Knights of the Old Bush Era

As a kid in the 2000s, I latched on to Star Wars pretty hard. It’s space fantasy, there’s laser swords and space magic; a good recipe for my little brain to be wowed. What I didn’t realize was why I connected to it so well. As an adult, I feel it pretty accurately mimicked the political environment in which I grew up: the Bush administration. The post 9/11 state of the US was one where every turn involved some form of bloodlust or fear or perhaps both! My father would peddle some islamophobia nonsense to me, which I am sure I unknowingly repeated because what would I know? I was a child. I would watch all of the war films and play Call of Duty, instilling a deep fascination with the military. I was hell-bent on joining the marines out of high school, and elated to see that they sent recruiters to my school. I did not take part in the pull up bar they always brought though. They would've dishonorably discharged me right there.

I subconsciously connected with Star Wars because of all of this. I think that's how a lot of the fans are, despite many lacking the media literacy to fully grasp the politics of it. I sure didn't until I started actively reading, writing, and was encouraged to think critically about the things I liked by peers and teachers.

The prequels also came out around this time and were rife with nods to the Bush administration. They consisted of a man named Sheev Palpatine from a deeply wealthy family on Naboo that peddled himself as humble and never took part in the typical politician song and dance. He didn't attend many events and wore an outward appearance of an everyman. George W. Bush did a similar thing. He was just a country boy! He doesn't know much about politics, but he does know the working American! Meanwhile, his father was the former president, leader of the CIA, and he owned part of the Texas Rangers baseball team. Sheev and George knew that the average person wouldn't dig too deep, it's all about how you manipulate the outward appearance. How you can spin everything.

“...the Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates who are only looking out for themselves and their home systems. There is no interest in the common good...no civility, only politics...its disgusting.“
-Senator Palpatine, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

Sheev then saw a meteoric rise when he took charge of a detrimental situation he secretly orchestrated. The Trade Federation blockaded his home planet of Naboo, endangering so many lives by cutting off meaningful trade at the behest of Darth Sidious, the Sith alter-ego of Sheev. Then he justified the creation of a grand army through claims of weaponization by the separatists. George experienced a similar rise in approval rating after 9/11, and his calls for war were met with thunderous applause. He made false claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and led the country into what would become decades of war in the Middle East. Of course, all of this was a mask for securing US oil interests in the Middle East just as it was in previous years when the country sent troops to Kuwait during the Gulf War. I also would have loved to be a fly on the wall when the administration found out those brave Mujahideen fighters they funded to combat the Soviets turned their weapons on the US. Who could have seen this one coming?

The creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, absolutely knew what he was doing, and this portrayal carried on into a Star Wars game I played very recently: Knights of the Old Republic. Released in 2003, the same year the United States invaded Iraq, there are several nods to Bush administration policies. The game takes place a couple thousand years before Palpatine and the Clone Wars, shortly after a major war with the Madalorians. The Jedi are in shambles, hot off of a civil war in which much of the order left to fight the Mandalorians. They claimed the Jedi Council was doing nothing to protect the galaxy while the council wished for a more neutral stance. Many of these Jedi either perished, left the order entirely, or fell to the Dark Side. The two major orchestrators of this push for war were Jedis Revan and Malek, who disappeared after following the Mandalorians into deep space then emerged years later as Sith Lords. Thus, plunging the republic into another war against those they called their own.

There are several lines that could be drawn directly to the Bush administration, but I think this is an extreme cautionary tale in the grand scheme of things. With the bloodthirsty American public pushing for war, I feel the game explores what would happen after. Everyone goes to war, but where and when does that war end? Will it stop with Iraq or will it make its way to other shores? Will it reach US soil? As we now know more than two decades later the war did not end with Iraq, and most became sick of it very quickly. Yet, remnants of those who called for war still exist, grasping for every way to push their growing bigotry and swapped empathy for selfish gain.

KOTOR also has smaller bits littered throughout that mimic policies of the time. There is a scene in which the player must settle a feud between two farmers, and there's a moment in which one refuses to speak much on the subject. It becomes suggested to the player that they can investigate the homestead further and uncover the secrets. One companion, a jaded soldier of the Republic named Carth, disapproves of the idea and says that the farmer is entitled to his privacy. Another follower named Bastilla, a Jedi, says that justice takes priority over privacy. In 2001, George W. Bush enacted a policy titled the Patriot Act which expanded US surveillance capabilities in the name of Anti-Terrorism. Much of it expands on law enforcement's authority to access your personal information. Section 215 in particular allowed the FBI to seize books, medical records, phone data, etc. This could be done as they deemed fit and towards whoever they deemed a potential national security threat. With growing islamophobia there was an abundance of profiling and targeted focus on Muslims, people with Middle Eastern heritage, or those that they thought outwardly appeared to have such heritage. There is an innate danger to this policy in that in the most fundamental sense, government is supposed to help and care for its people while this policy expanded on state violence towards its people. It did not make us feel safe, it made us feel watched.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows the FBI to seek an order from the FISA Court to obtain "any tangible thing," including books, records, and other items, from any business, organization, or entity provided the item or items are for an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities…

…With respect to how information from Section 215 orders was used, we found no instance where the information obtained from a Section 215 order resulted in a major case development such as disruption of a terrorist plot. We also found that very little of the information obtained in response to Section 215 orders has been disseminated to intelligence agencies outside the DOJ. (Glenn A. Fine, 2008)

KOTOR marked the first time I saw any criticism of the Jedi themselves. They are a religious organization that, during the period of these games and the prequels, took kids from their homes and trained them for what would become a war effort. The prequels and content taking place during its in-universe time period even showed these kids participating directly in combat. There weren't any direct criticisms of the order, though. I dare say the Disney era of Star Wars has formed the Jedi into more of an untouchable force for good despite it all. There's a rise to a sort of good and bad binary, a shallow analysis on the Jedi versus the Sith. To me, they represented the extremes. The Sith are a reactionary force in which hate has taken control. Their survival instinct has turned into climbing over as many heads as possible to stay above everyone else. The Jedi are on the other end. Through fear they close off any part of themselves that could lead to the Sith. They control their emotions through not recognizing them, but shoving them away resulting in inaction and disregard for the best parts of humanity like love and compassion. It's no wonder Revan and Malek became Sith Lords. It breeds a cycle that they never see themselves out of until eventually Sheev Palpatine rose to power and toppled the order in its entirety. To have the Jedi share a similar sentiment to that of the Patriot Act and the policies of the 2000s, it makes a lot of sense.

I feel that now more than ever we need to examine and dig deeper into the country we have become. To many, the steep turn towards fascism is painfully obvious. But to others they share a similar fear with the Jedi. They don't turn on the news. They don't think too hard about who's elected. They may not even vote. The average American is just trying to survive and the state of things can be so overwhelming that it's easy to just reel back and just hope things blow over. It’s a push everything down and pray mentality. I can understand that in a way. It's terrifying to be alive. The horrors are relentless.

It is definitely absurd that we have somehow reached a point where the Bush administration is somehow a lesser evil than the current one, and I hate Bush! We live in a period in which fascism has been given clearance to rise to power and they're tightening their grip. We're choking and feeling the hefty weight of despair every day. The crux of Star Wars is that oppression is a grip that tightens but through the closing fist, cracks between the fingers appear. Rebellions spark, hope rises, empires fall. It’s also incredibly easy and unhelpful for me to sit here and say “things will get better.” However, I find it hard to believe that this regime much like any other will last. It’s just a matter of time, I just hope it comes sooner rather than later.