Could you do a video comparing the military doctrines of the Galactic Republic, Separatist Alliance, Galactic Empire, and Rebel Alliance. It’ll be interesting to note their strategies and how their cultural and moral beliefs influence them.
The Clone Wars is my favorite era. But 18 BBY was a crazy year. Especially in Legends. The clones served the Empire for *years* in Legends. The Dark Times would have been a really cool time to buy some clone armor from the Clone Wars, become a mercenary, or even join the Imperial military. I love the Dark Times. Especially in Legends. It's rich and full of Star Wars lore.
@@TaraCicorain 17 BBY, the Galactic Empire hunted down Gizor Delso, the last of the Separatists, on Mustafar. Darth Vader killed the Geonosian while the 501st Legion annihilated his droid factory. The Dark Times were definitely on the rise, at the time.
@@brandonmiller9155 that would make sense in a war zone but this is a civilian settlement and these troopers are part of a garrison not on active combat duty :P...plus for camouflage white armour in ponchos is a very poor option
The idea of camo for standard trooper is dumb, the whole point of every trooper in all white armor is to project a united and menacing force like the Persian immortal corp
@@theAverageJoe25 Truth is truth. It takes someone who deludes themselves into believing they are so full of virtue and beyond reproach that they could never be judged harshly through the lens of later generations, to engage in such tomfoolery against others. Historical context also matters. Many of the Founders wished to free their slaves. In many cases the law did not allow them to do so, and changing such laws wholesale outright likely would have - and did - result in an armed conflict within the Union. In fact, it didn't even take such changes to actually be tabled; the mere idea of a man perceived to be an abolitionist being elected President was enough to light the powder keg. Doubly ironic when the Great Emancipator's thoughts on the subject - namely that he would free not one slave if he could avoid doing so and his own ideas on the disparity between races - are taken into account. You take the good with the bad. Discounting the wisdom of someone because they had flaws, even serious ones, is immature and pedantic to the extreme. It means you can't attack their insights on the merits and have to go ad hominem. Which means you've lost the point before even arguing one.
Personally, Palpatine did not allow an external enemy to exist is one of the worst moves he can ever make. He had Gar Saxon in his hands and he can used him as the controlled opposition just like how he used Count Dooku but in the longer run. And by that, I mean allowing the Mandalorians to return to their old ways and have them raid against the Imperial territories for loots. In respond, the Empire launched their own counter-raids against the Mandalorian Space. And this keeps repeating again and again in order to justify the existence of the massive Imperial military. But because that did not happen, that massive Imperial military turned on its own peoples and basically run their territories as nothing but mob bosses. But with an external threat, they cannot do that because they have to be on the constant vigilance.
Essentially the strategy of the 3 governments in 1984 - constantly at low level war with the others, with periodic change in alliances and temporary peace. IRL, if an external enemy is not found by authoritarian governments, an internal one is created. Eventually the country starts eating itself because there must be an enemy to justify the repression.
That line makes me suspect he is a smoker. Smokers I have known like to say things like "Everything comes with risks, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow" and "The air is so polluted anyway!"
12:38 I must say, that stock footage is some of the best I've ever seen. It perfectly illustrates corruption, and even adds a dash of dark humor at the end. Great choice Alan!
Is it any wonder that the Empire only lasted for 24 years with this much corruption? This is the problem when the amount of selfish actions passes a threshold, it can't be sustained and either the system collapses under its own weight or is replaced, maybe violently. The Sith never take into account this threshold and their sovereignty is always a house of cards that could topple at any moment, admittedly some manage to balance it better than others.
I think what should be pointed out is that the Imperial officers in backwater and underdeveloped planets are the worst of the worst. They got their ranks through connections, but the better, experienced Imperial Commanders don’t want these idiots so they’re shipped all the way to backwater planets where they can do what they want and their career goes no where.
In some sense you can understand why the whole rule of two thing seemed like a good idea. On the other hand that still does not make Darth Bane anything less than a hypocrite.
7:48 "Oh this is what happens when you remove your local journalists and newspapers. There's no one watching over the government anymore." But when local journalists and newspapers are in bed with the government, things are even worst.
Here's one thing I've noticed: as power is concentrated, corruption tends to increase. The Galactic Republic WAS corrupt and inefficient, but at least the worlds had some means of holding their superiors accountable. But once Palpatine concentrated power in himself, the corruption became worse, much worse. Not only were there fewer ways to hold corrupt people accountable, but as power is concentrated, so are the perks that come with being powerful so the allure to participate in corruption increases.
I mean, he was competent enough that he didn't pick a fight in the bar and just lead them to his stronghold. What he failed to do was simply to lock down all ships as soon as the fight started and having a Rathar among the many animals in fact, he should have taken the dog to an area without those things.
@@luisemoralesfalcon4716it’s still incompetent of him. He knew they had literally just escaped Mount Tantiss, given that he mentioned Hemlock, and anyone who is capable of escaping Tantiss should NOT be underestimated. He underestimated them.
It's Harry Lloyd. "Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Will Scarlet in the 2006 BBC drama Robin Hood, Jeremy Baines in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood", Viserys Targaryen in the first season of the HBO series Game of Thrones, Peter Quayle in the Starz series Counterpart, Charles Xavier in the third season of the FX series Legion, Bernard Marx in the Peacock series Brave New World, and Viktor in the Netflix series Arcane. He has also appeared on stage, and in films including The Theory of Everything and Anthropoid." Anjelica Huston played the Boss Mom in S3E2. This series gets the best actors ;) - IMDb Mini Biography By: Bonitao
@denisevincent4050 yoooo dude was Viktor??? I would have never known but now I gotta give it another listen, he did a great performance in both, and I gotta watch GoT so bad
Protection and “extorting” credits from the innocent civilians, this also plunging the planet into another lifeless seed for the empire. Although I very much admire Omega for trying to not invoke Crosshair to fight. That shows she’s not like the other clones. Very great episode!!!
Love your explanation of the need for the Fourth Estate--a free and independent news media--in combating corruption. Again, you bring really brainy concepts that aren't really talked about that often, and do so in a friendly non-intellectually intimidating way. Very nice!
“The Empire is corrupt, and the Republic was corrupt, what is the difference”? Reminds me of when people say “(insert authoritarian country) is corrupt, but look at our problems. There is no difference. I’d rather have autocracy with clean streets”. 😒
Damn as a guy who escaped Jeresy by going into the army kinda like how many used the stormtrooper corps to escape their backwater planets. I felt that jab at NJ institutionalized corruption.
I think reason why empire started to crack is because the Sith emperor started to become too repressive. in early years the emperor knew he could not be fully in power yet. most citizens did not want another war so soon after the clone wars. in expanded universe is massacre that kicked off the rebellion. it seems that corruption also help to kick off the rebellion.
In fairness to Moff Mors who governed Ryloth, she didn't start out as a Spice addict. She'd suffered a a devastating loss in the form of her wife being killed in an accident. I'd say everyone has at least heard of someone who'd fallen into destructive habits due to loss. As it was there really was no mention of what she'd been like before that event. Also I would say she definitely stepped up when faced with the Palpatine situation.
I've said before that whoever writes these scripts - Alan or otherwise - does a flawless job tying in fiction with real life. Seriously, I watch these videos like they're a social studies lecture
To me, episode 4 of Bad Batch season 3 was a episode that showed some decent world building and reunited the group to advance the main narrative but this video gave me a deeper understanding of the corrupt officer and retrospect other officers like Price. This has opened my eyes to appreciate that episode more. Bravo, now I have to annoy some other friends to get them to watch this video now.
What I found interesting is that he seemed to use his brain more than most officers. He did bait and set a trap for them and if he did not stop the gloat he could have nabbed them both.
Im very glad it was more than just "dumb imperial officer sends troops to "get em"" but instead he actually almost tricked me into thinking he was a reasonable imperial.
"Scale" is just the argument used by those who haven't been personally effected by a regime. "It doesn't prevent me from living a full life"- because those whom it *does* prevent from living a full life are... unimportant.
Just as you said. Rich humans and human like aliens weren't affected by empire, Instead some nobility even prospered. It was the middle and bottom that suffered most, And if you were alien it was pretty much death sentence due to rapant xenophilia and even institutionalized xenophilia. If alien planet tried to rebel they just got the harshest treatment, Full scale bombardment of whole planet, which led to fear and compliance by iron fist. And worst of all, Who cares? They are evil "separatist" aliens, strong propaganda pushed by empire.
That Mos Espa water gouger guy was just pissed because someone kept stealing his stapler and relocating his desk into the basement. That would drive anyone to corruption, IMHO.
This is a reference to another movie called Office Space where a character has his stapler taken, His desk moved to the basement, His complaints being ignored and eventually, he saves the protagonist from getting caught for scamming the company he works for by burning down the office building he was scamming but it was completely unrelated and very funny, It also has jeniffer aniston in it
Hey Alan, this very topic was covered by @Perun, in a video titled "How Corruption Destroys Armies". You would find it incredibly interesting, and corruption's effects are far more insidious and destructive than you could imagine.
The thing about authoritarianism is that it allows individuals in the regime to shake down and extort anyone they feel like for any reason. (Different from a public health measure, even one poorly conceived enough to constitute a Prohibition rerun in a city,) ...actual police states especially with official out-groups and all make the shakedowns like that omnipresent.
Alan, Thank you for continuing to bring us intelligent, thought provoking, Star Wars content. In a sea of individuals with clickbait (cough starwarstheory) you continue to stay true to you, and us (looking at you eckharts). Sincerely, A Star Wars fan
Another example of this would be from Andor where we see an imperial planet that has "streamlined" its justice system so much that any crimes deemed political are not even tried but the accusds is simply sentenced and sent to prison for years. The only way to survive in such a society is to be connected to people in charge and/or know who to pay off to stay protected. Even honest policemen and bureaucrats who wanted to help the innocent would have to start taking bribes because they would have to pay off people to cover their own ass. Even worse, this was a tourist trap planet and no exception was made for tourists that might be arrested. That would have ruined their tourist economy in a short time.
The amount of political theory @GenerationTech has absorbed is hilariously astounding. This is why I love star wars man, So goofy yet so serious. keep up the good work.
Galaxy’s a big place. Who’s gonna care about a captain’s protection racket on a backwater Outer Rim world? The Empire has bigger fish to fry, rebellions to crush.
Yeah, but what about 100s of billions of Captains doing captain’s corruption racket on a Billions and billions of backwater outer rim world. Probably could have built a few more DTs with that revenue
This I why I love watching your videos man. You are able to make the most of the parallels between StarWars and real life civilisation. Especially with that theme of corruption you were talking about. I would say that Kleptocracy is the perfect way to describe both the Nigerian and British government. Although Nigeria’s situation is far more extreme, the current British government (Conservatives) are destroying institutions that formed the backbone of this country through lower cased corruption by slowly privatising the NHS.
Water guy did nothing wrong, his story checked out. Those kids were super cringe, spoilt layabouts whose story doesn't work - they're not remotely poor, they're f***ing cyborgs with polished speederbikes, while water guy is sitting there, vital long serving pillar of the community in his humble sackcloth. The only reason why people side against him is because the show tells you to. Doesn't mean the show is correct.
@@conalkeaveney9314 The bikers claim to be poor, they are not poor. Water guy is also not shown to be rich. He is offering a service and no one else is offering that service, and we have no context for the economic situation. Actually think about what is shown and what is said, rather than blindly accepting that Boba Fett is correct because the show said so. If you want to depict what they likely wanted to depict, then you have to ACTUALLY SHOW water guy doing something bad - show him living it up while everyone else is in poverty, show the bikers as not being soft rich kids who can afford cybernetic enhancements and new speederbikes imported freshly from offworld, have Boba Fett prove how in other parts of the city the water prices are much cheaper, but no, all we see is a frugal old man, pillar of the community, providing a vital service, loyally paying his taxes, accosted by hoodlums, and what does he get from the guy who he pays his taxes to? His leader sides with the ungrateful criminals over him and stabs him in the back. What happens if he goes out of business? He's not spending his money on anything obvious, how much are his margins? We don't know, Boba Fett doesn't know either, he just does the dumb trope of "powah to the peeple, peeples be oppressed" (even though it's a middle class businessman being screwed by spoilt upper class trust fund babies).
@Capt.Thunder These kids are shown to be honourable in their own way however, they don't betray Boba Fett even when surrounded and about to die. If the water guy hadn't been charging extortionate fees(Fett tells us they're extortionate I don't know how else you would take that) then they probably wouldn't have stolen from him or 'terrorised' him
The Republic favoring a member state like the Huk over a non member like the Khalishi is not in fact corruption. Quite the opposite really the state is supposed to protect its citizens from foreign entities wgich the Khalishi are by virtue of not having representation in the Senate and therefore not being a part of the Republic..
Oh. This is more spoilers then I was really ready for or expecting. I guess I better go back to ignoring your channel until I am caught up on bad batch.
Off topic, but MAN those TK troopers look great! I feel like they look too good though, like they should be from the POST RotJ galaxy rather than the first days of the Empire. Its legitimately throwing me off.
the line about "there's a difference between kicking someone in the shin and blasting one off" just reminded me of stories i've heard from old armed forces personal (UK in my case, but guaranteed this was also happening with the US) stationed in West Germany during the Cold war - they old guys would (frequently) tell me how, during night time patrols of the border they would encounter their Soviet counterparts and just swap contraband. Western patrols would come back with bottles of Vodka, exchanged for Scotch whiskey. Now in the "big picture" world view, this was obviously a case of corruption - forces abusing their positions for financial gain (scotch whisky sold on the USSR black markets, Extorted Russian Vodka prices in the West). However, you then have to look at how the repecussions of "being caught" would be - whilst soviet repecussions for being caught may be more dangerous the opportunities for bribery were higher with officers higher up likely wanting a cut of the profit. Western officers, like their societ counterparts, likely knew that these deals were happening but would act and reprimand if evidence for this "terrible secret that everyone knows about" turned up. Transferring to the Star Wars universe the Republic did have corrupt elements (which organisation doesn't) however, the way it was structured - more akin to the UN, meant that many cases of corruption were "Local matters" and not part of their scope (the UN isn't going to vote on sanctions because 1 police station in the middle of Uzbekistan was caught taking bribes - that's a matter for the Uzbeki government to resolve). The Empire, on the other hand, made arguments about being in control (akin to a single world government) yet didn't realise its limits - being more conserned with "big picture" ideas. Sure imperial earth (going back to that Uzbek example) may replace police chiefs with imperial perssonel, however all of a sudden the "local matters" of imperial earths Uzbekistan is pleasing the empire... that police station may have imperial personel running it, but they;re realising that the central governemnt doesnt really check in on them... or care about them... so they start to take the bribes, and run the little rural town like a tiny fifedome. Its all imperial (its got the flags and everything) but none of those extra fiancial installments are turning up in the imperial bank. its a nice tidy retirement fund. The only times (from my recollection) that palpatine has ever cared about his personelle going rouge/on a rampage were when Vader tore up a small section of Courasant to hunt down 2 Inquisitors who'd fallen in love - Palpatines quote about wanting to rule an Empire of the Living, not the dead (which lead to Vader moving his operation to Mustafar). The second was the aformentioned attempt on his life by Cham Syndula and the Ryloth rebellions - but in that situation it was becasue Cham Syndula represented a Charasmatic Political Leader who could inspire and who was also willing to fight - a vast difference from the Saw's rebellion 9uprising with no goal other than fighting) or Mothma and Bails early rebellion (still hoping for a political answer before sacrificing young lives for their cause). The Emperor saw Cham's forces gathering due to the corruption on Ryloth (a Spice addled Moff who'd recently been widdowed and who partied with Hutt's and her junior who wanted her position and activley sabotaged her) and realised that if had maybe 1-2 more years he'd have enough forces and resources to start a rebellion against the empire, and that Cham had the charisma and political prowess to take that rebellions millitary victory on Ryloth and spread it across the stars. So the Emperor persoanlly takes himself to Ryloth, putting a target on his back, to tempt the rebellion into action -- in doing so letting the growing Movement utilise all their resources to Kill the emperor, stike fear into the hearts or the Imperial personel opperating on Rylot and removing Cham Syndula from the board - by the end the Imperial Moff for Ryloth is now fully involved in her job. Her corupt political junior feeding info to Cham is dead. The free Ryloth movement has extinguished most of its resources and Ryloth is back under Imperial controll. An early galaxy-wise rebellion snuffed out for the price of 1 ISD and its crew + 5-6 Imperial Crimson guards.
I love how you do this. This would be an excellent class and then they could discuss the parallels in our systems. You are an excellent teacher and communicator. That being said. It also terrifies me of the future.
I'd assert that a big contributor to the pervasive corruption comes from the issue of accountability and the lack thereof: In order to be accountable to no one, authoritarians dismantle the institutions that would ordinarily provide accountability. Thus, the Dear Leader has no accountability, and all those below him are only accountable to their superiors, who generally have neither the inclination nor the incentive to act against their underlings' corruption as long is it doesn't cause trouble up the chain. The lack of accountability propagates down throughout the entire system, creating fertile soil in which corruption can grow.
I am reminded of the scene at the beginning of "Crimson Empire" in which Kir Kanos encountered a customs man who boasted officiously that, regardless of Palpatine's death, those entering or leaving his bureaucratic jurisdiction had to explain their business to him because it was "still the Empire." Kanos calmly and matter-of-factly paid off the customs officer in exchange for not answering any questions, retorting that because it was indeed still the Empire, Kanos knew the customs officer would accept the bribe.
How is a police force supposed to be funded except by taxation? While the governor was blatantly corrupt, there's a multitude of issues. Firstly - why can't the planet, which is an entire habitable planet - field its own defense forces? This is a regular issue with Star Wars and its on full display. But, more importantly, the whole thing is just a case of either flanderization or the writers not actually having any real ideas.
The untold secret of the Storm Trooper's horrendous aim was that they were actually very good shots. However, the gun manufacturers began cutting quality control so the gun sights were unreliable. The manufactures paid a kickback to the military to ignore their drop in quality which was significantly less than what they saved by not actually fixing the problem. Thus, the Trooper's "aim" got progressively worse with the occasional exception of the obsessed Trooper who fixed their sights with each new gun assignment. (This is much like what has happened to the Russian military.)
Severe corruption is a guaranteed result of authoritarianism. While corruption is impossible to prevent completely. Authoritarianism borderline encourages corruption. Democracy is obviously vulnerable to it too, but it also has proper systems in place to try to prevent it. Authoritarianism means that even if you find the corruption, you will be punished for it for daring to go against your "leadership".
"If taxation without consent is not robbery, then any band of robbers have only to declare themselves a government, and all their robberies are legalized."
This is a very dangerous video. I'm from Chicago. The most corrupt city in the USA. City officials tax everything. Even bottled water. Tarrifs on tobacco. Cook County taxes on a pack of cigarettes make a pack 18.00. Dupage county or in Indiana, a pack costs 10 bucks. The officials say these "taxes" go towards street maintenance. but our streets suck. potholes everywhere. The "taxes" just go into pockets with no maintenance ever being done. EVER. I live just off a major street. Been here for 11 years, and not once has a city agency come out to fix a pothole right on the corner. Yet we have tobacco taxes, bottle taxes, we need to pay for street parking permits, and city stickers for our vehicles. That's the Empire.
The highways in alot of big states actually raised years ago. There are states that have speed limits that are up to 80 mph now. There are goods and bads to this. I agree that the lvl of corruption in the empire was way to out of hand.
This is the first time I've seen Stormtroopers be outright corrupt. Not once before now have they broken the law or acted unacceptably by Imperial standards.
Yeah lotsa truth here sadly. The bigger the organization the more inevitable some amount of corruption is. Best you can do really is keep the worst of it under control and shine the light on it when you can. In an ideal world this wouldn't be true, but as you pointed out people are gonna people.
The imperial economy was designed to be shady to ensure Palpatine wouldn't have to explain the death star, starkiller base, and the fleet on exegol in Rise of Skywalker.
Ok, idea. What if you (Alan) did a video where you exist in the Star Wars galaxy, right after the Clone Wars ended? You are Palpatine's advisor, and have convinced him that you have seen all the movies and know what his fate is. What would you have Palpatine do?
Let us also not forget the benevolent ruler theory. (Confucianism and anti-machiavellian for example) It is that if the ruler of a nation is corrupt it will make people under him also corrupt.
I agree, bad writing and repetitive villain tropes are a problem to the Empire. Almost every tv show with Filoni's involvement has these samey imperial officer villains lose at everything. Andor season 2 can't come soon enough.
I would like to believe that there are/were good people within the Empire that did want to do the right thing and not succumb to the corruption rife within its ranks. I think Rae Sloane is one of those characters who believes in what the Empire should be.
Wasn't it the institutional corruption within the Republic that allowed for the rise of Palpatine? New Imperial government but the same old bureaucracy and institutions. The same thing would later sink the New Republic in both Legends and canon.
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Could you do a video comparing the military doctrines of the Galactic Republic, Separatist Alliance, Galactic Empire, and Rebel Alliance. It’ll be interesting to note their strategies and how their cultural and moral beliefs influence them.
:) I like how you're the only channel dedicated to setting the record straight on that whole "The Empire did nothing wrong!" delusion...
Alan diddles dolphins
"Think of the lost tax revenue!"
The Clone Wars is my favorite era. But 18 BBY was a crazy year. Especially in Legends. The clones served the Empire for *years* in Legends. The Dark Times would have been a really cool time to buy some clone armor from the Clone Wars, become a mercenary, or even join the Imperial military. I love the Dark Times. Especially in Legends. It's rich and full of Star Wars lore.
You and me both. I grew up on the OT and when the Prequel/ CW era hit in Legends I was and still am hooked.
Hell yeah
In a lot of ways it reminds me of that strange in between time after episode 1, but before episode 2, where there's a huge transition happening
@@TaraCicorain 17 BBY, the Galactic Empire hunted down Gizor Delso, the last of the Separatists, on Mustafar. Darth Vader killed the Geonosian while the 501st Legion annihilated his droid factory. The Dark Times were definitely on the rise, at the time.
My favorite era was before the clones and the war. I want sith and jedi wars I want to see the two parties at there most vicious
I don't know why but I absolutly LOVED the stormtrooper commanders leather (cloak?) over his armor, just loved the look
Looks like blast armor, or maybe a kind of heavy infantry up-armor, but done starwarsy
why would they need goggles or ponchos? isnt the armour enough to protect them against bad weather?
@@warbossgrotsmasha23 ponchos can break up a body shape and give better camouflage, it can also prevent light from glinting off the armor.
@@brandonmiller9155 that would make sense in a war zone but this is a civilian settlement and these troopers are part of a garrison not on active combat duty :P...plus for camouflage white armour in ponchos is a very poor option
The idea of camo for standard trooper is dumb, the whole point of every trooper in all white armor is to project a united and menacing force like the Persian immortal corp
As a local journalist for a TV station in New Orleans I take pride in every story we do that triggers new bills, investigations and convictions.
“When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.” - TJ
my response to a tv licence search warrant.
Eeyup.
While it’s certainly a valid point I would argue Thomas Jefferson’s ownership of human beings is its own form of tyranny
@@theAverageJoe25 Who asked?
@@theAverageJoe25 Truth is truth. It takes someone who deludes themselves into believing they are so full of virtue and beyond reproach that they could never be judged harshly through the lens of later generations, to engage in such tomfoolery against others.
Historical context also matters. Many of the Founders wished to free their slaves. In many cases the law did not allow them to do so, and changing such laws wholesale outright likely would have - and did - result in an armed conflict within the Union. In fact, it didn't even take such changes to actually be tabled; the mere idea of a man perceived to be an abolitionist being elected President was enough to light the powder keg.
Doubly ironic when the Great Emancipator's thoughts on the subject - namely that he would free not one slave if he could avoid doing so and his own ideas on the disparity between races - are taken into account.
You take the good with the bad. Discounting the wisdom of someone because they had flaws, even serious ones, is immature and pedantic to the extreme. It means you can't attack their insights on the merits and have to go ad hominem. Which means you've lost the point before even arguing one.
Personally, Palpatine did not allow an external enemy to exist is one of the worst moves he can ever make. He had Gar Saxon in his hands and he can used him as the controlled opposition just like how he used Count Dooku but in the longer run. And by that, I mean allowing the Mandalorians to return to their old ways and have them raid against the Imperial territories for loots. In respond, the Empire launched their own counter-raids against the Mandalorian Space. And this keeps repeating again and again in order to justify the existence of the massive Imperial military. But because that did not happen, that massive Imperial military turned on its own peoples and basically run their territories as nothing but mob bosses. But with an external threat, they cannot do that because they have to be on the constant vigilance.
Essentially the strategy of the 3 governments in 1984 - constantly at low level war with the others, with periodic change in alliances and temporary peace.
IRL, if an external enemy is not found by authoritarian governments, an internal one is created. Eventually the country starts eating itself because there must be an enemy to justify the repression.
“Cigarettes, like swimming with dolphins, can be life threatening.” - Generation Tech. 15:38
Never forget what those dolphins did to my man Hank Hill.
That line makes me suspect he is a smoker. Smokers I have known like to say things like "Everything comes with risks, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow" and "The air is so polluted anyway!"
@@keijimorita1849 Generation Tech does have a thing for Ewok cheeks, so we know he is a man of vices.
@@keijimorita1849 Baby steps, soon Allen will be dealing Deathsticks at his local bars
@@seb2750 Then he will rethink his life
12:38 I must say, that stock footage is some of the best I've ever seen. It perfectly illustrates corruption, and even adds a dash of dark humor at the end. Great choice Alan!
The Empire was created to fill my shelf with toys.
Once i saw that scene and the Captain coming in, i just thought "Allen is gonna love this".
Is it any wonder that the Empire only lasted for 24 years with this much corruption? This is the problem when the amount of selfish actions passes a threshold, it can't be sustained and either the system collapses under its own weight or is replaced, maybe violently. The Sith never take into account this threshold and their sovereignty is always a house of cards that could topple at any moment, admittedly some manage to balance it better than others.
Cruelty and impunity are not a sustainable model of government.
@@jeffreycarman2185 it's amazing how many people forget that
I think what should be pointed out is that the Imperial officers in backwater and underdeveloped planets are the worst of the worst.
They got their ranks through connections, but the better, experienced Imperial Commanders don’t want these idiots so they’re shipped all the way to backwater planets where they can do what they want and their career goes no where.
@@supremefankai5480 Agreed! And fortunately, it‘s a self-regulation for authoritarian regimes.
In some sense you can understand why the whole rule of two thing seemed like a good idea.
On the other hand that still does not make Darth Bane anything less than a hypocrite.
It gives me hope that a Star Wars channel this thoughtful is so popular.
7:48 "Oh this is what happens when you remove your local journalists and newspapers. There's no one watching over the government anymore."
But when local journalists and newspapers are in bed with the government, things are even worst.
When national broadcasters spin ‘alternative facts’ as truth, George Orwell’s shade hisses.
Yeah, cause now you're lied to in your own home, all day, every day.
Here's one thing I've noticed: as power is concentrated, corruption tends to increase. The Galactic Republic WAS corrupt and inefficient, but at least the worlds had some means of holding their superiors accountable. But once Palpatine concentrated power in himself, the corruption became worse, much worse. Not only were there fewer ways to hold corrupt people accountable, but as power is concentrated, so are the perks that come with being powerful so the allure to participate in corruption increases.
I mean, he was competent enough that he didn't pick a fight in the bar and just lead them to his stronghold. What he failed to do was simply to lock down all ships as soon as the fight started and having a Rathar among the many animals in fact, he should have taken the dog to an area without those things.
This officer couldn’t fathom that Omega and Crosshair would be able to overwhelm his army…
@@jeffreycarman2185 I mean, under normal circumstances that would be correct....
@@luisemoralesfalcon4716it’s still incompetent of him. He knew they had literally just escaped Mount Tantiss, given that he mentioned Hemlock, and anyone who is capable of escaping Tantiss should NOT be underestimated. He underestimated them.
@@Joeymast99 good point.
@@luisemoralesfalcon4716 in a world with stun blasts, it’s probably better to stun first monologue later…
This may be a bit off topic from the video, but I really liked the captain’s voice actor
Fit the slimy character very well
Yeah excellent job
One of those "Love to hate, hate to love" type characters. Reminds me of Crowley from Supernatural.
It's Harry Lloyd. "Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Will Scarlet in the 2006 BBC drama Robin Hood, Jeremy Baines in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood", Viserys Targaryen in the first season of the HBO series Game of Thrones, Peter Quayle in the Starz series Counterpart, Charles Xavier in the third season of the FX series Legion, Bernard Marx in the Peacock series Brave New World, and Viktor in the Netflix series Arcane. He has also appeared on stage, and in films including The Theory of Everything and Anthropoid." Anjelica Huston played the Boss Mom in S3E2. This series gets the best actors ;)
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bonitao
@@denisevincent4050 I knew I knew him from somewhere, man family of blood was so good
@denisevincent4050 yoooo dude was Viktor??? I would have never known but now I gotta give it another listen, he did a great performance in both, and I gotta watch GoT so bad
Protection and “extorting” credits from the innocent civilians, this also plunging the planet into another lifeless seed for the empire. Although I very much admire Omega for trying to not invoke Crosshair to fight. That shows she’s not like the other clones. Very great episode!!!
Love your explanation of the need for the Fourth Estate--a free and independent news media--in combating corruption. Again, you bring really brainy concepts that aren't really talked about that often, and do so in a friendly non-intellectually intimidating way. Very nice!
“The Empire is corrupt, and the Republic was corrupt, what is the difference”? Reminds me of when people say “(insert authoritarian country) is corrupt, but look at our problems. There is no difference. I’d rather have autocracy with clean streets”.
😒
Peace and order are the promises of every autocrat. They never deliver, since their system requires constant conflict.
Damn as a guy who escaped Jeresy by going into the army kinda like how many used the stormtrooper corps to escape their backwater planets. I felt that jab at NJ institutionalized corruption.
Last time I was this early, the Rakata were still at their height
I fucking love this fandom.
As a New Jersey 'neighbor' over here in Maryland, we've had corruption issues in the past, too...😐
I think reason why empire started to crack is because the Sith emperor started to become too repressive. in early years the emperor knew he could not be fully in power yet. most citizens did not want another war so soon after the clone wars. in expanded universe is massacre that kicked off the rebellion. it seems that corruption also help to kick off the rebellion.
In fairness to Moff Mors who governed Ryloth, she didn't start out as a Spice addict. She'd suffered a a devastating loss in the form of her wife being killed in an accident.
I'd say everyone has at least heard of someone who'd fallen into destructive habits due to loss. As it was there really was no mention of what she'd been like before that event. Also I would say she definitely stepped up when faced with the Palpatine situation.
I've said before that whoever writes these scripts - Alan or otherwise - does a flawless job tying in fiction with real life. Seriously, I watch these videos like they're a social studies lecture
Agreed. This is my favorite Star Wars channel to come back to for that reason.
"When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty"
Americans feel this strongly right now 😂
It's videos like this from Generation Tech that help you realize why the Empire fell so quickly.
To me, episode 4 of Bad Batch season 3 was a episode that showed some decent world building and reunited the group to advance the main narrative but this video gave me a deeper understanding of the corrupt officer and retrospect other officers like Price. This has opened my eyes to appreciate that episode more. Bravo, now I have to annoy some other friends to get them to watch this video now.
What I found interesting is that he seemed to use his brain more than most officers. He did bait and set a trap for them and if he did not stop the gloat he could have nabbed them both.
Im very glad it was more than just "dumb imperial officer sends troops to "get em"" but instead he actually almost tricked me into thinking he was a reasonable imperial.
Super pumped that I finally caught a video drop this early. Thank you keep the awesome content coming 😂 we hungry
"Scale" is just the argument used by those who haven't been personally effected by a regime. "It doesn't prevent me from living a full life"- because those whom it *does* prevent from living a full life are... unimportant.
Just as you said. Rich humans and human like aliens weren't affected by empire, Instead some nobility even prospered. It was the middle and bottom that suffered most, And if you were alien it was pretty much death sentence due to rapant xenophilia and even institutionalized xenophilia. If alien planet tried to rebel they just got the harshest treatment, Full scale bombardment of whole planet, which led to fear and compliance by iron fist. And worst of all, Who cares? They are evil "separatist" aliens, strong propaganda pushed by empire.
That Mos Espa water gouger guy was just pissed because someone kept stealing his stapler and relocating his desk into the basement. That would drive anyone to corruption, IMHO.
He was later heard muttering to himself about burning the whole building down
This is a reference to another movie called Office Space where a character has his stapler taken, His desk moved to the basement, His complaints being ignored and eventually, he saves the protagonist from getting caught for scamming the company he works for by burning down the office building he was scamming but it was completely unrelated and very funny, It also has jeniffer aniston in it
Hey Alan, this very topic was covered by @Perun, in a video titled "How Corruption Destroys Armies".
You would find it incredibly interesting, and corruption's effects are far more insidious and destructive than you could imagine.
Haha yeah Perun is next level with his analysis glad you’re watching him excellent content
Saw the thumbnail and immediately thought "What, gambling addiction?"
The thing about authoritarianism is that it allows individuals in the regime to shake down and extort anyone they feel like for any reason. (Different from a public health measure, even one poorly conceived enough to constitute a Prohibition rerun in a city,) ...actual police states especially with official out-groups and all make the shakedowns like that omnipresent.
Alan,
Thank you for continuing to bring us intelligent, thought provoking, Star Wars content. In a sea of individuals with clickbait (cough starwarstheory) you continue to stay true to you, and us (looking at you eckharts).
Sincerely,
A Star Wars fan
To bad that they killed captain Mann this early. He was good enough to be a recurring secondary antagonist had he lived.
Another example of this would be from Andor where we see an imperial planet that has "streamlined" its justice system so much that any crimes deemed political are not even tried but the accusds is simply sentenced and sent to prison for years. The only way to survive in such a society is to be connected to people in charge and/or know who to pay off to stay protected. Even honest policemen and bureaucrats who wanted to help the innocent would have to start taking bribes because they would have to pay off people to cover their own ass.
Even worse, this was a tourist trap planet and no exception was made for tourists that might be arrested. That would have ruined their tourist economy in a short time.
This video wouldn't have been out of place on Perun's channel. Good work!
Love your channel boss
The amount of political theory @GenerationTech has absorbed is hilariously astounding. This is why I love star wars man, So goofy yet so serious. keep up the good work.
Galaxy’s a big place. Who’s gonna care about a captain’s protection racket on a backwater Outer Rim world? The Empire has bigger fish to fry, rebellions to crush.
Yeah, but what about 100s of billions of Captains doing captain’s corruption racket on a Billions and billions of backwater outer rim world. Probably could have built a few more DTs with that revenue
Captain chungus really showed us on a micro level how corrupt and power hungry the empire was
Allen, I've visited New Jersey, East Rutherford and slept in Hoboken. Lovely place and old cities.
This I why I love watching your videos man. You are able to make the most of the parallels between StarWars and real life civilisation. Especially with that theme of corruption you were talking about. I would say that Kleptocracy is the perfect way to describe both the Nigerian and British government. Although Nigeria’s situation is far more extreme, the current British government (Conservatives) are destroying institutions that formed the backbone of this country through lower cased corruption by slowly privatising the NHS.
The governor was so high he literally went to the moon.😂😂😂
From one of the mythos books for Star Wars, there was a section for Rebels where Imperial goons accepted payments like what happened in the Bad Batch.
I like the self- experimentation on himself. He's definitely the mad scientist type
Water guy did nothing wrong, his story checked out. Those kids were super cringe, spoilt layabouts whose story doesn't work - they're not remotely poor, they're f***ing cyborgs with polished speederbikes, while water guy is sitting there, vital long serving pillar of the community in his humble sackcloth.
The only reason why people side against him is because the show tells you to. Doesn't mean the show is correct.
Water guy had a monopoly on water in his sector of the town and was raising prices extortionately, of course people wouldn't pay the fees mindlessly
@@conalkeaveney9314 The bikers claim to be poor, they are not poor. Water guy is also not shown to be rich. He is offering a service and no one else is offering that service, and we have no context for the economic situation. Actually think about what is shown and what is said, rather than blindly accepting that Boba Fett is correct because the show said so.
If you want to depict what they likely wanted to depict, then you have to ACTUALLY SHOW water guy doing something bad - show him living it up while everyone else is in poverty, show the bikers as not being soft rich kids who can afford cybernetic enhancements and new speederbikes imported freshly from offworld, have Boba Fett prove how in other parts of the city the water prices are much cheaper, but no, all we see is a frugal old man, pillar of the community, providing a vital service, loyally paying his taxes, accosted by hoodlums, and what does he get from the guy who he pays his taxes to? His leader sides with the ungrateful criminals over him and stabs him in the back.
What happens if he goes out of business? He's not spending his money on anything obvious, how much are his margins? We don't know, Boba Fett doesn't know either, he just does the dumb trope of "powah to the peeple, peeples be oppressed" (even though it's a middle class businessman being screwed by spoilt upper class trust fund babies).
@Capt.Thunder These kids are shown to be honourable in their own way however, they don't betray Boba Fett even when surrounded and about to die. If the water guy hadn't been charging extortionate fees(Fett tells us they're extortionate I don't know how else you would take that) then they probably wouldn't have stolen from him or 'terrorised' him
Thanks for the awesome analysis.
It's ironic that Dooku joined the dark side to battle the corruption of the republic and ended up installing a far worse structure.
You may accuse Tarkn about a lot of things, but he really hated the coruption.
The Republic favoring a member state like the Huk over a non member like the Khalishi is not in fact corruption. Quite the opposite really the state is supposed to protect its citizens from foreign entities wgich the Khalishi are by virtue of not having representation in the Senate and therefore not being a part of the Republic..
Oh. This is more spoilers then I was really ready for or expecting. I guess I better go back to ignoring your channel until I am caught up on bad batch.
Feels weird for the corruption/rot to be setting in so early into the empires reign
Off topic, but MAN those TK troopers look great! I feel like they look too good though, like they should be from the POST RotJ galaxy rather than the first days of the Empire. Its legitimately throwing me off.
the line about "there's a difference between kicking someone in the shin and blasting one off" just reminded me of stories i've heard from old armed forces personal (UK in my case, but guaranteed this was also happening with the US) stationed in West Germany during the Cold war - they old guys would (frequently) tell me how, during night time patrols of the border they would encounter their Soviet counterparts and just swap contraband. Western patrols would come back with bottles of Vodka, exchanged for Scotch whiskey. Now in the "big picture" world view, this was obviously a case of corruption - forces abusing their positions for financial gain (scotch whisky sold on the USSR black markets, Extorted Russian Vodka prices in the West). However, you then have to look at how the repecussions of "being caught" would be - whilst soviet repecussions for being caught may be more dangerous the opportunities for bribery were higher with officers higher up likely wanting a cut of the profit. Western officers, like their societ counterparts, likely knew that these deals were happening but would act and reprimand if evidence for this "terrible secret that everyone knows about" turned up.
Transferring to the Star Wars universe the Republic did have corrupt elements (which organisation doesn't) however, the way it was structured - more akin to the UN, meant that many cases of corruption were "Local matters" and not part of their scope (the UN isn't going to vote on sanctions because 1 police station in the middle of Uzbekistan was caught taking bribes - that's a matter for the Uzbeki government to resolve). The Empire, on the other hand, made arguments about being in control (akin to a single world government) yet didn't realise its limits - being more conserned with "big picture" ideas. Sure imperial earth (going back to that Uzbek example) may replace police chiefs with imperial perssonel, however all of a sudden the "local matters" of imperial earths Uzbekistan is pleasing the empire... that police station may have imperial personel running it, but they;re realising that the central governemnt doesnt really check in on them... or care about them... so they start to take the bribes, and run the little rural town like a tiny fifedome. Its all imperial (its got the flags and everything) but none of those extra fiancial installments are turning up in the imperial bank. its a nice tidy retirement fund.
The only times (from my recollection) that palpatine has ever cared about his personelle going rouge/on a rampage were when Vader tore up a small section of Courasant to hunt down 2 Inquisitors who'd fallen in love - Palpatines quote about wanting to rule an Empire of the Living, not the dead (which lead to Vader moving his operation to Mustafar). The second was the aformentioned attempt on his life by Cham Syndula and the Ryloth rebellions - but in that situation it was becasue Cham Syndula represented a Charasmatic Political Leader who could inspire and who was also willing to fight - a vast difference from the Saw's rebellion 9uprising with no goal other than fighting) or Mothma and Bails early rebellion (still hoping for a political answer before sacrificing young lives for their cause). The Emperor saw Cham's forces gathering due to the corruption on Ryloth (a Spice addled Moff who'd recently been widdowed and who partied with Hutt's and her junior who wanted her position and activley sabotaged her) and realised that if had maybe 1-2 more years he'd have enough forces and resources to start a rebellion against the empire, and that Cham had the charisma and political prowess to take that rebellions millitary victory on Ryloth and spread it across the stars. So the Emperor persoanlly takes himself to Ryloth, putting a target on his back, to tempt the rebellion into action -- in doing so letting the growing Movement utilise all their resources to Kill the emperor, stike fear into the hearts or the Imperial personel opperating on Rylot and removing Cham Syndula from the board - by the end the Imperial Moff for Ryloth is now fully involved in her job. Her corupt political junior feeding info to Cham is dead. The free Ryloth movement has extinguished most of its resources and Ryloth is back under Imperial controll. An early galaxy-wise rebellion snuffed out for the price of 1 ISD and its crew + 5-6 Imperial Crimson guards.
I love how you do this. This would be an excellent class and then they could discuss the parallels in our systems. You are an excellent teacher and communicator. That being said. It also terrifies me of the future.
Amazing Macroeconomic Viewpoint! I salute you, Alan!
Those blasted dolphins are a threat to this great Empire and must be dealt with
Basically Palpatine built his own downfall from the beginning without realizing it
He didn't, though.
Didn't watch the video did ya? @papapalps2415
@@geo5660 As mind blowing as this may be, RUclips videos are not actual sources.
@papapalps2415 The video has reiterated what was already known.
We out here talking about CORRUPTION.
One of your best episodes.
I'd assert that a big contributor to the pervasive corruption comes from the issue of accountability and the lack thereof: In order to be accountable to no one, authoritarians dismantle the institutions that would ordinarily provide accountability. Thus, the Dear Leader has no accountability, and all those below him are only accountable to their superiors, who generally have neither the inclination nor the incentive to act against their underlings' corruption as long is it doesn't cause trouble up the chain. The lack of accountability propagates down throughout the entire system, creating fertile soil in which corruption can grow.
Thanks Alan I like these little talks.👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I am reminded of the scene at the beginning of "Crimson Empire" in which Kir Kanos encountered a customs man who boasted officiously that, regardless of Palpatine's death, those entering or leaving his bureaucratic jurisdiction had to explain their business to him because it was "still the Empire." Kanos calmly and matter-of-factly paid off the customs officer in exchange for not answering any questions, retorting that because it was indeed still the Empire, Kanos knew the customs officer would accept the bribe.
How is a police force supposed to be funded except by taxation?
While the governor was blatantly corrupt, there's a multitude of issues. Firstly - why can't the planet, which is an entire habitable planet - field its own defense forces?
This is a regular issue with Star Wars and its on full display. But, more importantly, the whole thing is just a case of either flanderization or the writers not actually having any real ideas.
It’s sad that what your talking about can be reflected in our society
The shake down officer reminded me of the movie Casablanca
The thing I hate about this channel is It doesn't have 1 million subs
The untold secret of the Storm Trooper's horrendous aim was that they were actually very good shots. However, the gun manufacturers began cutting quality control so the gun sights were unreliable. The manufactures paid a kickback to the military to ignore their drop in quality which was significantly less than what they saved by not actually fixing the problem. Thus, the Trooper's "aim" got progressively worse with the occasional exception of the obsessed Trooper who fixed their sights with each new gun assignment. (This is much like what has happened to the Russian military.)
Severe corruption is a guaranteed result of authoritarianism.
While corruption is impossible to prevent completely.
Authoritarianism borderline encourages corruption. Democracy is obviously vulnerable to it too, but it also has proper systems in place to try to prevent it.
Authoritarianism means that even if you find the corruption, you will be punished for it for daring to go against your "leadership".
Dude you are so DEEP! Thanks.
As always, wonderfully perfect in your breakdown. Thank you, Alan!
I can't think of a single organization where corruption does not happen.
"If taxation without consent is not robbery, then any band of robbers have only to declare themselves a government, and all their robberies are legalized."
This is a very dangerous video. I'm from Chicago. The most corrupt city in the USA. City officials tax everything. Even bottled water. Tarrifs on tobacco. Cook County taxes on a pack of cigarettes make a pack 18.00. Dupage county or in Indiana, a pack costs 10 bucks. The officials say these "taxes" go towards street maintenance. but our streets suck. potholes everywhere. The "taxes" just go into pockets with no maintenance ever being done. EVER. I live just off a major street. Been here for 11 years, and not once has a city agency come out to fix a pothole right on the corner. Yet we have tobacco taxes, bottle taxes, we need to pay for street parking permits, and city stickers for our vehicles. That's the Empire.
Just remember: the Bad Batch takes place just after the formation of the Empire. It's like a month at longest and this crap is ALREADY happening.
Mayor Tiffany A. Henyard is basically doing exactly what captain Mann was doing.
I remember watching this episode and knowing he was going to make a video of the corruption in the empire.
woww, had to replay the video from the beginning when I realized the parallel to real world events.
Me, a lard-ass with _chins,_ seeing the thumbnail: The _circle_ is now complete. When I left you I was but a learner, but now *I* am the master...
We see this kind of corruption in real life like what’s been taking place With Fani Willis.
The highways in alot of big states actually raised years ago. There are states that have speed limits that are up to 80 mph now. There are goods and bads to this. I agree that the lvl of corruption in the empire was way to out of hand.
He's basically saying the empire is like south africa 😂
I have the 2,000 piece puzzle of the characters and vehicles you have on your wall. A challenge for sure but worth it.
Everyone needs a side hustle to make ends meet from time to time.
This is the first time I've seen Stormtroopers be outright corrupt. Not once before now have they broken the law or acted unacceptably by Imperial standards.
Yeah lotsa truth here sadly. The bigger the organization the more inevitable some amount of corruption is. Best you can do really is keep the worst of it under control and shine the light on it when you can. In an ideal world this wouldn't be true, but as you pointed out people are gonna people.
The imperial economy was designed to be shady to ensure Palpatine wouldn't have to explain the death star, starkiller base, and the fleet on exegol in Rise of Skywalker.
“and the public sentiment, that the media could control…”
Yikes.
9:49
This is very useful information.
Ok, idea. What if you (Alan) did a video where you exist in the Star Wars galaxy, right after the Clone Wars ended? You are Palpatine's advisor, and have convinced him that you have seen all the movies and know what his fate is. What would you have Palpatine do?
right about jersey being corrupt.
Let us also not forget the benevolent ruler theory. (Confucianism and anti-machiavellian for example)
It is that if the ruler of a nation is corrupt it will make people under him also corrupt.
About the sponsorship... they got one of Commander Doom? He's my favorite obscure clone commander.
12:42 sounds a lot like Canada right now
I agree, bad writing and repetitive villain tropes are a problem to the Empire. Almost every tv show with Filoni's involvement has these samey imperial officer villains lose at everything. Andor season 2 can't come soon enough.
I would like to believe that there are/were good people within the Empire that did want to do the right thing and not succumb to the corruption rife within its ranks. I think Rae Sloane is one of those characters who believes in what the Empire should be.
Wasn't it the institutional corruption within the Republic that allowed for the rise of Palpatine? New Imperial government but the same old bureaucracy and institutions. The same thing would later sink the New Republic in both Legends and canon.