Star Wars: Is the Emperor Good or Bad?

[Jester]

The question isn't if the conquering of the other planets was a good or evil act, but rather the means justify the ends. You see the end of different cultures, I see the beginning of one.

In order for the ends to justfiy the means, you have to say why the ends are beneficial, compared against other alternatives. Now, a 500 year historical counterfactual isn't just going to spring into existence, but what is it about the conquest's "ends" that we're supposed to like so much?

However, if you combine "the ends justify the means" with "it all depends on your point of view", then there is no conquering power, or any act at all, that cannot be justified, because they can't be judged on their means (the ends justify them) or their ends (how you see them depends on one's point of view). So you don't even need the apologetics for the emperor, only a relativism that embraces all conquerors as being perfectly okay, as a wise man once said, "from a certain point of view."

BTW, Cortez did a good job of destroying the South American Indians, not only with weapons, but inadvertently with disease.

I'm well aware of the record of the conquistadores, and the epidemics they brought with them. However, the populations of Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, and a half-dozen other countries are all heavily weighted either towards indigenous peoples, or to mestizos (mixed). That's still tens of millions of people.

(As per Cortez vs. Pizarro, there were hundreds of conquistadores, some successful, some not, but almost all responsible for inadvertently spreading disease.)

Also, why did the trade federation decide to utilize the droid army, and the senate the clone army in the first place anyways? Did they not have an army of their own? I guess not, so Palpatine saw their weakness and exploited it by shoving it in their faces; without the Jedi, the republic was weak and useless... With the Emperor, they were unified and strong!

The Old Republic deliberately did not operate with an army, since the Jedi were enough to maintain order, and the army itself would have been the greatest threat to the Republic. This assessment turned out to be correct, given what came after they built the clone army. Saying that Palpatine should rule because the Old Republic was unable to resist the insidious threat of Palpatine himself is just Might makes Right, plain and simple.

But even on those grounds, as to whether the empire was weak and useless or unified and strong, ask how long it took a handful of lovable adventurers, an exclamatory squid, a ragtag of alphabet-themed fighters, the cast of "Queer Eye for the Droid Guy", and some teddy bears to bring down his "unified and strong" empire, including two Death Stars and a mammoth fleet of Star Destroyers. At least the Old Republic had the dignity of being beaten by Darth Vader.

-Jester