This idea that the Rebellion has to forfeit the moral high ground to do dirty things against the Empire not only goes against their previous characterization in the old SWEU and the classical films, but it also makes for bad tactics. The Empire is constantly slandering and propagandizing against the Rebels, constantly making them look like terrorists. The last thing the Rebels need is hard evidence of such behavior being seen by the populace, or being presented by the Empire. It made practical sense for the Rebellion to stay on the moral high ground, as it allowed them to attract people of good, moral fiber into their ranks, including many Imperials who got sick of committing war crimes for the Empire, people like Crix Madine, for instance. That gave them a valuable military advantage that they were able to use to win the war in the end.
Meanwhile, if you have this backstab-happy Rebellion that can't even be trusted by its allies, that kills its operatives, a Rebellion that relies on chaos to fan the flames of dissent, then that would drive away the people with moral fiber, (AKA the people you need to build a stable army and society) and instead attract more of the criminal and terrorist element, making the dream of creating a peaceful New Republic down the line a pipe dream, as these idiots would do what it takes to stoke the flames of chaos, while also giving the Empire a propaganda win in the form of hard evidence that the Rebels are criminals and terrorists; instead of joining the Rebels, the people with moral fiber would either stick with the Empire and wipe out these radicals, or just disengage from the galactic political scene entirely.
But don't tell that to the Andor and Rebels fans; their heroes are the kind who carry out terrorist actions in broad daylight, in front of the commonfolk who could get hurt. The kind that would provoke a government to crack down on its citizens when previously, it left them alone to rule themselves. The kind that would send child soldiers against the enemy, while sacrificing/taking out their own allies when it's convenient. In other words, they've begun to worship the death of morality in the battlefield, and it's quite dark, if you look at it objectively. Especially considering the fact that the Rebel Alliance of old was squeaky-clean when it came to this shit, yet they still inspired fans in real life and in-universe to follow their lead.
Very well said. Excellent post.
The main feeling i had driving home from my first time seeing TFA was that star wars was now in the hands of people who didn't care that much about it.
Back then i had never really considered there were people who were huge fans of the star wars movies, but NOT the EU. I guess i figured anybody who loved the movies would want more, but the praise that piece of shit got made me realize there are a lot of them. People who maybe played one or two of the games, but didn't think much about them, ignored the prequels, and just watched the OT a trillion times over.
I adore the OT but if that had been ALL there was of star wars growing up it wouldn't have had nearly as big a place in my hear.
When it comes to my view of Star Wars, I never separated the old SWEU with the OT/PT films. To me, they're one big canon, and it's even moreso with the PT where it was shot with the intent that the SWEU was canon. I only learned about the movies/EU divide from bitchy VS Debaters who don't want to count feats from the SWEU as canon in a debate when debating Star Wars with other universes, because if they did count the SWEU, they'd lose immediately.
