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Lies my Jedi told me
01/06/2007 . Source: Mark R. Leeper 
I have to admit to being in some respects somewhat slower than the general population. That is only in some respects. Most people in our society learn the cold, hard facts of life when they find out that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are really mythical and do not literally exist. Being Jewish I never had such illusions and so I never had to face being disabused of these illusions. You know Jewish kids don't get brought up on many myths. Certainly not myths that anyone becomes really attached to. Someone says Egypt's first born didn't die in a single night??? It makes it a better story--there's less guilt. Oil lamps don't miraculously become more fuel-efficient??? Have it your way--so they skimped on the oil.
No, disillusionment came late to me. I maintained my innocence a relatively long time. I got my introduction to the Cold Hard Facts of Life when I was thirty. That was when the film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was released and I found out the first of what was to be the whole sordid story of Luke Skywalker's parentage. Even that story would not have bothered me. The Grand Disillusionment came when I realized that that I, along with Luke Skywalker, had been misled and - yes, I'll use the word - betrayed by Obi Wan Kenobi.
After seeing The Emprie Strikes Back I went into a period of inconsolable depression. If one cannot trust the Obi Wan Kenobis of this world (okay, of *that* world), just whom can you trust? And Obi Wan had been played by Alec Guinness, too. That was the worst part. Alec Guinness for Chrissakes. It would have been one thing if he had been played by Michael Ironside. Nobody trusts a Michael Ironside character. Or if you do, you deserve what you get. Arthur Kennedy would have been okay too. But if an Alec Guinness character can lie with a straight face, and he does have a *very* straight face, who is there left to believe in? What is there left to believe in? What is going to come next? Morgan Freeman pitching for the Psychic Network? I mean, come on.
What does Obi Wan actually tell Luke? He says, "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force." Those are his words, not mine.
Now the obvious question is whether Obi Wan was telling the truth when he said that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered Luke's father. The obvious answer on first thought is no. But on reflection it becomes "no, dammit." What does Obi Wan say in his own defense? I had to wait another three years to find out, but I got it. I was sitting there in the theater with my heart in my hand (and my candy in my other hand) waiting to find out the Truth. It wasn't worth the wait.
Luke: Why didn't you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.
Obi-Wan: Your father . . . was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true . . . from a certain point of view.
Luke: A certain point of view?
Obi-Wan: Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
Oh, so that makes it okay. What a load of duck tires. And Luke, who up to this point I respected, just stands there with an "oh, yeah, a certain point of view" look on his face.
A change of heart on Anakin/Vader's part means that his new self betrayed and murdered his own self from *a certain point of view*??? What point of view is that? It sure wasn't an overhead shot. It would take more than that. Who does he think he is? Tevye the Milkman disowning his daughter? He is saying "your father is dead to me and, by the way, he is dead to you too." What he is saying is that if his pupil chooses the wrong side of the Force he is a dead man.
He is worse than being a dead man. And he is not just dead to Obi Wan, he is dead to his own son, whether his son would agree or not. His son does not even get a choice. I guess it is only fair that Lars tells Luke that Obi Wan is dead. Everybody on the whole dang planet seems to adopt a certain point of view and then lies through his teeth. Hey, you know I own the Brooklyn Bridge from a certain point of view. You want to buy it from me?
That is not all the claims that Obi Wan makes that are no longer operative after seeing Episode III. There is the issue of Anakin's legacy light saber. Obi Wan tells Luke that Anakin wanted Luke to have his light saber. It seems that Anakin does not want to give up his light saber till the very end of his fight with Obi Wan. Now it is possible that he had told Obi Wan before that he would leave his light saber to his son, but there is no evidence of this. It seems more likely that Obi Wan is just trying to manipulate Luke with the romance of being a Jedi.
The wise old Kenobi says that he has not gone by the name Obi Wan since before Luke was born. Actually we see him called Obi Wan by Padme just before she dies and after Luke is born. But perhaps he does not count Luke as being born until he can stand on his own. That would mean his claim is right from *a certain point of view*. I don't suppose that it has occurred to old Benny the Dip that nobody can have any sort of discussion if nobody is telling the truth and instead everybody is talking from a certain point of view.
Well, that was the message that a whole generation got from watching Star Wars. They grew up and many went into politics. And everybody told the truth from a certain point of view. And that explains the mess we are in right now.
Mark Leeper
(c) Mark R Leeper 2007
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