Bush, the Jedi, and the Draft

Here's an interesting observation from the Huffington Post.

Leaving aside the question of whether you think these gibes are eviscerating commentary or sloppy caricature fully in keeping with the exhausted mediocrity of the rest of the film (guess what I think), overall "The Revenge of the Sith" is a dramatically pro-Bush movie. I am sure this is not Lucas' intent (although he lives in splendid exile his own Xanadu in Marin, I would assume Lucas toes the Mullholland Drive party line) but just the result of the fact that Bush and Lucas both trade in the same heroic mythology and iconography. Although the Jedi have their spiritual side, to be sure, they are warriors, quick on the draw, cavalierly light sabring anyone who blocks their path. There's little diplomacy in that galaxy far, far away, at least as far as the Jedi are concerned. Confrontations with the Jedi always escalate, as they must for dramatic drive and good story-telling, but not as we might hope in the real world. Furthermore, notwithstanding Obi-Wan's claim, the Jedi deal in absolutes every bit as much as the Sith do. The amorphous Dark Side sounds very much to me like George Bush's idea of Evil. It isn't something you can negotiate with or compromise with or the unfortunate resultant of vectors of poverty and fanaticism. It's an absolute, to be rooted out wherever exists.

I have to admit, he's onto something here. The Phantom Menace began with "aggressive negotiation". That failed and the bad guys invaded a peaceful government. The Jedi helped take the planet back. Shades of Desrt Storm!

There is no nuance to the Jedi. If they judge you to be good they help you. If they judge you to be bad they attack you.

We also know which side the Jedi would be on with Iraq. Until they found out that Palpatine was secretly a Sith lord playing both sides against each other they supported him even though they didn't like his politics. And none of the bad guys in Star Wars 1 through 3 were as bad as Saddam Hussein.

Also on the Huffington Post, Bill Diamond wonders why today's college students aren't worrying about the draft?

I refuse to believe that the world has changed so much that 18-year-olds today are any more anxious to die or be maimed on the battlefield than I was back in the late '70s. But given all the talk about the possible reinstatement of the draft, why aren't we hearing more from the nation’s campuses? Is there resistance brewing and it's just not getting reported? Or is it, as I think Jim is suggesting, that college-aged students have become so narcotized by our entertainment-obsessed culture that they don’t see what may be headed their way?

Gee Bill, it was all an anti-Bush election campaign. Didn't you get the memo? No one is seriously suggesting bringing back the draft. Today's 18 year olds understand this. Why don't you?