New Testingstan

That anti-technological theme is even in RotJ, with the Ewoks, although there it's not mysticism, it's that the will of the people can trump the big guns of oppressive governments.

preposterous of course

You kind of get the feeling that if SW didn't have big guns, a sad contingent of people would not like it.

I realised my mistake sometime after I posted but was too busy to correct it, having only just woken up and taking Star Wars to mean 'the whole trilogy' in my head since that's how I was originally introduced to them. I also had vague memories of people on SDN complaining about the ending of the trilogy involving Luke being a 'hippy' or something like that. My bad, sorry.

Anyway, the rejection of technology in favour of mysticism was actually a pretty strong scene for the setting as a whole, I thought, since it represented Luke's embracing of his Jedi heritage in order to vanquish a great evil. It was as important symbolically as his taking up the sword of his father. It was him taking the second step into the larger world of the Force, becoming the classic and iconic hero that the Rebellion needed to have. It plays naturally into the theme of Star Wars as a story of the human spirit over the dehumanising and destructive machinery of an evil, almost faceless empire.

I wrote the above before seeing Dooey Jo's post, but this is actually more or less the central theme of Star Wars. It's not quite mysticism, though it's kind of filtered that way in the original film, but instead the power of heroic resolve against the evil empire; Luke embraces his nature as a Jedi hero to destroy the Death Star, and the Ewoks band together with the Rebel Alliance to defeat the Imperial soldiers. Even in the Empire Strikes Back, the heroes are actually beaten overall, but it ends on the note of them continuing to fight, refusing to give in, not going gently into that good night and raging against the dying of the light. That sort of thing.

Personally, I think the whole 'mysticism' bit at the end of ANH is overdone. Look at Luke's character setup- he joyrides in a T-16 down a canyon, shooting 2m wide targets. There's what, maybe a dozen people in the galaxy who've had such a perfect practice for the Trench Run? Biggs was one, and he was there, too.
(Now, bear in mind, I get that Luke was only able to make the shot back home at Beggar's Canyon because of LATENT FORCE ABILITY)
But what if it was just because he'd had the practice? What if Biggs had gotten a shot at it? He had the same unique experience that made Luke perfect for the task.
All Obi-Wan told Luke to do was not use the targeting computer (which is in with the theme of man triumphing over technology). Though, he had been teaching Luke to 'feel the Force', Luke already had the ability to make the shot- this is why I feel the magic side of things is over-credited.
I realise it's not the way it's meant to come across, but I find by thinking of it as such, the whole 'farmboy becomes a hero' thing becomes more relatable (in a Last Starfighter kind of way) as opposed to HE IS A SPACE WIZARD, DUH.

I've found that in many cases, relatable is used as a euphemism for boring and mundane.

starku wrote:That's an interesting comparison about how they think you 'win' ideas by 'violencing' them

It's that easy to destroy an idea after all right

And invalidating the non-SCIENCE parts of any work is just how they do things

I consider a perfect example of this to be the infamous dragon thread, where they responded to Bakustra criticizing their dragon rape utopia and mocking their focus on D&D mechanics by roleplaying themselves murdering and eating him.

Whole board has aspergers?

Aaron wrote:Whole board has aspergers?

self diagnosed

Yes, because Asperger's syndrome turns people into soulless individuals with little appreciation of art or the beauty thereof. Poor bastards.

Well, you've met DEATH right?

No on both counts (well, technically...), but I have met my sister.

Who has a double BFA in fine art and English literature.

The Spartan wrote:No on both counts (well, technically...), but I have met my sister.

Who has a double BFA in fine art and English literature.

is your sister hot

The Spartan wrote:No on both counts (well, technically...), but I have met my sister.

Who has a double BFA in fine art and English literature.

I hear those majors don't get you a job (SBOTI), hows she doing?

You may or may not have missed the source of most of the sarcasm there. I myself have Asperger's syndrome, properly diagnosed, and I enjoy art well enough to have a Bachelor's degree in literature.

You know, the difference is your diagnosed. I suspect lots of people over there who "have it" aren't and just use it as a cover for being socially inept.

So yeah, I've gotten to the point where people say they have it on the net, that I just assume their full of it.

what, is asperger's like.... geek cred or something

who would make up that they are autistic

Stofsk wrote:what, is asperger's like.... geek cred or something

who would make up that they are autistic

i used to know a guy who claimed that years of seeing a therapist gave him enough experience to self medicate and diagnose psychoses

so probably insane people

lol, Keevan was like that.

Well, so is The Duchess for that matter.

Self-diagnosed Asperger's became part of geek culture at some point, probably because the criteria made it easy to do so, and putting a label on your social anxieties makes it easier for you to not have to deal with them, plus the idea was spread that people with Asperger's are way smarter than everyone else, in turn leading to the geek culture of "counter neurotypicalism". From there on the term "assburgers" became a general derogatory term.

This is of course unfortunate for people actually diagnosed with the condition.

However, I believe the fad of "I have Asperger's!" was never as popular on TEO as it was on other parts of the internets.

The other thing is using it as a shield against criticism because they think they can just say, 'I can't help it, I have Asperger's!'

Doesn't work that way, but people try regardless..

Didn't stas say the world would be better if everyone was autistic, with everyone getting on and being rational and cooperative

Having been in a room full of autistic people thisnid a very strange idea

Aaron wrote:

The Spartan wrote:No on both counts (well, technically...), but I have met my sister.

Who has a double BFA in fine art and English literature.

I hear those majors don't get you a job (SBOTI), hows she doing?

In her case not too bad. Though, she also has a Masters in Information Systems (i.e. a librarian) so she's not necessarily representative.

I believe that he would qualify as being somewhat under-informed. I haven't been in many rooms made up of people with varying forms of autism beyond one or two counselling groups when I was younger, but I can judge by how well I get on with my sister. Which is to say, not very well.

The problem many people tend to forget about people with these sorts of conditions is that important word there. We're people, with all of the flaws and foibles that such a thing implies, and the thing about a spectrum disorder which Stas Bush appears to have missed entirely is that it has a wide variety of forms and effects upon the people who suffer from it.

Actually I think Stas was thinking of Dune style savants.

Though given our track record with the brain, we'll probably end up with Simple Jack.

Or more something like savants or servitors in WH40K. Really, really good at one thing and nearly, if not completely, useless for anything else.