Did you cheer for the Empire?

When you saw Star Wars for the 1st time, did you have any sympathy for Darth Vader or the Empire?

You shouldn’t have. The whole movie the camera follows Luke and Han as they fight against the Empire. Darth Vader persecutes Lea and blows up her home planet. Which is more than enough justification to hate Vader.

Darth Vader wears a mask, and all the storm troopers wear masks. I mean how could you ever empathize with someone if you cant even see their face? All the Imperial spaceships and interior are monochromatic and industrial. The imperial admirals are cold and impersonal. The solders march around and stand in rigid formation.

Quick aside. This scene appears in other fiction. See Lion King.

If you couldn’t tell, this is a Nazi imagery. I swear i have seen these exact angles and formations in historical films. but I cant seem to find them now.

So we can see George Lucas, or some one working on the film wanted to evoke the same feelings as watching old Nazi Propaganda when you see the empire. Also the Imperial March is very sinister in tone. The imperial march is composed in the minor key. If you want to see how big an impact the minor key makes emotionally, check out this rendition of the song but in the MAJOR key. Link It sounds totally different.

Star Wars is a very evocative film, and the music is a major part of this. The rebel theme is triumphant and exciting, almost reminds me of a famous circus song. The next great song in the movie is the Force theme, which can best be described as mysterious.

The point of all this music and mood setting is to make you feel for Luke. To place you in the universe and believe that his struggle is your struggle. The movie is a archetypal heroes journey. Its very common story.

But I have gone way off track. What would possess me to go against the grain and empathize with the clear and stated villains?

Either I missed the emotional cues that they were the villains, I found their orderly/clean aesthetics pleasing, or I wanted to truly rebel and root for the bad guys.

I remember as far back as when I was a child playing with Micro Machines, I picked the Imperial forces soldier pack. Not the rebels, but maybe I had them as well…

Why would I defy emotional orthodoxy? Maybe I recognized how the movie wanted me to feel and decided to do the opposite. So how did you feel when you watched Star Wars for the 1st time? And Why?

Multi-Level Bulsh!tting

I really hate multilevel marketing. Not because I was suckered into it. But the predatory nature of the friendships that are required for it to operate.

So lets talk about the pitch. MLMs are sold as a way to get residual income. You sell 500 contracts and you get a percentage of the revenue. So in theory, if you quit tomorrow, you would still get a check for years.

First off they rig the system to prevent that. And 2nd that is essentially just earning interest on money you have saved up. Just get a fcking job, and save your money!

The way they rig the system is you cant just sell 500 contracts and get a percentage of that. You also have to have 5 people directly under you all selling 500 contracts in order for you to qualify for that 1% commission.

This is how they cripple your chances of being independent, and force you to rope others into the system. The signup fee is about $400. I would argue this is how the MLM makes most of its money. Really pathetic.

Also their products are sh!t. I mean if you  have a good product it sells itself. If you product is mediocre you have to get people to push it on others.

And we come to the most despicable part of the MLM. You are always targets for someone craftier than you. I am sitting next to a MLM group and let me explain the dynamics of these people.

The leader is a very attractive middle aged woman. The three other new members are older single women. And its not just the beauty and age power dynamic. These older women are telling the leader about their day and talking to her as if they are friends. Or she is a shoulder to cry on.

I feel their pain. They need friends, not a new endeavor to throw money at.  And now this younger woman is bragging about how her and her HUSBAND had all this fun at the national sales conference. And the others are lapping it up. They are thinking “I cant wait to sell 500 units so i can pay another $500 for the pleasure of hearing the CEO blather on about how successful our company is.

I hate people who use social power to take advantage of others. I wish I could break up the meeting and tell them to go back to the mainland, live with your son. Take care of your siblings. Don’t get sucked into this word of false accomplishment. These people are leeches!

Whew… Sorry for the stream of consciousness writing style.