First off, they both suck.<\/p>\n
Second is why. In RedLetterMedia’s epic review of the Star Wars prequels, one of the first plot points he assails is that two Jedi Knights were sent to resolve a dispute over the taxation of trade routes. It’s bad enough that this is the plot, and RLM has covered that. What’s worse is *why* this is the plot, and I haven’t heard anybody yet put the shoe leather to George Lucas’ backside on this score. Allow me.<\/p>\n
Lucas is a progressive’s progressive, and it shows in his progressive movies. When you hear conservatives complain about leftist bias in all over the culture, but they can’t explain why, this is precisely the sort of thing we’re talking about.<\/p>\n
The Jedi Council sends two knights to resolve a dispute over the taxation of trade routes. Why on Earth would they do that? Not because they are experts in this sort of thing, or even care–it is obvious that they do not care, that the council does not care, and that most certainly George Lucas does not care. This is just another insert-problem-here scriptwriter’s story biscuit like all the plot devices that need Geordi LaForge to fix them over on Star Trek by beaming something, anything, out the lateral array.<\/p>\n
The reason these lightsaber-toting pack mules for plot points are sent is because all of the parties to the dispute are deemed incapable of solving this problem through methods which are acceptable to the Jedi Council. \u00a0The Knights are not experts in any of this, but it is their other qualities which will enable them to best resolve the issue. \u00a0This is a two-fold attack on markets and market forces, and here’s why:<\/p>\n
First off, it is obviously a substitution of a regulatory process for an evolved one. \u00a0Of course those involved in a dispute over the taxation of trade routes may all be assumed to have an economic stake, even if nothing else, and this would make it a battle of market forces, with or without a formal “Market” on which to buy stock or trade shares.<\/p>\n
Second, and a bit more subtly, that substition is seen as superior from a good guys’ perspective, and a leftist do-gooder’s perspective of a good guy at that. \u00a0We may fairly assume that the Jedi Council’s goal in this (as in all things, brother) is to maximize happiness for a maximum number, that is, the utilitarian good. \u00a0At least, I would like to see somebody argue against that. \u00a0So the market forces which would otherwise have jostled for a resolution to this issue are seen not only as insufficient to generate a good result, but as unsuitable to the task.<\/p>\n
If market forces were the right sort of solution to this impasse, these two fools would not have been sent–businessmen would have. \u00a0Better businessmen than those currently trying to settle the issue. \u00a0This is a difference of kind, not of degree, and while it can be difficult to tell them apart–this is the phantom menace.<\/p>\n
By positing that market forces are the wrong tool<\/p>\n
Some points:<\/p>\n
First off, they both suck.<\/p>\n
Second is why. In RedLetterMedia’s epic review of the Star Wars prequels, one of the first plot points he assails is that two Jedi Knights were sent to resolve a dispute over the taxation of trade routes. It’s bad enough that this is the plot, and RLM has covered that. What’s worse is *why* this is the plot, and I haven’t heard anybody yet put the shoe leather to George Lucas’ backside on this score. Allow me.<\/p>\n
Lucas is a progressive’s progressive, and it shows in his progressive movies. When you hear conservatives complain about leftist bias in all over the culture, but they can’t explain why, this is precisely the sort of thing we’re talking about.<\/p>\n
The Jedi Council sends two knights … Continue reading