They’re meant to be heroes within the Star Wars universe, but the Jedi are inappropriate symbols for justice work
www.scientificamerican.com
They’re meant to be heroes within the
Star Wars universe, but the Jedi are inappropriate symbols for justice work
They are a religious order of
intergalactic police-monks, prone to (white) saviorism and toxically masculine approaches to conflict resolution (
violent duels with phallic lightsabers, gaslighting by means of “
Jedi mind tricks,” etc.). The Jedi are also an exclusionary cult, membership to which is partly predicated on the possession of heightened psychic and physical abilities (or “
Force-sensitivity”). Strikingly, Force-wielding talents are narratively explained in
Star Wars not merely in spiritual terms but also in ableist and
eugenic ones: These supernatural powers are naturalized as biological, hereditary attributes. So it is that Force potential is framed as a dynastic property of noble bloodlines (for example, the
Skywalker dynasty), and Force disparities are rendered innate physical properties, measurable via “
midi-chlorian” counts (not unlike a
“Force genetics” test) and augmentable via
human(oid) engineering. The heroic Jedi are thus emblems for a host of dangerously reactionary values and assumptions. Sending the message that justice work is akin to cosplay is bad enough; dressing up our initiatives in the symbolic garb of the Jedi is worse.
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