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Of Course Gen Z Men Identify With Anakin — Transcript

by Andrew Briggs · 6,953 words · 1,094 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00For decades, we watched Anakin's fall as
0:02a warning, but somewhere along the way a
0:03generation of young men stopped asking
0:05why he became Darth Vader and started
0:08asking, "What other choice did he really
0:10have? How could he do anything but?"
0:13When anyone first watches Star Wars, it
0:15seems like a simple story that only
0:17becomes more complex, I believe, as you
0:20get a little bit older and angrier and
0:23feel less and less heard. Consider the
0:25simplicity of the boomer viewing
0:27experience of Star Wars episodes 4
0:30through 6. There was an empire, there
0:32were [music] rebels, there was a young
0:34man who learned to resist the temptation
0:36of power, and there was his father who
0:38gave in to it and also offered it to
0:40him. It is a simple good versus evil
0:42story that was released during one of
0:44the greatest economic runs in the safest
0:47and strongest country in history, but in
0:49October of 2026, a strange argument
0:51began to take over X. Young men started
0:54looking at that same story and
0:55identifying with someone else, not Luke
0:58Skywalker, the hero, but Anakin
1:00Skywalker in the midst of learning more
1:03and more about his world as he begins
1:06his turn into Darth Vader. The people
1:09who see these memes as just edge posting
1:12and literally me posting I think are
1:15making a massive mistake because there
1:17is something huge communicated to ears
1:19that can listen and the eyes that are
1:21willing to see this. When I first
1:23watched episodes 1 through 3 as a kid,
1:25there [music] was sadness. How could he
1:27do this? How could he betray the council
1:29and go to the dark side? 20 years later,
1:31all I can think is, "How could he do
1:33anything but?" His mother enslaved,
1:36sold, and killed on a backwater planet
1:39in a way that Anakin's new caretakers
1:41could have prevented. Forbidden to find
1:43love or feel emotion about Padme and
1:45that loss of his mother. Being told that
1:47he was or would become one of the most
1:50powerful force users in history and that
1:52he would one day balance the force and
1:54save the galaxy, then being told he was
1:57not good enough to be on the council
1:59because of the sadness he had no way of
2:01not feeling. The wisdom he has offered
2:04gives him no peace. He questions if the
2:06work he is doing means anything as he is
2:08directed across the galaxy by a council
2:10who themselves are not wise enough or
2:12too blinded by the 1,000 years of
2:14relative peace that they have
2:15experienced as the Republic, so blind
2:18that they don't know that they are being
2:19controlled by the enemy they seek to
2:21find. Anakin is told his future is in
2:23his hands, but he's stopped every time
2:26he tries to direct [music] himself. And
2:28through all of this, he is told to
2:30sacrifice his feelings, his love, and
2:33his agency because if at any point he
2:36gives in to what he feels, it could lead
2:39to a complete destruction of everything.
2:41His potential is so great that it is too
2:44much for him to tap into without being
2:46supervised by the approved committees.
2:48But destruction of what? Their seats of
2:50power? Their delusion? The things that
2:52he comes to believe are responsible for
2:55all of his suffering? How could he do
2:57anything but what he does when he is
2:59finally offered a solution to save the
3:01woman he loves and his children? There
3:04is a misunderstanding that I keep seeing
3:06from the left that all of this Anakin
3:08posting is in favor of conservatives or
3:11Trump or Musk or anyone on the right,
3:13but it isn't. Every right-wing
3:15politician who posts about this gets
3:16ratioed by the people that they claim or
3:19believe or pretend to represent. Votes
3:21were intentionally withheld this
3:23election or given to the other side as a
3:24message, "You do not represent us, and I
3:27know you don't.
3:28>> I see through the lies of the Republican
3:29Party.
3:30>> How could they do anything but? People
3:33want to be nice and kind and amenable to
3:36the society that raised them. People
3:38voted left when they were young
3:39believing that it would lead to a
3:41harmony but feel that that wasn't true.
3:43So they started voting right believing
3:45that it would dig them out of their hole
3:47and finally have them represented in
3:50this uncaring political landscape, but
3:52soon found that was also not true. They
3:56cannot buy houses. They cannot find
3:58love. They cannot find purpose. They
4:00have nothing that they were promised,
4:02but they are told over and over that
4:04they live in the best time in human
4:06history as they rack up thousands of
4:08dollars in credit card debt with two
4:09roommates in a city filled with crime
4:12while their representatives say, "No,
4:14crime has gone down and the green line
4:16has gone up." And they are surrounded by
4:17their elders who cannot help but blame
4:19them for their own suffering as they sit
4:21in one of their three ivory tower homes
4:23that they bought with one year's salary
4:2530 years ago. How could these people
4:28feel anything but Anytime I see people
4:31talking about Anakin posting as if it is
4:33just another media literate read of an
4:36obvious story of goodness triumphing
4:38over evil, all I can think is, "Of
4:40course you think that. You know how this
4:43fictional story ends." They might
4:45imagine one of these grievance posters
4:46[music]
4:47and ask, "How can you see the evil of
4:51Vader and Palpatine, see how this story
4:52ends, and still align yourself with
4:54Anakin's fall?" But we
4:56don't really know how the several
4:58components of life that people find so
5:01upsetting ends, do we? And as much as
5:04life imitates art and vice versa, if you
5:07actually were prequel trilogy Anakin,
5:09would you believe that it could end any
5:12other way? Anakin [music] is warned what
5:14will happen by everyone that he trusts,
5:16but those are just more words as far as
5:18he is concerned. He will never have the
5:20chance to feel his fall during Revenge
5:22of the Sith or his redemption in Return
5:24of the Jedi because he is living through
5:27Attack of the Clones, the death of his
5:28mother, and the prophecy of the death of
5:31the woman that he loves. He doesn't see
5:32Padme's death, but he does sense it and
5:35is told of its inevitability by the
5:36people he has already begun to question.
5:39How could anyone posting these memes and
5:42articles and videos ever care for the
5:44conclusion to the story when they feel
5:47like Anakin in the Clone Wars TV show
5:49watching veil after veil be stripped
5:52from their eyes and slowly wondering,
5:54"Is this just a bug
5:56in a corrupt system
5:58or is this its very function that I will
6:01soon fall victim to?" How could they
6:03feel anything but Thank you to those of
6:06you who submitted voice memos for this
6:07episode. I'll have some clips from my
6:09conversation with PF Young in this
6:10episode as well, and our conversation
6:12will be posted on the podcast channel
6:14Out of Scope next week. All my links,
6:16the Discord, and the Patreon will be
6:17down in the description, and there's
6:19also going to be a members-only
6:21extension of this video that will be
6:23live here and on Patreon at the time of
6:24watching this. All of your support is
6:26appreciated. Let's get into it. Anakin
6:28doesn't really begin with power. He has
6:30it in a way, but it's underdeveloped and
6:34would maybe stay that way if no one came
6:37to help him harness it. He is just
6:38[music] a slave boy with a slave mother.
6:41He has some metaphorical privilege in
6:42the Force surrounded by a reality of
6:45disenfranchisement and squalor, but
6:47despite all of this, he is positive. He
6:49is happy. He's a driven child who dreams
6:51of [music] not just becoming something
6:53amazing, but becoming the one who will
6:55pull his family from slavery. So, there
6:57is an excitement and optimism when
6:59Qui-Gon tells him that not only is he
7:02[music] actually powerful, but he may be
7:04able to do things that no other Jedi
7:07ever could. This is not unlike the
7:09stories that we all, at least
7:11>> [music]
7:11>> in the US, hear growing up. You can be
7:14anything that you want to be as long as
7:17you do whatever the prerequisites are.
7:20It is not naive optimism. It is guided
7:22by the story of the American dream. Of
7:23course, you'll be great. When he is
7:25freed by the subtle guiding hand of his
7:27mentor, he is faced with his first
7:29[music] sacrifice. He must leave his
7:31mother behind, so he does. But, he does
7:33so with a promise. He will come back. He
7:35will save her. And he makes this
7:37sacrifice with something backing it, a
7:39promise that is given to him, a sort of
7:42marshmallow test. Say no to this right
7:45now, there will be something greater for
7:46you in the future. So, he believes
7:48[music] them. There's an important
7:49distinction in these promises because I
7:51don't think either of them is lying. The
7:53institution of the Jedi sees itself as
7:55finding and rescuing a sort of
7:57Christ-like figure. Anakin sees himself
7:59as not quite strong enough to save
8:02[music] his mother, so he must leave so
8:04that he can learn how to do it. When
8:05Anakin arrives before the council, they
8:07meet him with skepticism. He's too old.
8:09He's too afraid. He's too attached. They
8:11sense something dangerous. Anakin is, in
8:15a way, destined or damned to become
8:18something that they're not totally sure
8:20of. Whether it is something about his
8:22nature, his upbringing, or something
8:24else, he is original sin. There is
8:26something about his psychology that
8:27cannot be undone. But, while the council
8:29notices this, they do not teach him to
8:32understand it. Their solution is to
8:34silence it and become detached. Yet
8:37another marshmallow test. There is
8:38something wrong with you. Push it down,
8:40work hard, take this pill, so to speak,
8:43to numb you and make you focus during
8:45school, delay your gratification until
8:47you become a man following the path that
8:49we all followed in a completely
8:50different time, and everything will work
8:52out. We know this because it worked for
8:54all of us, and the council is once again
8:56right. It has worked for all of them. It
8:59will work as long as nothing has
9:01changed. As long as the world is the
9:03same as it was 50 years ago, where
9:05nearly 50% of Coruscant citizens between
9:07ages 25 and 34 are married, living
9:11independently, working, and having
9:13children, things should all work out for
9:15him. It's not like that number has
9:16dropped to less than 25% Anakin. And if
9:19it has, well, that just means that you
9:21need to work a little harder, but that's
9:22okay because it builds character. The
9:24Jedi Council at this point aren't evil.
9:25They are just ill-informed optimists.
9:27They are a rigid institution that knows
9:30they are right, which operates with so
9:32much confidence in their wisdom that to
9:34question it
9:35>> [music]
9:35>> is theoretical.
9:36>> The sophisticated schizo autists that
9:38are crafting these Anakin memes, they
9:39are fully aware of Knights of the Old
9:42Republic 1 and 2. Which, if you just
9:44watch the movies, the simple like Jedi
9:47are good, Sith are evil, that's going to
9:50be your framework for
9:51Jedi and Sith. But, if you play the
9:54arguably the greatest game ever made,
9:55Knights of the Old Republic 2, and with
9:57arguably one of the greatest characters
9:58of all time, Kreia,
10:00you will discover the nuance of actually
10:02the Jedi represent actually it's it maps
10:04much better to a Peter Sonian lens,
10:07stagnated order
10:08of we're right, we're the good guys, and
10:11we we don't need to be questioned, and
10:12you know, it's we're going to suppress
10:14people's emotions and impulses and
10:15connection because that's what we do.
10:17Stagnated order. And the Sith are well,
10:20you're allowed to love and have passion
10:21and, you know, all that stuff, right?
10:23And so, that's a much more gray
10:26area, and I think the sophisticated
10:27schizo autists who are crafting the
10:29Anakin meme
10:30are making use of that
10:33understanding of Jedi and Sith that your
10:36average boomer
10:38doesn't understand.
10:39>> [snorts]
10:40>> But sometimes institutions fall short.
10:42Luckily, he has a mentor who truly cares
10:44about him.
10:45>> The more responsibility you take on, the
10:46more meaning your life has. And the
10:48higher degree of responsibility that you
10:51agree voluntarily to try to bear, the
10:53richer your life will be. And no one's
10:55ever told that, and it's the case.
10:57>> He senses the darkness in him, but it
10:59isn't a threat to him. He is willing to
11:01challenge him and guide him through
11:03understanding himself. He is willing to
11:05challenge the council without rejecting
11:07the order, and tells young Anakin that
11:09he can take responsibility for himself
11:11and achieve a higher purpose.
11:13Unfortunately, he dies.
11:15>> Qui-Gon Jinn had it right, I'm pretty
11:18sure.
11:19Um, but he died. And so, he wasn't able
11:22to teach Anakin that way. That's why
11:24it's called Duel of the Fates.
11:26>> [music]
11:26>> It wasn't the fate of Qui-Gon Jinn or
11:28Darth Maul, it was the fate of Anakin.
11:30If Qui-Gon Jinn would have survived,
11:32Anakin would have done a lot better and
11:35wouldn't have turned to the dark side,
11:37and probably would have eradicated
11:39Palpatine.
11:40Um, but that didn't happen. And so,
11:43that's my opinion.
11:45I love Qui-Gon Jinn.
11:47>> Anakin is [music] forced to find a new
11:48mentor, Obi-Wan. He learns from Qui-Gon.
11:51He loves Anakin. He wants the best for
11:53him as well, but Obi-Wan is ill-equipped
11:55[music]
11:56to handle this. He made a promise to
11:58Qui-Gon to take care of Anakin and to
11:59train him, but [music] as time goes on,
12:01we start to see that Anakin doesn't need
12:03a caretaker. He needs someone who can
12:05help him understand why he's afraid and
12:07what [music] it is that he is afraid of.
12:09He is doing what is asked of him, but
12:12it's just not working and he doesn't
12:13know why. So, he just [music] trains
12:15harder and luckily he gets a
12:16proportional level of Republic credits
12:18as the Jedi of 50 years ago for the same
12:20amount of intergalactic work that he
12:22does. [music]
12:22Of course, during all of this something
12:24else is happening behind the scenes.
12:25Palpatine, an unremarkable senator from
12:27the unremarkable planet Naboo, a
12:29stand-in for Earth has secretly
12:31orchestrated an invasion of his own
12:33[music] planet. He has financed a false
12:35flag operation as Darth Sidious working
12:37with the Trade Federation and encourages
12:39Princess Amidala to demand a vote of no
12:41confidence in Chancellor Valorum due to
12:43his mishandling of this completely
12:45unexpected war that there was no clear
12:47reason for Naboo to even be a target of
12:49in the first place. This creates a power
12:51vacuum which gets Palpatine public
12:53sympathy and helps him to ascend to the
12:55role of [music] Chancellor. Now,
12:57Palpatine is going to be a complicated
12:59character in this extended analogy
13:01because he doesn't really represent
13:03>> [music]
13:03>> any one person and some of what I
13:05extrapolate from these movies into the
13:08real world are going to be conspiracy
13:10theories that people believe that
13:12genuinely impact the way that they vote
13:14and exist in the world at worst and
13:16[music]
13:17alleged claims at best. As a senator,
13:19he's reminiscent of the political
13:21establishment of the Bush-Obama years.
13:23As a chancellor, he begins to resemble
13:25this security-focused leadership
13:27associated with figures like Trump or
13:29Netanyahu where they might say, "Hey,
13:30war and WMDs are just around the
13:32corner." as a way to shore up some votes
13:34at the last minute. But, as Anakin's
13:35personal mentor promising him forbidden
13:38knowledge and an alternative impotent
13:40Jedi Council, Palpatine and the
13:42teachings of Darth Sidious start to
13:44resemble the political alternative. The
13:46far-right figures [music] these memes
13:48are increasingly associating with like
13:49Nick Fuentes. Palpatine is corruption
13:52[music] and false promises and
13:53manipulation and an alternative to a
13:55failing system all packed into one at
13:57different points in time with different
13:59goals in mind. You'll need to do a
14:00little bit of mental legwork during this
14:02video so that I don't have to digress
14:04over and over. So, Anakin isn't doing
14:07this directly for himself. Don't forget
14:08that he is following the promise of an
14:11extraordinary future despite his less
14:12than an beginning. He isn't angry at the
14:15Jedi yet. He still trusts them.
14:17>> [music]
14:17>> So, he keeps going for another 10 years
14:19fueled by that trust. Luckily, the
14:21council was right. He is more powerful.
14:22He is successful and skilled just like
14:24they promised. But, there is still one
14:27promise left unresolved. That promise is
14:29left where he comes from and it has
14:31[music] gotten so much worse in his
14:33absence. But, Anakin, now becoming a
14:35man, is also realizing that he has
14:37developed new desires. Desires that are
14:40incompatible with the promise that he
14:42had made before he ever knew that he
14:45want like this could exist.
14:46So, he tells himself that it's just one
14:48more sacrifice as he gets closer to what
14:51he is destined to be. But, what is it
14:53that Anakin really wants at this point?
14:54He isn't demanding the galaxy. He isn't
14:57demanding power over the Jedi. He isn't
14:59even breaking any rules. Anakin is, by
15:01any measure, a productive, well-tempered
15:04Padawan who has also seen Padme frolic
15:07through the fields in a dress and has
15:10seen her in a belly shirt and I mean,
15:12who among us at that age, you know? It's
15:14just one broken agreement that you made
15:1510 years ago. 10 years of staying in
15:17line. 10 years of delaying a promise to
15:19his mother. 10 years of ignoring his
15:21feelings. [music] 10 years of no payoff
15:23from an institution that promised him
15:24something. Until suddenly, he is awoken
15:26by nightmares. What if he is unable to
15:28keep this promise? What if there are
15:29things completely out of his [music]
15:31control? This looks nothing like he
15:33thought it would when he left his home
15:3510 years ago. He knows something is
15:37wrong and can't ignore it anymore. So,
15:38he goes [music] to find out. His mother
15:40dies in his arms. Anakin did seemingly
15:43everything right, but he still failed.
15:44It is rare that I
15:47talk to a zoomer
15:48or a young millennial male who says that
15:51life looks about like they thought it
15:54would. Life to them feels like a
15:56collection of unfulfilled promises from
15:58politicians and [music] institutions.
16:00Everything Anakin has been working
16:02toward was supposed to give him the
16:03ability to prevent what just happened.
16:05His entire childhood was built around
16:07the belief that if he became powerful
16:09enough, he could protect the people he
16:10loved. And now, he possesses
16:12extraordinary power, but it has done
16:15absolutely nothing to help him fulfill
16:18what he promised [music]
16:19and what was promised to him. What good
16:21is power if you cannot use it to protect
16:24the people you love? What good is
16:26obedience if the people you're obeying
16:28cannot help you fulfill the promises you
16:30made? And what good is an institution
16:33that teaches you to control and ignore
16:36your fear when that fear turns out to
16:38have been completely justified?
16:40>> Let me ask you something.
16:44If the rule you followed
16:46brought it to this
16:49of what use was the rule?
16:51>> Yeah, Anakin feels grief, but he also
16:53feels guilt. He has failed. For the
16:55first time, the consequences of trusting
16:58the institution of the Jedi are no
17:00longer hypothetical. He has lost
17:02something that he can never get back.
17:04>> Someone is to blame. Not just the ones
17:07who did it.
17:08>> But the women
17:10and the children, too.
17:13>> Padme is absolutely not turned off in
17:16this scene, by the way. But those who
17:17committed the crime are not the only
17:19ones in the wrong. It is everyone who
17:20looks and acts like them. He hates
17:22everything about them, down to the sand
17:25that they walk on. Anakin's mother was
17:26taken from him by a group of outsiders.
17:28The institutions that were supposed to
17:31protect her failed. And when Anakin
17:33finally took matters into his own hands,
17:35it was in direct opposition to the rules
17:37that he swore to follow. In some
17:39versions of this argument, his violence
17:42is presented not as a moral failure, but
17:45as the inevitable consequence of
17:48institutional inaction.
17:49>> How could he do anything but? I suspect
17:51part of the reason why is that Anakin is
17:53doing something they feel incapable of
17:55doing themselves. He is no longer asking
17:58for permission. He is no longer waiting
18:00for someone more experienced, more
18:02qualified, or more powerful to solve his
18:04problems. He is taking action. And when
18:06someone has become sufficiently
18:08convinced that every institution around
18:10them is either incompetent or actively
18:12hostile toward them, that distinction
18:15between taking action and taking revenge
18:17can completely disappear. Anakin is
18:19becoming exactly what they said he
18:21would, but is that because it was what
18:24was always inside of him, or is that
18:26something that they have caused him to
18:28become? There's a change in his
18:29psychology that takes place here. He
18:31wanted power to become something great.
18:32Now, he wants power so that he will
18:34never be helpless again. So, Anakin
18:36makes two more promises.
18:38>> You're not all powerful.
18:39>> Well, I should be.
18:41Someday I will be.
18:43I will be the most powerful Jedi ever. I
18:46promise you.
18:48I will even learn to stop people from
18:49dying.
18:50>> Because there will always be another
18:51threat, another loss, another person you
18:53cannot save. And for Anakin, the lesson
18:56that he takes from his mother's death
18:58isn't that some things are beyond his
18:59control, it's that he must become so
19:02powerful that nothing is ever beyond his
19:04control again.
19:05>> I wasn't strong enough to save you, Mom.
19:08But I promise,
19:10I won't fail again.
19:12>> Things are beginning to unravel around
19:13the Republic. The corruption of
19:15politicians, the entrance into
19:16never-ending wars in foreign lands for
19:19reasons [music] that are not clear to
19:20anyone involved. There are different
19:21species and corporations and political
19:23factions all pursuing their own
19:25interests with the clones and the Jedi
19:27as their enforcers, while the council
19:29sits in their chambers on Coruscant.
19:31[music]
19:32But nearly all of these different
19:33factions are actually being manipulated
19:36by the same person,
19:37>> [music]
19:37>> and he is profiting on both sides of it
19:39as Palpatine, where he gets to take a
19:42hard on crime appearance as Chancellor,
19:44and also where he directs his apprentice
19:46Count Dooku leading the separatists. So,
19:48he manufactures this war specifically so
19:51that as it [music] escalates, he can
19:53then demand emergency powers, which he
19:55acquires through the useful idiot Jar
19:57Jar Binks' recommendation, [music]
19:59who was put into power by Padme.
20:01Luckily, this power, Palpatine assures
20:03them, he will give up when the time
20:06comes. This is called the ratchet
20:07effect, by the way. Political power only
20:09increases. It only goes one direction,
20:11just like a ratchet. [music] So, Anakin
20:13looks at all of this, how the Jedi, who
20:15have spent years telling him to control
20:17his emotions, are now confusingly the
20:20boots on the ground. The contradiction
20:22is impossible to not see, but as long as
20:24the Senate still meets and the council
20:27still deliberates and the Republic still
20:29exists,
20:30>> [music]
20:30>> the separatists can still just be called
20:32the bad guys. But is it good if the
20:35Republic keeps on going? Maybe not.
20:37>> We need a system where the politicians
20:39sit down and discuss the problem.
20:41[music] Agree what's in the best
20:42interest of all the people and then do
20:44it.
20:44>> That's exactly what we do. The The
20:46trouble is that people don't always
20:47agree.
20:48>> Well, then they should be made to.
20:49>> By whom? Who's going to make them?
20:50>> I don't know. Someone.
20:52>> You?
20:52>> Of course not me.
20:53>> But someone.
20:54>> Someone wise.
20:55>> Sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship
20:57to me.
20:58>> Well, if it works.
21:03>> Anakin doesn't say this because he hates
21:04[music] democracy. He says this because
21:06he has seen over and over that it just
21:09isn't working. Episode 2 ends with his
21:11second doctrinal betrayal of the ways of
21:13the Jedi. He marries Padme in secret.
21:15Anakin still wants to be a Jedi. He
21:17still believes in the spirit of the
21:19cause. He believes in the Republic, but
21:21all of those rules just have a little
21:23more wiggle room than before. They are a
21:26bit more negotiable. There is now open
21:28space for someone to show him a new path
21:31if it will actually bring him what he
21:33believes he needs. Anakin's story up to
21:35this point is a young man loyal to a
21:37cause that has taken his vote for
21:39granted, taking one betrayal at a time,
21:41which brings us briefly into the first
21:43time Anakin saw this from the outside.
21:46Anakin is a decorated war hero. He is
21:48probably [music] in the top 10 strongest
21:50living Jedi. Most of them have never
21:51actually seen war. He has grown so much
21:54[music] and is finally given an
21:55opportunity to become a mentor. He's now
21:58entering a sort of pre-old guard status
22:01[music] and is granted Gen Alpha Ahsoka
22:03as a Padawan.
22:05And Ahsoka, unlike [music] Anakin, is
22:07perfect, brave, compassionate, selfless,
22:10devoted to the Republic and not weighed
22:12down by the darkness that he has. But
22:14when [music] she is blamed for a bombing
22:15at the temple and expelled, Anakin knows
22:18that she is innocent. He tries to
22:20convince them that they are wrong, but
22:21he fails. So he puts all of his effort
22:24into getting her exonerated, and when
22:25the time finally comes where they see
22:28[music] the truth, they do acknowledge
22:29their mistake, but they frame it as an
22:31important part of her development.
22:34>> This was actually [music] your great
22:35trial.
22:37Now we see that.
22:38We understand that the Force works in
22:40mysterious ways.
22:41And because of this trial, you have
22:43become a greater Jedi than you would
22:45have otherwise.
22:48>> Back into the order
22:50you may come.
22:52>> They're asking you back, Ahsoka.
22:54>> I'm asking you back.
22:57>> [snorts]
23:01>> I'm sorry, Master.
23:03But I'm not coming back.
23:05>> Maybe [music] it's that she is more
23:06perceptive because much like Anakin,
23:08growing up after the boomer utopia of
23:10the council, Ahsoka grew up in an even
23:12more deteriorated and corrupt state of
23:14it [music] than Anakin did. There was no
23:16heyday for her to remember when times
23:18got rocky, only this moment. Proof of
23:21the flawed system [music] that she was a
23:23casualty to, and Anakin can't even blame
23:25her.
23:26>> I understand.
23:28More than you realize.
23:30I understand [music]
23:32wanting to walk away from the order.
23:35>> His only remaining hope is in two
23:36people. Obi-Wan Kenobi, who he knows
23:39will not approve of his marriage,
23:40>> [music]
23:40>> his thoughts, and the feelings that he
23:42has, and Chancellor Palpatine who is
23:44more than happy to be an ear for him.
23:46>> [music]
23:46>> What makes Palpatine so good is that he
23:49doesn't need to invent anything for
23:50Anakin to be angry at the order he's
23:52given him more than enough for Palpatine
23:54to exploit. [music]
23:55Where the council sees arrogance,
23:57Palpatine sees ambition. He sees a pawn.
23:59Where the council sees [music] dangerous
24:01attachments, Palpatine sees a young man
24:03who cares deeply about the people that
24:04he loves.
24:05>> [music]
24:05>> Where the council sees someone who isn't
24:07ready to be trusted with greater power,
24:09a naive man who just doesn't understand
24:11the real world,
24:12>> [music]
24:12>> Palpatine sees someone whose potential
24:14is being deliberately restrained. And
24:16every time Anakin experiences another
24:19disappointment,
24:20>> [music]
24:20>> Palpatine is there to remind him that
24:21perhaps the problem isn't Anakin.
24:24Anakin's fears and worries about this
24:26this and government aren't dangerous. He
24:28may actually be right. So, when Revenge
24:30of the Sith begins, Anakin is not some
24:32disaffected failure who has accomplished
24:34nothing with his life. He's a hero. When
24:37Anakin hesitates to kill Dooku, knowing
24:39that it goes against the Jedi code,
24:40knowing that it is wrong in some way,
24:43Palpatine tells him to do it anyway. He
24:45doesn't condemn it. He justifies it for
24:47him.
24:47>> It is only natural. He cut off your arm,
24:50you wanted revenge.
24:52It wasn't the first time, Anakin.
24:55Remember what you told me about your
24:56mother
24:57and the Sand people.
25:00>> The ends justify the means. Fatal
25:02actions must be taken if you're going to
25:04offset the inactions of the council.
25:07>> You did well, Anakin.
25:10He was too dangerous to be kept alive.
25:13>> I sure hope that is the last time that
25:15Anakin hears that exact phrase and that
25:17it doesn't lead to anything terrible.
25:19Anakin is now in the ends justify the
25:21means territory, but the council has one
25:24final lesson to teach him. Anakin is
25:26offered a seat on the high council,
25:28though not by the council itself. It is
25:30Palpatine who has become increasingly
25:32powerful and popular who puts him there.
25:34The council begrudgingly accepts him
25:35with one condition.
25:37>> You're on this council,
25:40but we do not grant you the rank of
25:41master.
25:43>> What?
25:44>> Anakin recognizes this absurdity.
25:46>> How can you do this?
25:48This is outrageous.
25:50It's unfair. How can you be on the
25:52council and not be a master?
25:55>> And Mace
25:56decides that he must put him in his
25:57place.
25:59>> Take a seat,
26:00young Skywalker.
26:04>> And I think this is where the parallel
26:07to the established Republican [music]
26:08Party becomes increasingly interesting.
26:10Anakin has finally been given a seat at
26:11the table, but only because someone
26:13outside the old guard demanded it. And
26:16rather than seeing this as evidence of a
26:18changing political landscape that they
26:20might need to adapt to, the council
26:21[music] instead subtly says, "Hey,
26:24you're part of our party, but it's only
26:25because we have a job for you." From
26:27[music] their perspective, this is a
26:28perfectly reasonable decision. Palpatine
26:29is interfering in an institution whose
26:31appointments have always been determined
26:33internally, but that's not how Anakin
26:35sees it. He sees a group of men whose
26:36judgment he has watched deteriorate for
26:38years refusing to recognize the
26:41legitimacy of someone [music] who has
26:42actually helped him advance. This is a
26:44distinction that I think is important to
26:46understanding these memes, but really
26:48this whole Star Wars far-right
26:50phenomenon because there is a difference
26:51between a young conservative who
26:53believes the Republican Party needs to
26:54do a better job [music]
26:55and one who has begun believing that the
26:57Republican Party itself is part of the
26:59problem. Only one of those people is
27:02still interested in becoming a master,
27:04but remember he's on the council for a
27:05reason. They have a job for him.
27:07>> The council wants [music] you to report
27:09on all the chancellor's dealings. They
27:10want to know what he's up to.
27:15>> They want me to spy on the chancellor.
27:17That's treason.
27:18>> We are at war, Anakin.
27:19>> The council wants Anakin to spy on the
27:20chancellor and not even as an official
27:22assignment.
27:23>> Why didn't the council give me this
27:24assignment when we were in session?
27:25>> This assignment is not to be on record.
27:27>> They want to use him. They want to use
27:29his personal relationship with Palpatine
27:31to [music] gather information that they
27:32themselves could not otherwise obtain.
27:34They don't trust Anakin's judgment
27:35[music]
27:36or opinions or intuition enough to make
27:38him a master, but they do trust him to
27:40investigate the most powerful politician
27:42in the galaxy. They don't approve of his
27:45relationship with Palpatine, but they
27:46want to exploit it because they
27:48recognize they are beginning to lose
27:49ground to him and they don't want to
27:50make the assignment official because
27:52apparently even they recognize [music]
27:54how questionable it is. A betrayal of
27:56the Jedi code even.
27:58>> You're asking me to do something against
27:59the Jedi code.
28:00>> Now imagine this from the perspective
28:02[music] of a young man who has been
28:03supporting the Republican Party. He
28:05watched the politicians and commentators
28:07that he supported fail to deliver on
28:10their promises. He becomes increasingly
28:11sympathetic to people further to the
28:13right or willing to question [music] the
28:16institutions and political compromises
28:18that established conservatives want to
28:20[music] continue to defend. And what
28:22does the old guard ask him to do? Not to
28:24help reform the party. Not to explain
28:26why these alternatives have become
28:27attractive to him, but help discredit
28:30and defeat the very people that he's
28:32begun listening to. They don't want to
28:33make the changes that he desires. They
28:35want the information to shut the
28:36alternatives down, and they want him to
28:38shut up and keep voting the party line.
28:41Council is more interested in policing
28:42the boundaries of acceptable
28:44conservatism than in confronting the
28:46problems that made those boundaries
28:48worth questioning in the first place.
28:49[music] And Obi-Wan, even knowing that
28:52it is wrong to put Anakin in this
28:53position, still chooses the council. But
28:55there is something new that will now
28:58motivate Anakin. And it is so similar to
29:01what it always been. He's having
29:02nightmares again. He is terrified of the
29:04future,
29:04>> [music]
29:04>> and that future is far more terrifying
29:07now because he's recently learned that
29:09he's got a child on the way. An
29:10interesting side point in here is that
29:12Anakin's liberal wife also begins to
29:14question if they're fighting for the
29:16wrong side. And it makes him panic a
29:18little bit. Like hearing his own
29:20opinions from her mouth was a little too
29:22much. Maybe it's a small callback to his
29:24former self. It's hard to say, but he's
29:26decided that he needs to speak with the
29:28council about his fears again. He is
29:30internally scrambling for any reason to
29:32[music] stick to the status quo.
29:33>> These visions you have
29:36of pain,
29:37suffering, death.
29:39Yourself you speak of or someone you
29:41know?
29:43>> Someone.
29:44>> Careful you must be when sensing the
29:46future, Anakin. The fear of loss is a
29:48path to the dark side.
29:50>> I will not let these visions come true,
29:51Master Yoda.
29:52>> Death is a natural part of life.
29:54Rejoice for those around you who
29:55transform into the force. Mourn them do
29:58not. Miss them do not.
29:59>> Anakin has been here before. He dreamed
30:01of his mother dying. Council did
30:03nothing, and it [music] happened. Now
30:05he's having the same visions about
30:07Padme. The advice is more of the same.
30:09>> What must I do, Master Yoda?
30:11>> Train yourself to let go of everything
30:13you fear to lose.
30:15>> Yoda is basically saying, "Yes, there is
30:17danger. Yes, we are the same party
30:19giving you the same advice.
30:21We will do nothing different, but make
30:23sure you get out and vote the party
30:24line." So Palpatine [music] offers him
30:26something new, something the council
30:27cannot. Yes, the world is dangerous.
30:30Yes, taxes are insane. Yes, there are
30:32endless wars, and the incompetent
30:34council will do nothing about this. but
30:37there is a way to fix this.
30:38>> Is it possible to learn this power?
30:42>> Not from a Jedi.
30:44>> And that is the final thing that anyone
30:46needs to hear before a decision is set
30:48in stone. I realize this meme has been
30:49almost exclusively co-opted by the
30:51right, but this is true of any major
30:54political change that someone makes.
30:55When your fears go unheard, when your
30:57party [music] repeatedly does more of
30:59the same, when someone finally says
31:02everything that keeps you up at night is
31:04not only true, but they are not willing
31:06to solve it and I am.
31:09The only thing that remains to be done
31:11is you taking an action that brings you
31:13past the point of no return. Suddenly,
31:15we hear a familiar line.
31:17>> He's too dangerous to be left alive.
31:19>> He was too dangerous to be kept alive.
31:22>> Anakin never wanted to do any of this.
31:24The former Anakin knows that there is
31:26something evil about Palpatine,
31:28but how could he do anything but? There
31:30is no choice. If he wants to save his
31:33wife, his family, and preserve his way
31:35of life, Anakin [music] begins as a
31:37kind, obedient young man who believes in
31:39his party every step along the way. If
31:42you could have conversation with Episode
31:441 Anakin, they would hardly recognize
31:46each other, but young Anakin also would
31:48not recognize the world of Episode 3.
31:51Nothing he believed about the future is
31:52true. His mother is dead due to failed
31:55promises, and if we want to be a bit on
31:57the nose here,
31:58an alien. But really, this is barely a
32:00video about Gen Z men and the far right
32:03or Anakin. It's barely about a slide
32:04into a dictatorship or fascism. This is
32:06just a video about a slide into
32:09political extremism that almost anyone
32:11who is truly disenfranchised with their
32:14party and government can understand.
32:15[music] Someone who was a Republican
32:17during the 2008 Obama era, but is now
32:19door knocking for the DSA has had a
32:22nearly identical arc [music] with
32:23different stand-ins for the council and
32:25Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Palpatine. Their
32:28grievances and fears might be economic
32:30inequality or discrimination or a
32:32government that seems [music] more
32:34interested in protecting corporations
32:36than its own citizens, but the
32:37progression can be remarkably similar. I
32:40think some version of this
32:41>> [music]
32:41>> is almost inevitable when people's fears
32:43go unheard for long enough because
32:45eventually someone is going to come
32:46along offering the answers that the
32:48institutions they've trusted seem
32:51capable of providing. And that's why I
32:52think [music] these memes need to be
32:54paid attention to. People want to write
32:55this off as, like I said in the
32:57beginning, just another literally me and
33:00Spider-Man would totally vote the same
33:01way as me phenomenon because memes are
33:03just a silly piece of internet culture.
33:05But I don't think that applies here.
33:07Memes communicate an incredible amount
33:08of information
33:09>> [music]
33:09>> about how people feel. The people who
33:12are confused by the blue wave that just
33:14happened in 2026, I suspect are only
33:17confused because they didn't see the
33:19memes. The people who were confused
33:21>> [music]
33:21>> when Trump won the 2016 election, me,
33:24were only confused because they weren't
33:26paying attention to what some pictures
33:28and videos and reaction images with text
33:30on them said. If you really want to
33:32understand people, and I mean really
33:34understand them, you need to look at as
33:36P.F. Young says, who people's feudal
33:38meme lords are. Memetic feudalism is the
33:40framework. It's basically it's a way of
33:42just thinking about how influence and
33:45ideas spread throughout a population and
33:47how influence is structured. All it
33:49takes is
33:51one influential charismatic person
33:54to spread an idea and kick it off like a
33:56virus,
33:57right?
33:58But the way that the virus is
33:59structured, you know, like a biological
34:01virus is you and I have to get within
34:03physical contact for or proximity for me
34:05to spread the virus, right?
34:07But memes spread through networks of
34:09influence. So,
34:11an idea that
34:14going back to like the schizo artist
34:15meme smithing thing.
34:17So, memetic feudalism, okay, you have
34:19the Star Wars fandom, which is massive,
34:22boomers and leftists who like the new
34:25movies, whatever. That that's that whole
34:27thing, right?
34:28Who's making these Star Wars memes up
34:30front that are slowly rippling through
34:32the fandom? Because it's reaching like
34:33the normie base, right? Like my normie
34:34friend who would have voted for Kamala
34:36will send did send me
34:38um an Anakin meme, right?
34:40The people up front doing that are the
34:41memetic feudal lords. They're like the
34:43barons and the kings where they have
34:45vassals. They create a meme
34:48and then their following pays attention
34:51to that meme and then that following
34:52spreads it to their following and it's a
34:54it's a feudal structure. And so memetic
34:56feudalism is just basically a way of
34:57thinking about
34:59who is spreading ideas to whom
35:02and
35:04how
35:06the spread of ideas is based on
35:08influencing influencers, not just
35:12influencing the masses.
35:14>> My question for you guys is not unlike
35:16what I asked [music] in the beginning.
35:17Think of anyone you know who is deep
35:19deep down some far right or left
35:21political rabbit hole. Maybe it's even
35:23you. Think about their desires and fears
35:25that they have in this world that never
35:27materialized
35:28>> [music]
35:28>> and ask yourself, how could they do
35:30anything but given their life, their
35:33circumstances, their beliefs about the
35:35world and their experiences? How could
35:36they go any other way? Which connects us
35:38perfectly to the members only in Patreon
35:40video. Thanks for watching guys. All my
35:42links Patreon, members only YouTube, and
35:45Discord are down in the description. If
35:47you can support the channel on any of
35:48those, you have no idea how much it will
35:50mean to me. I've got a video coming out
35:52later this month about modern culture
35:53creation that will likely touch on some
35:55of these points and an interview with PF
35:57Ung coming out next week on the podcast
35:59channel. And that is also linked in the
36:01description. Thanks for watching guys. I
36:02love you. See you.

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