Kreia was right

[Sporeegg]

It is great that you start to think about that odd morality system offered in our beloved games. And still, there are things that are worth being protected and there are things that should never ever be made. On the other side there can be people who deserve a bit of bad treatment, and not everyone has to be treated like they're made out of sugar. Examples will follow:

 

1) Being "good" is something to live by:

You know, not killing random strangers, not polluting the environment, not increasing the suffering of people. The typical stuff, but there are also ideas, that NEED to be held up high and they still don't get you far personally. I will become a high school teacher one day, so I hold the education of minors as one of my main goals for LIFE. I can't be that a 16 year old cannot tell me what salt is chemically. I cannot be that a 18 year old cannot tell me what a daily healthy intake of calories is. It can't be that a German student still can't speak English after 5 years of English classes.

 

2) Being "bad" is something you have to do sometimes to keep your sanity intact:

I am not talking evil here, so not toddler kicking pet poisoning mad rampage in your neighborhood. I am talking about the smaller things. Like telling your best friend, she looks really ugly in that dress. Like being mean towards an unthoughtful person. And yet again, being a bit rude on a student who refuses to learn and refuses to accept that his choices hurt only himself. If he doesn't see the hurt I can certainly put the hurt on (with extra homework, a talk with the parents etc).

 

And obviously the polar opposite:

 

3) Being neutral can get you far, but it will never depend on your actions:

Others will make good or bad choices and you adjust accordingly. I did this many years, and it got me NOWHERE. I agree that lucky people can get jobs friends or happiness from being in the right mindset for literally anything but you should always hold open options and then take the one which is the best according to your own morals, not like so many hollow corpses of mankind the one that pays the most.

 

I could be a well payed university educated businessman with own car, a nice suit + suit case today, but I wanted to really propel the humankind forward. First as scientist (which I fluked by not studying hard enough) now as teacher.

 

So the moral of today will be: Whatever path you take, stick to it. Never let yourself be influenced by promising short term improvements if they obscure your main goals.

[AlyxDinas]

Sure. However just because you interpret something doesn't make you correct.

 

I don't think we ought to care much about who is correct. It's sort of anathema to interesting discussions about the setting. Word of God is...easily dismissed if one chooses to do so. An experience is what we make of it. This goes for reading, video games, or anything. So Lucas can come out and say "No. It's this." but that doesn't stop anyone from going. "That's good. For you." and walking away.

 

You can argue if this is a good thing to do but it is always a perfectly valid thing to do. Provided it's done intelligently, with appeal to the text.

Edited June 28, 2012 by AlyxDinas

[BrandonSM]

The Grey area exists, its called "The Force" Not limiting yourself to any side, The Grey area is the Force in its Purest Form, neither Corrupted like the Dark Side or Serene like the Light side

 

Wrong, the Light-Side is the Force.... The Dark Side is the Cancer.

[ProfessorWalsh]

I don't think we ought to care much about who is correct. It's sort of anathema to interesting discussions about the setting. Word of God is...easily dismissed if one chooses to do so. An experience is what we make of it. This goes for reading, video games, or anything. So Lucas can come out and say "No. It's this." but that doesn't stop anyone from going. "That's good. For you." and walking away.

 

You can argue if this is a good thing to do but it is always a perfectly valid thing to do. Provided it's done intelligently, with appeal to the text.

 

This is only a valid thing to do if the person making the supposition understands the reality and acknowledges it.

 

IE if they say something like:

 

"I know that according to the canon and the setting there is a Light Side and a Dark Side and there is no Gray Side. However, for the purposes of this discussion let us assume that theoretically there is a Gray Side."

 

Then I wouldn't argue, or even post in that thread as they aren't discussing canon or validity of claim. When they do it as they have done it though they are making it a matter of canon. Canon isn't opinion it is fact.

[AlyxDinas]

"I know that according to the canon and the setting there is a Light Side and a Dark Side and there is no Gray Side. However, for the purposes of this discussion let us assume that theoretically there is a Gray Side."

 

I would say that things probably would fall more in line with something like "While I am aware that the Dark side is a corrupting force in canon, I am also aware of the fact that canon makes it clear it is cosmologically necessary to the very fabric of existence. I would, then, like to talk about the possibility of an individual who might be able to wield both side of the Force for a time or, potentially, transcend the apparent duality of these forces."

 

I think it's less "Herp derp, noap!" than it is something like the above. Even including appeals to groups like the Jed'aii or Jensaraai or whatever. Even if something like the above is not necessarily likely within canon, yet the canon (ie. the content of the works itself and potentially even source books) could point someone in that direction. For instance, I know of quotes in the JATM which offer such potential interpretations.

Edited June 29, 2012 by AlyxDinas

[EnsignSorrow]

Yoda said if you travel the path of the dark side; forever does it change your destiny. Edited June 29, 2012 by EnsignSorrow

[ProfessorWalsh]

Yoda said if you travel the path of the dark side; forever does it change your destiny.

 

The line is:

 

"Once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

[EnsignSorrow]

The line is:

 

"Once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

 

 

What is funny is that people do not understand one of the core fundamentals of the force:

 

Any time the dark side of the force is present it creates a cloud of dark force energy. Which conflicts with the living force.

[AlyxDinas]

The line is:

 

"Once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

 

And yet, he was wrong. Obi Wan and Yoda are training Luke to kill him father. He doesn't. He redeems him. I know that we will use that as a moment to say "Hey, then he wasn't on the path path anymore!" but the point remains. Yoda was not entirely correct. We can likewise consider plenty of people in the canon. Kam, Mara, Cade, etc.

[ProfessorWalsh]

And yet, he was wrong. Obi Wan and Yoda are training Luke to kill him father. He doesn't. He redeems him. I know that we will use that as a moment to say "Hey, then he wasn't on the path path anymore!" but the point remains. Yoda was not entirely correct. We can likewise consider plenty of people in the canon. Kam, Mara, Cade, etc.

 

Actually Luke laments on this in either FotJ or LotF where even he points out that his life has always been filled with the Dark Side. He has always been tempted by it, and his family has always been tempted by it. Vader's entire life was dominated by the Dark Side, it was with him until the very end.

[AlyxDinas]

Actually Luke laments on this in either FotJ or LotF where even he points out that his life has always been filled with the Dark Side. He has always been tempted by it, and his family has always been tempted by it. Vader's entire life was dominated by the Dark Side, it was with him until the very end.

 

This gets into the realm of semantical niceties. The Dark Side is always with anyone because it is necessarily within the Force and the Force is in everything. The notion, however, that it forever dominates a destiny is absurd for numerous reasons. The chief being that redemption, a concept at the center of this IP's philosophy, outright rebukes this notion. Emphatically so.

Edited June 29, 2012 by AlyxDinas