You know, after the prequels were over we all laughed at how stupid the Jedi had been as well as the general public. Palpatine is so obviously a Sith Lord. It's absolutely clear he plans to attempt a fascist take over of the Republic with himself as its permanent leader. Yet, no one actually wants to label him as a Sith Lord or fascist, for some weird reason. Mace Windu at one point literally says, "The Dark Side of The Force surrounds the chancellor." But despite this, he still can't bring himself to believe that Palpatine is a Sith Lord until Anakin straight up tells him. And Anakin can't see it either until Palpatine fully reveals himself.
We all thought this was a bit dumb, at the time. Now, it makes absolute goddamn sense. All these Jedi who had guarded the galaxy for "a thousand generations" fully bought into the power of themselves and the institutions that surrounded them. No, how could Dooku be part of the plot to assassinate Senator Amidala? Don't be silly, dumb senator. Count Dooku was once a Jedi, he would never do that. Again, blind loyalty and trust to an institution. Dooku straight up tells Obi-Wan that a Dark Lord of the Sith controls the Senate, and what does Obi-Wan and the Council do? Nothing. They refuse to believe it. Obviously Dooku was lying, the Galactic Senate is an entrusted institution. There is absolutely no way anyone could gain influence over its Senators.
Hey man, the Dark Side of The Force surrounds the Chancellor, he's extended emergency powers, again, he keeps moving the goalposts regarding the ending to the war, he keeps personally involving himself in Jedi matters and has installed a monitor on the Jedi Council, did I mention the Dark Side surrounds him? But no, you're a fool to think he's some fascist Sith Lord. Listen, he may be corrupt, a liar, a cheat, a power-hungry bastard, a manipulative politician, a Dark Side follower, a Sith Lord, but he is NOT a pornstar!
Palpatine proceeds to take over, kill all the Jedi, declare them enemies of the Republic and everyone gobbles it up and applauds him. He then systematically erases their history such that people basically forgot they existed some 30 odd years later or believe they were terrifying religious nuts. Which is STILL more believable than Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden being part of a shadow cabal of pedophiles that engage in satanic rituals involving the drinking of baby blood and that the Deep State is preventing the Dear Leader from exposing all of this but he is slowly putting people in power to make large scale arrests. Oh, and vaccines are evil and part of a ploy by the government to give you autism. And the election our leader badly lost is rigged against him but the Deep State is hiding the votes and mailed in hundreds of thousands of fake votes for Biden to ensure he lost so you must take matters into your own hands and...you know how it goes.
Whether Lucas intentionally saw that real fascist coups are rarely "smart" or history just kind of retroactively made the writing smarter, the end result is that Palpatine's coup seems way less stupid than the reality of today.
We all thought this was a bit dumb, at the time. Now, it makes absolute goddamn sense. All these Jedi who had guarded the galaxy for "a thousand generations" fully bought into the power of themselves and the institutions that surrounded them. No, how could Dooku be part of the plot to assassinate Senator Amidala? Don't be silly, dumb senator. Count Dooku was once a Jedi, he would never do that. Again, blind loyalty and trust to an institution. Dooku straight up tells Obi-Wan that a Dark Lord of the Sith controls the Senate, and what does Obi-Wan and the Council do? Nothing. They refuse to believe it. Obviously Dooku was lying, the Galactic Senate is an entrusted institution. There is absolutely no way anyone could gain influence over its Senators.
Hey man, the Dark Side of The Force surrounds the Chancellor, he's extended emergency powers, again, he keeps moving the goalposts regarding the ending to the war, he keeps personally involving himself in Jedi matters and has installed a monitor on the Jedi Council, did I mention the Dark Side surrounds him? But no, you're a fool to think he's some fascist Sith Lord. Listen, he may be corrupt, a liar, a cheat, a power-hungry bastard, a manipulative politician, a Dark Side follower, a Sith Lord, but he is NOT a pornstar!
Palpatine proceeds to take over, kill all the Jedi, declare them enemies of the Republic and everyone gobbles it up and applauds him. He then systematically erases their history such that people basically forgot they existed some 30 odd years later or believe they were terrifying religious nuts. Which is STILL more believable than Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden being part of a shadow cabal of pedophiles that engage in satanic rituals involving the drinking of baby blood and that the Deep State is preventing the Dear Leader from exposing all of this but he is slowly putting people in power to make large scale arrests. Oh, and vaccines are evil and part of a ploy by the government to give you autism. And the election our leader badly lost is rigged against him but the Deep State is hiding the votes and mailed in hundreds of thousands of fake votes for Biden to ensure he lost so you must take matters into your own hands and...you know how it goes.
Whether Lucas intentionally saw that real fascist coups are rarely "smart" or history just kind of retroactively made the writing smarter, the end result is that Palpatine's coup seems way less stupid than the reality of today.
