If you guessed Anakin, YOU'D BE RIGHT! And according to the multiple people who gave me examples last time I asked (thank you to all of you who did so), he specifically steals a baby FROM A FORMER JEDI. He also literally helps torture captured Jedi children into becoming Jedi hunters and keeps the body of a Jedi child as a trophy.

#star wars #pro jedi #pro jedi culture #jedi culture respected #jedi appreciation #jedi culture appreciated #jedi respected #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #stop projecting anakin's specific flaws onto the jedi #that's not how media literacy works

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kanansdume · 11 months

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The thing that occurs to me after reading all of these posts discussing fans' lack of familiarity with Eastern values and philosophies as part of the reason why the Jedi are so misunderstood and hated, is that it doesn't seem that unfamiliar at all actually.

Once I understood the general concept behind non-attachment, it started to become apparent just about everywhere. Star Wars obviously takes it to certain extremes to make a very insistent point (don't burn down the entire world and/or murder children in order to save just one person), but the basic idea of letting go is in SO MUCH Western media.

It isn't always about letting go of a person, either. Sometimes it's letting go of a selfish ambition, or a dream the character is clinging to because they've had it since they were a child, or a place. There is SO MUCH "letting go of fear and not letting it control you" or recognizing that being brave or courageous doesn't mean not being scared.

Think about Princess Diaries which literally states out loud that "bravery doesn't mean the absence of fear, but merely that something else is more important."

Think about Tangled where the characters both have to give up their prior "dreams" to save each other selflessly and it's that selflessness that allows them to succeed. The Princess and the Frog has a similar concept.

Think about the recent Dungeons and Dragons movie where the main character's desire to bring back his dead wife inadvertently causes harm to his daughter and he has to let go of his attachment to her by the end of the film in order to repair his relationship with his child and save his friend.

Once you understand the message being sent by the Jedi's values and philosophies, you'll literally see it just about everywhere in Western media. Their values aren't so far from our own, they're honestly quite similar. The messages Star Wars is sending through the Jedi are messages that a LOT of other Western media has been sending for ages, it's just packaging it a little differently with some slightly unfamiliar wording.

#jedi #attachment #non-attachment #star wars #pro jedi #jedi culture respected #jedi culture appreciated #jedi appreciation

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starbeltconstellation · 8 months

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Rewrite the Stars

Pairing: Anakin Skywalker x Modern Girl! OC

Warning: It gets a little spicy eventually, but not actually into smut, so be forewarned.

Summary:

"HOW CAN YOU WIN THE GAME IF YOU NEVER MAKE A MOVE?"

***

What would you do, if you were given a chance to save millions of lives throughout a galaxy?

Would you do it? Could you even do it? Is such a feat even possible?

Or would you crumble and choke under the pressure?

Melanie Bains is about to find out, as she is sent to a galaxy FAR, FAR AWAY...

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

°　　　　　.·　　　　　　☆　°　　　　　✦　　·✯

°　　　　*°*　　 ☆•　 ✷ *　✶

.　　　.　　　•.　★　　·　　　　　　　　·　.

·　　✯°　　　°°　　　✵★·.　　　•　　　·

•　✧　　　*•·　　　　•　　　•　✦　　✷　.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *: ･ﾟ✧

"You can change yourself and you can change the situation but you absolutely cannot change other people. Only they can do that."

— Joanna Trollope

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *: ･ﾟ✧ °　　　　　.·　　　　　　☆　°　　　　　✦　　·✯

°　　　　*°*　　 ☆•　 ✷ *　✶

.　　　.　　　•.　★　　·　　　　　　　　·　.

·　　✯°　　　°°　　　✵★·.　　　•　　　·

•　✧　　　*•·　　　　•　　　•　✦　　✷　.　　　　　

˚・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.｡˚

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jedi-enthusiast · 3 months

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Jedi culture is a padawan smacking one of their friends, poking them, playing a prank on them, etc. and then, when they try to retaliate, running away shouting- "REVENGE IS NOT THE JEDI WAY!!!"

#star wars #pro jedi #jedi culture #jedi appreciation

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bbygirl-obi · 8 months

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"the jedi don't have therapists-"

jedi philosophy, and in particular the practices and teachings that jedi were expected to implement in their everyday lives, was therapy. dialectical behavior therapy (dbt), to be exact. anyone who's familiar with dbt knows where i'm already going with this, but like genuinely look up the basic tenets of dbt and it's identical with what the jedi were doing.

dbt, to put it simply, is a specific therapy technique that was designed for ptsd and past trauma. it's pretty different from traditional talk therapy. it combines a few different environments (individual, group, etc.), recognizing that no single format of treatment can stand alone.

the key focuses of dbt include:

emotional regulation- understanding, being more aware of, and having more control over your emotions

mindfulness- regulating attention and avoiding anxious fixation on the past or future

interpersonal effectiveness- navigating interpersonal situations

distress tolerance- tolerating distress and crises without spiraling and catastrophizing

i'm sure it's already clear from that list alone how much the jedi teachings correspond with the goals of dbt. the jedi value, teach, and practice the following:

identifying and understanding emotions

mindfulness and living in the present

compassion, diplomacy, and conflict resolution (on interpersonal scales, not just planetary or galactic)

accepting and tolerating certain levels of distress or discomfort (particularly mental, such as discomfort at the thought of losing a loved one to death)

idk man seems almost as if jedi mental health practices and dbt are two sides of a completely identical coin. (fun fact: both star wars and dbt are products of the 70s.)

and guess what? dbt was specifically designed as a treatment for borderline personality disorder. remember that one? or, if you don't, maybe you remember a specific character, the one who was literally used as an example by my professor in my undergrad psych class when she was teaching us about bpd?

tldr: simply existing within the jedi community, practicing jedi teachings, surrounded by a support network of other jedi of all life stages, was the therapy for anakin. even when viewed through a modern lens. it was even, more specifically, the precise type of therapy that has developed in modern times to treat the exact types of mental issues he was struggling with.

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jedi-valjean · 15 days

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Guide to Jedi Ranking Terminology

I see a lot of confusion about this in fic, so I thought I’d make a post about it. I hope it’s helpful!

Youngling refers to a child— not just a Jedi child, but any child. A child who has been inducted into the Jedi Order is called an initiate. A Jedi initiate is generally addressed by their name, without a title— though sometimes they will be referred to as “young [Name]” by their elders.

A Padawan, Padawan learner, or Jedi apprentice is an initiate who has been apprenticed to a master for formal training. Padawans are not always teenagers; for example, Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Padawan well into his twenties, while Ahsoka Tano, at fourteen years of age, was still considered a youngling at the start of her apprenticeship. They are generally addressed as “Padawan [Name.]”

A Jedi Knight is a Jedi who has been knighted— that is, completed their apprenticeship. The term Jedi Knight refers to any fully-trained Jedi, whether they have attained the rank of master or not. They are generally addressed as “Master [Name,]” not “Knight [Name.]”

A Jedi Master is a Jedi Knight who has been officially recognized as being especially proficient in the Force, typically for training an apprentice to knighthood. They are generally addressed as “Master [Name.]”

A Grandmaster or Grand Master is a Jedi who has been named head of the Order. There is usually, but not always, only one Grandmaster at a time. The Grandmaster is typically recognized in an official capacity as the wisest and oldest member of the Order. They are generally addressed as “Master [Name.]”

Master of the Order, also known as Master of the Council or Grand Master of the Jedi High Council, is the head of the Jedi Council. Prior to the Clone Wars, this title was distinct from that of Grandmaster. For example, Yoda was head of the Order, but Mace Windu was head of the Council. As such, Yoda deferred to Windu on Council matters, such as when the decision to train Anakin Skywalker as a Jedi Knight was ratified by the Council. During the Clone Wars, Windu stepped down from the position to take a more active role on the battlefield, though he remained on the Council; the position was then filled by Yoda. The Master of the Order is generally addressed as “Master [Name.]”

All Jedi above the rank of Padawan are addressed as “Master [Name.]” When one does not know a Jedi’s name, “Master Jedi” is used, such as when Taun We greeted Obi-Wan Kenobi on Kamino.

#star wars #jedi #jedi order #jedi culture #jedi appreciation #jedi apprentice #padawan #jedi knight #jedi master #yoda #mace windu #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #star wars prequels #prequel trilogy #sw prequels

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cerulianvermillion · 10 months

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I love the Jedi Temple. It must have been breathtaking, beautiful, jaw-droppingly gorgeous- the Jedi Temple must have been everything. A little taste of paradise, hidden in plain sight, the beauty of a thousand dreams nestled in the hearts of the Jedi. It was a home, a school, a place to be safe, to be whole.

#star wars #sw: the clone wars #sw prequels #i love the jedi #jedi #the jedi order #jedi appreciation #jedi culture #pro-jedi #Jedi temple

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ashinaburrito · 2 years

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There is no death, only the force

There’s something very precious about their bond. The way Quinlan teaches Aayla. It’s so wholesome.

I feel like this comic is such a beautiful illustration of the Jedi’s teaching on death.

#quinlan vos #aayla secura #young aayla secura #there is no death #only the force #star wars comics #star wars republic: hidden enemy #quinlan and aayla #pro jedi #jedi appreciation #jedi positivity #jedi culture #jedi temple #jedi order

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happycattail · 7 months

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I never get people who claim that the Jedi were “stuck in past” or “stuck in their own ways” because if this was really true, they just wouldn’t have participated in the war?

If the Jedi were really “stuck in the last”, they would’ve stuck to being peacekeepers and (if they had the option to, which they didn’t because the head of the republic was a Sith that was planning their demise), they would’ve denied becoming Generals and etc.

But they didn’t do this. They knew that if they didn’t fight, more people would’ve died.

What makes it more infuriating to me is that you know that even if canonically the Jedi chose not to fight, people will end up griping about them being high and mighty and holier than thou. You know they’ll complain that the Jedi are just sitting in their temples passively while watching the war goes down.

We’ve seen this treatment in so many different medias where a group will stay out of something like a war, and they’ll be portrayed as not wanting to actually fight for something.

Like no matter what the Jedi did, people will still find a reason to hate them because they don’t portray or value the same things as many western cultures.

#jedi positive #jedi appreciation #jedi order #just musing on fandom treatment is all #you will pry the fact that the Jedi were based on Asian culture out of my dying hands

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thelibrarian1895 · 3 months

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Random Jedi thing

It's not just Force sensitive foundlings that the Jedi would help, they're just the ones Jedi could get to fastest and the ones that they're usually allowed to keep. I would like to imagine that the Jedi temple and any and every Jedi operated area, such as wherever the corp jedi operated or whatever, acted as a safe havens and had baby boxes available. Jedi knights stationed in heavily populated areas might be prodded via the Force to make semi regular little laps through quite possibly awful areas hoping to find nothing but frequently finding abandoned or lost children or even teeny, tiny babies. Or breaking up fights or stopping people from being robbed or assaulted. And maybe the Force helps them accelerate finding good homes for the kids that they can't keep. A trainee Jedi shadow mission might be doing welfare checks on those kids the Jedi have placed via the Force. The Jedi absolutely are not attached to each and every foundling they've placed over the centuries but each and every one of such children just happen to have an extra gift from nowhere in particular on their name day and when they're older find pamphlets for scholarships and apprenticeships that they're suited for that no one admits to giving them. There's definitely not an entire server in the archive dedicated to the records of the children that they've placed and that they definitely don't keep an eye on as they grow. And there is no secret vault with macaroni art and finger paintings and baby pictures. Nope, no attachment here!

#jedi culture #jedi appreciation

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jadedblack · 2 years

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honestly really tired of the mandalorian jedi trope & especially mandalorian clones trope I wanna see clones adopting and being affected by Jedi culture I wanna see clones meditating sharing recipes and actually developing their culture through the Jedi I want to see Jedi culture being actually appreciated and explored

#the clones have nothing to do with mandalorians expect being clones of one and I’m tired #fanon makes mandalorians much more important than they actually are #the Jedi are the clones best friends and the clones are the jedis best friends #pro Jedi #jedi culture #jedi appreciation #obi wan kenobi #mace windu #entire jedi council tbh #clone culture #even if this has nothing to do with this post love and attachment are not the same thing just to clarify and because it can’t be said enough #the jedi deserved better #don’t tell me that the clones wouldn’t be affected by the jedi #don’t tell me they wouldn’t adopt traditions or adapt them to their own culture #my hc is that clone culture is a mix of jedi traditions/culture #and military traditions #look I love them #make this a new/more widely spread trope pls thank u!!!!!

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antianakin · 1 year

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I really do feel a lot of sympathy for the people who still have the softer anti-Jedi interpretation of Star Wars. You know the one, where the Jedi were good people individually and definitely didn't deserve to be genocided, but that their culture is repressive and isolating, and if they'd reformed it more then maybe Anakin wouldn't have gone dark, etc etc.

Because I believe that they love the Jedi. I do! You can often tell in some of the things they write about them, in meta or in fic, that they do genuinely LIKE the Jedi. And this interpretation very much does feel like it spawned as a way to fight back against the interpretation that "the Jedi were corrupt and that's the point of the Prequels" that was so popular right after the films were released and remains relatively popular today. It stands in a middle ground between "the Jedi are the heroes of the story who did nothing wrong" and "the Jedi are the true villains of the story who deserved to die" that allows for the Jedi to have been GOOD, just misguided.

This interpretation allows for these fans to find ways to SAVE the Jedi by having them reform themselves to, often, philosophies and practices that the canon Jedi actually already have. They often end up deciding that they CAN have relationships actually, so long as the don't let their relationships be prioritized over their duty or cause them to harm others. They often end up recognizing that balance means letting go of anger and fear rather than pretending it doesn't exist. They often end up realizing that mental health and therapy are good and important things.

These fans are SO CLOSE to getting it! All they need a little nudge to realize that the Jedi ALREADY HAVE ALL OF THAT. It's not a BETTER interpretation to see the Jedi as having caused their own destruction, intentionally or not. It doesn't necessarily make the story better to see it as true. It's not even necessarily more nuanced to view it that way.

As Jean-Luc Picard and Beyonce have taught us, sometimes you can do everything right, make no mistakes, and still lose. That's not failure, that's just life. The Jedi lost. They did everything right, as well as they could have under the circumstances, and lost due to things that were completely out of their control to change.

#star wars #jedi #pro jedi #jedi appreciation #jedi culture appreciated #jedi culture respected

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kanansdume · 1 year

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I feel like the whole ending of Din taking Grogu as his apprentice just has exactly no emotional impact for me because it's not the ending we were supposed to get and it sort-of starts to feel like a smack in the face.

The entire story was set up as getting Grogu back to his people, back to where he belonged and would be happiest. Grogu was never going to be a Mandalorian, even if he learned to love Din.

I've compared this show's initial concept to Ice Age before, but I'll do it again. It doesn't matter that the baby cared for the animals, he'd never BE an animal himself and is always going to be happiest when reunited with his father and his people. That connection the baby had to the three animals who worked so hard to save him and return him to his family is no less meaningful for how temporary it was always going to be.

In this case, it shouldn't have ever mattered whether Din and Grogu cared for each other because Grogu was always going to be happiest once he was reunited with the Jedi, with his true people who could communicate with him and help him learn to control his abilities and give him the tools needed to overcome the trauma of his past.

None of which means that connection that Din and Grogu had wasn't important or meaningful, particularly to Din himself, but just that it shouldn't have changed where Grogu ultimately would end up and the people he belonged to.

Grogu should've become a Jedi apprentice, he was always meant to be a Jedi apprentice, this was the choice he made decades ago when he was found and brought to the Jedi in the first place, it was the choice he made when he reached out to Luke at the Seeing Stone. Having him become a Mandalorian apprentice (since when have Mandalorians had APPRENTICES???) instead of a Jedi apprentice just seems like such a major fuck you to that prior storyline.

It also just feels like such a major fuck you to the Jedi themselves. That it's BETTER for Grogu to have specifically a parent and a house with a white picket fence rather than a group of Masters and a Temple. This entire season felt like it was trying to equate the Mandalorians to the Jedi, in how big of a threat they are to the Empire, and in how important they are to the narrative. But Star Wars just isn't about Mandalorians and it never will be. There's no way to re-insert Mandalorians into any of the three trilogies, so they are always going to remain irrelevant to the Skywalker Saga. And I feel like Favroni take this as a personal insult and just don't care for the Jedi as much and Grogu's fate feels like it reflects those feelings.

And so the only emotion I can feel at Grogu becoming Din's son and apprentice is bitterness. And a yearning for what we could've/should've had.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #din djarin #grogu #jedi #pro jedi #jedi appreciation #jedi culture respected #jedi culture appreciated

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starbeltconstellation · 8 months

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Rewrite the Stars

Pairing: Anakin Skywalker x Modern Girl! OC

Warning: It gets a little spicy eventually, but not actually into smut, so be forewarned.

Summary:

"HOW CAN YOU WIN THE GAME IF YOU NEVER MAKE A MOVE?"

***

What would you do, if you were given a chance to save millions of lives throughout a galaxy?

Would you do it? Could you even do it? Is such a feat even possible?

Or would you crumble and choke under the pressure?

Melanie Bains is about to find out, as she is sent to a galaxy FAR, FAR AWAY...

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Extended Summary:

Melanie Bains's life was far from extraordinary.

It was the epitome of average. She was one of the many millions of Americans throughout the country with an average paying job and an average pipe dream of being able to one day have a job doing what she loved.

Melanie was not really happy, but she was at least content with this. An average life truly wasn't that bad, all things considering.

But suddenly, life comes crashing down around her, and Melanie's mother is diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.

It is extraordinarily cruel of life and also predictably average of it as well, considering her mother will never be able to afford treatment.

All at once, Melanie is quitting her low paying paper pushing job and getting another at one of the only places near where she lives in California where she'll be able to make at least a fraction of what is needed to take care of her mother.

Months fly by, and suddenly it's two years later and Melanie has just enough money saved up for one round of chemotherapy for her mother.

The day before the chemotherapy is to begin, Melanie stops to buy a get well present for her mother at a strange little shop on the corner near the hospital.

This is where Melanie's life will become even more extraordinary than ever before.

˚・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.｡˚

A/N:

So... hi. None of you probably know me, because I've barely posted before and I'm such an introvert. Anyways, this is my first Star Wars story. I'm open to constructive criticism, but just not insults if at all possible. The one thing I will say about this story is that it will be long. This is basically me wanting to do a fix-it fic, I suppose, so I'll be going through all the movies and the clone wars tv show. I might not go through every episode though. I'm going to try and only focus on the ones that will be the most relevant to the story and my oc's journey. We'll see.

Also, just a fair warning, this will be the SLOWEST slow burn to ever burn. I am not kidding.

In this fic, Anakin IS married to Padmé.

Gasp! But, Author! Then how will our lovely pairing come to fruition? Is the oc a home wrecker?

Nope. None of the sort. In fact, the oc could not care less about Anakin at the beginning, and neither could he. Their relationship will be a slow build as Melanie will try her best to help Anakin deal with the darkness she knows he carries before he loses his shit and 'ruins everything', in her words.

Padmé and Anakin's relationship will deteriorate on its own off to the side, while the oc is oblivious, off running around like crazy trying to keep people from dying, and Anakin slowly panics internally as he seems to slowly start losing control of his heart around the oc, because damnit this is not happening to him, he has a karking wife—kriff—kriff—

You get the idea.

While Padmé's and Anakin's relationship can be considered romantic, George Lucas wasn't exaggerating when he viewed them like a fairytale. With fairytale romances, you don't have to think about it too hard. Two people meet, they fall in love—BAM!—then married and happily ever after even though you've only known them for a week.

And there's nothing wrong with their relationship being more fairytale-like than like real life. This is literally a world of people who carry around high powered plasma light sticks and who have magic force powers. The whole thing literally is meant to be some kind of fairytale.

For me though, in this story, I'm going to try and explore and try and constructively criticize the nature of that relationship when viewed through the lens of real life. If you enjoy the ship, just know that I'm going to not bash it or Padmé. That would be lazy writing to me. Instead, I'm going to try and have the relationship come to a natural end, showing both parties that it never could have worked out. Only then will the Anakin x oc romance start.

Seriously, it'll be a while before anything happens with my main man Anakin. But if you stick around to wait for it, I think you'll find it worth it.

I'm excited for this story, because I've always loved Star Wars. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it!

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jedi-enthusiast · 3 months

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So you guys know how the Jedi Order is filled with people from pretty much every world and species? Think about all the unique cultural things the Jedi would practice simply because the Order is basically a giant melting pot.

A Kalikori made out of Akul teeth, passed down through a lineage and carved in multiple different styles to represent the cultures of each of the lineage members.

Different Jedi taking inspiration for their cultural face tattoos from their Togruta master's lekku or their friends' facial tattoos or the designs on a Council member's cultural headdress.

Recipes that are fusion foods made of like five different cultural dishes because a group of friends all got drunk together, got the munchies, and fucked around in the kitchen until something tasted good.

Like, just everyone sharing their cultures with each other and then people adapting their cultures based on their lineages and the shared culture in the Order, shared culture being a form of expressing love and adopting someone into the Order/a lineage.

Obviously there would be things that are off limits and permission would have to be given and the Jedi would probably emphasize learning the culture before ever adapting it, but I just think that after thousands of years their would be a lot of shared culture among the Jedi.

Oh, and languages! With how many languages are probably spoken in the Order, I wouldn't be surprised if the Jedi basically spoke bastardized versions of every language mashed together---it'd probably be an always moving/changing/evolving thing that no one but the Jedi can understand because the Jedi use the Force to bridge any gaps there might be in someone's understanding.

A lot of words and phrases would be taken from Dai Bendu, just because it's my personal headcanon that the Jedi still speak it, but then it would branch out from there into Twi'leki and Togruti and Durese and everything else all mixed together.

I just...I love the idea of the Jedi having a mixed culture that reflects the diversity of the Order.

#star wars #sw prequels #pro jedi #pro jedi order #jedi appreciation #jedi culture #jedi culture appreciation

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bbygirl-obi · 8 months

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Hello, I just wanted to say I appreciate your detailed and thoughtful response to my reply. I do think I accidentally fell into an ongoing discourse I'm not really familiar with so I'm taking responsibility for that miscommunication/misunderstanding on my part. I in no way ever meant to imply, nor do I believe, that the genocide on the Jedi is anything other than a tragedy. Even if people have faults that never justifies violence. I'm very sorry that was not clear. I don't identify as an anti and I am chill with the Jedi. Lots of things you wrote about are reasons I like the Jedi and SW in general.

Since it seems I've caused harm I don't really see value in me trying to "defend" where I was coming from but I might be wrong, I'm not sure. The interpersonal relationship section of DBT has always been the hardest for me to grasp and I think that's really showing right now. So, sincere apologies again for my miscommunication.

(This ask is in reference to this post)

Hi, thank you so much for reaching out! I was a bit heated when writing that response, so kudos to you for not getting defensive and for hearing me out. I do really appreciate it. I'd love to help you understand a bit more why this hit me so hard, especially since this was unintentional on your part. There are three things that I think are important to understand here. I'll talk about them below.

1. There's kind of always been a worrying amount of racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism that's baked into big parts of the Star Wars fandom. It's unfortunate, but it's there. Many of the women and/or PoC characters/actors have experienced awful slews of online hate throughout the course of the franchise, specifically for being women and/or PoC. Ahsoka, Reva, Rey, Finn, Rose... the list goes on and on. There are also communities of fascists or incels who use the Empire as inspiration porn. These groups do not make up the entirety of this fandom, but they are a very loud part of it. AND their influence extends beyond their circles into the rest of the fandom, in the form of things that other people with privilege do not always register as bigotry.

2. Star Wars is unfortunately one of those fandoms where a lot of the discourse tends to step on the toes of real-life cultures. As I mentioned, the Jedi are based heavily off of Buddhist culture (George Lucas has been very explicit about this), and the targeted genocide is very similar to the real world's Holocaust. The rise of the Empire is pretty directly based off of the rise of Nazi Germany, to the point of the Empire's aesthetic being based off of the Nazis and Palpatine's rise to power directly paralleling Hitler's. Because the real-life connections are both significant and explicit, Star Wars intersects with the real world a lot more than other fictional or sci fi franchises do. There's a greater burden on members of fandom to investigate things before speaking on them as a result.

3. There are a lot of fandom misconceptions about the Jedi, including that they stole children, that they erased cultures, and that they were emotional, unfeeling people with no relationships. There are also a lot of sentiments that the Jedi were at fault for, or deserved, what happened to them (either because it was "balance" or because they created the man who genocided them). Some people arrive at these conclusions because of the racism mentioned in #1 intersecting with the non-white cultural influences mentioned in #2. Some people arrive at these conclusions because they see it elsewhere in fandom (from group #1), and don't recognize the dogwhistles because they aren't familiar with the cultures being trodden upon.

So when someone says the kinds of things you said in your post:

Jedi children are "stolen from their homes and raised devoid of their culture and families"

All Jedi initiation "traumatizes their subjects"

"Attachments are human relationships and…are integral to mental health"

All Jedi "have absolutely nowhere to turn to for comfort"

"The Jedi order is more akin to a cult"

The Jedi "sterilize" and "manipulate" DBT and force their practices upon their members as "the one true way to live"

The Jedi are "about eradicating big emotions"

Their "goal [is] indoctrinating the children they stole"

"Anakin is the direct product of their failure"

Sure, the first thing that jumps out is the misinformation. But since almost everything you're critiquing about the Jedi is something that also exists in Buddhism, you are simultaneously deriding Buddhism as something that is detrimental to mental health, that provides no support network to anyone, that is sterile and emotionless, and that is a form of indoctrination.

The paternalistic idea that Buddhists were victims of backwards, harmful cults, and needed to be "saved" from their own culture by white people, is both old and insidious. These are things that have been said about Buddhism with the intention of painting it as stupid and even harmful, so that white people could justify oppressing both Buddhism as a religion and the PoC cultures who originated and practiced it. This is still used today as a justifier for modern-day forms of racism, but it's also been used for centuries as a justification for the colonization of entire countries.

I've discussed the genocide aspect in my other post, but I'll just reiterate that the sentiment "the Jedi are not to blame for their genocide" cannot coexist with the sentiment "Anakin, the perpetrator of said genocide, is the direct product of the Jedi." The idea from your tags that the Jedi "killed" Anakin is also a tricky one, since the idea that Anakin's death was Vader's creation is a popular fandom trope turned canon with the "you didn't kill Anakin Skywalker, I did" line in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and to say the Jedi killed Anakin is therefore to say the Jedi created Vader, their genocider.

I guess part of me also wonders why, even if it is true (I think it isn't, but people can and do disagree), it's relevant to bring up under the type of post I made. Take the example of a school shooting. People have died, children have died, a member of their community has betrayed them, and the community is hurt and grieving. Let's say someone makes a post celebrating the community, celebrating how kind and supportive they are to one another. And let's say someone decides to comment below that post saying that the other kids in the school were mean to the shooter. Even if it were true, I hope this example helps illustrate how (1) it comes across as excusing the shooter's actions, and how (2) that sentiment is just so incredibly tone-deaf and victim-blamey. That's kind of how it feels to have someone comment these misinformed things (of racist origin, even if they are not of conscious racist intent) below a post that I made celebrating the practices of a culture that was genocided. It's neither the time nor the place.

And remember what I said in point #3, about how people arrive at these conclusions one of two ways? When I read stuff like this, it's really hard to tell which of the two groups a person falls into. It's hard to tell if the coded racism is simply going unnoticed, or if it's there intentionally. But it's there, regardless. And in my experience, the hidden or unintentional racism can be the most dangerous, because people will often get defensive and gaslight the hell out of you when you try to call it out. Thanks for not doing that, but you're unfortunately the minority.

So when people say these things, I usually have to assume that they are not a safe person. Because like I said: Whether or not the racism was deliberate, it was still there. You might have not originated these ideas, but you were willing to accept them without investigating further, to adopt them as your own, and to spread them further online. I think there's something to unpack there for you. Some great next steps would include doing research into the following topics:

The nuclear family and how it ties to white supremacy and homophobia (this gives context for the institutional aversion to the Jedi's form of community; you can find an article by a Black man about this here)

The American Jewish Committee's resources on identifying subtle or hidden forms of anti-Semitism (this gives context to how seemingly innocuous statements can have very problematic histories; you can find it here)

The phenomenon of "Holocaust Distortion" (a real-life example of how harmful it is to distort facts to place greater blame on the victims of genocide; you can find an article from the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance about it here)

The history of Buddhist groups suffering religious persecution (this gives context for ways in which the religion has been deliberately misrepresented for the purpose of harming Buddhists; Wikipedia is a great place to start, here's an introductory link)

The colonization and oppression of countries with large Buddhist populations (this gives context for the global racism I mentioned; look into the countries of Japan, Cambodia, China, India, Vietnam, etc.)

Though there can also be room for excitement, not just depressing homework, because it seems there's a lot of great stuff about the Jedi (and Buddhism) that you didn't know about, and now you get to learn all about it!

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