Friendly reminder that "Empire did nothing wrong" jokes are largely rooted in sincere right-wing propaganda, which fits hand-in-glove with the denialist attitude necessary for contrarian takes on fiction with childishly straightforward morality.
A lot of racist jokes are funny as hell. They're still racist. I could use some to illustrate any facet of comedy, and the explanation would be a true and useful guide to constructing a joke... and the examples would still be extremely racist.
There's countless good jokes. Some are beloved by racists.
There's countless Star Wars jokes. Some are beloved by fascists.
This is one of them.
So as soon as fascists take it, it's gone for good? Fuck that, and fuck fascists. Your attitude sounds a lot like letting them win to me.
Or it can be a Star Wars joke. Don't take things too seriously, and keep real-life politics out. Check the rules.
Some jokes affect real life. "Thanos did nothing wrong" is inseparable from legitimately dangerous Malthusian nonsense, and there's a razor-thin margin between joking about space Nazis and full-throated endorsement.
The only difference between this and "Austrian veteran and artist attacked in bar brawl" is the facade of popular fiction. Both can be jokes - sincerely, insincere. There's ample room for humor in absurd counter-factual exaggeration, where half the laughter is over how much of an asshole someone would have to be, to say that. But sometimes those posts are from actual assholes. Sometimes 'calm down, it's a joke' is how trolls spread awful ideas, with all opposition silenced.
Even when that opposition is politely saying: can we not? Let's don't. Here's why.
Stop. You want to discuss real life implications, do it somewhere else. I already told you, read the rules. "No politics" is pretty much the only thing we're asking for beyond the basics. End of discussion.
Small brain: the Empire did nothing wrong.
Big brain: the Empire did things wrong, but was born out of frustration of the Republic, which also did things wrong. We can hope the New Republic better, but constant citizen vigilance is required to ensure it.
Biggest brain: The galactic governance structure has little impact on citizens, doublely so those in mid and outer rims. No galactic government ever has stopped slavery; plus services are provided by system, planetary, or smaller governments.
