From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
Subject: [WSFA] The Radicalization of Luke Skywalker: a Jedi's path to jihad
To: WSFA Official List <wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com>,
 WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>, bsfsgeneral <bsfsgeneral at bsfs.org>,
 "gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org" <gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 20:27:54 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Excerpt:
With the imminent release of the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens,
many theatergoers are re-watching the original movies to reacquaint
themselves with those stories from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far
away. This time, however, they may find themselves surprised by how much
the film\342\200\231s characters and themes echo the current War On Terror.

While some have put forth persuasive arguments as to why the Galactic
Empire were actually the good guys and the Rebel Alliance bad (an
explanation by Jonathan V. Last can be found here, and an excellent
follow-up by Sonny Bunch here), the recent online discussion tends to be
on a more macro level, discussing galaxy wide events and surrounding the
Empire\342\200\231s struggle to restore safety and order to a star system overrun by
space terrorists.

A more focused study, however, is needed to truly understand that the Star
Wars films are actually the story of the radicalization of Luke Skywalker.
>From introducing him to us in A New Hope (as a simple farm boy gazing into
the Tatooine sunset), to his eventual transformation into the radicalized
insurgent of Return of the Jedi (as one who sets his own father\342\200\231s corpse
on fire and celebrates the successful bombing of the Death Star), each
film in the original trilogy is another step in Luke\342\200\231s descent into
terrorism. By carefully looking for the same signs governments and
scholars use to detect radicalization, we can witness Luke\342\200\231s dark journey
into religious fundamentalism and extremism happen before our very eyes.
--- end excerpt ---

<http://decider.com/2015/12/11/the-radicalization-of-luke-skywalker-a-jedis-path-to-jihad/>

         mark