Here's How the Empire Could've Won

hello dear friends welcome back to another episode of Alan my name is Generation Tech andor's depiction of the Empire's authoritarianism and how it slowly encroaches on the rights of the citizens of the Galaxy is a slow and gradual thing just like the pacing of the story it's really a perfect way to depict this Imperial era in 5 bb1 just five years before the Galaxy is turned upside down with the destruction of Alderaan which may or may not have been the result of a tragic mining accident and the resulting Rebel victory at Yavin 4 which destroyed the Death Star what came after is the Empire that most of us are familiar with the relentlessly evil fascist regime that cracked open planets wiped out entire species and took control of everything and anything its endless Legions of faceless Stormtroopers could get their hands on when the Empire started acting recklessly and completely evil for no reason we knew this was the beginning of the end they're acting like a man who was drowning and just grabbing on to anyone nearby and dragging them down into the deaths below with them the dark side Palpatine his Sith mentality they were all so unnatural and incompatible with the spirit of humanity and the other lesser sentient species in the galaxy and so the harder the Empire cracked down the more people awoke from their stupor first the marginalized people of the outer rim individuals who suffered under the last central government and were well prepared to revolt again began revolting these were people who never benefited from the rise of the empire and the riches it brought to a few select core worlds through massive military contracts and the development of an even larger bureaucratic infrastructure the first people to join the Revolution were already on the fringes of society they were born to Rebel even if the Empire wasn't here they would find a reason to Rebel but then suddenly he started seeing more mainstream people people with office jobs administrative positions maybe people who worked for the Empire and then suddenly you start seeing Imperial soldiers maybe individuals who have family on Alderaan when it was destroyed in a mining accident Imperial pilots who could easily hop onto a shuttle and fly away ever look back even the odd Stormtrooper here and there was somehow able to break away from their Garrison with nothing more than their E11 and a packet of crayons in their pocket for sustenance these individual acts of heroism or perhaps desperation because their situation was no longer tenable sparked a massive change in Imperial society and while most people believe that the Battle of Endor was the beginning of the end for the Empire I would argue that the beginning of the end for the empire was when the average Imperial citizen couldn't remain indifferent anymore they no longer believed in this unspoken contract between them and the Empire that stated that the Empire would provide for them safety and prosperity in exchange for silence on all matters politically now what's depicted in Andor occurs before this time period it's a more gray and confusing era in imperial history before the last remnants of the Old Republic had been swept away we see things like the Imperial Senate where Monmouth is still speaking out against Emperor Palpatine saving the Empire from the empire foreign Security Bureau had not yet become the extraordinarily powerful institution it would become post-endor at the time there were just one of many intelligence agencies in the Empire albeits with a very close allegiance to Emperor Palpatine now during this time period the average citizen most likely did not see Storm Troopers patrolling down their Main Street in their Village what they might run into are instead some Imperial Army troopers from the local Garrison they could be a nuisance for sure a little bit annoying but at least you get to see their faces these were ordinary men they could be your neighbor or former classmates and there was just something less threatening about them maybe it was because they had to look you in the eye while being oppressive and that can be very hard for both parties involved the greatness of their uniform perfectly symbolizes how the average Imperial citizen viewed the Empire as a mundane and boring part of their daily lives one that would occasionally get in the way of day-to-day things but they weren't going around gunning people down in the streets and randomly throwing people into prison labor camps and the truth is the empire was actually winning during this time period it was slowly slowly squeezing the life out of the Galaxy it was normalizing tyranny light I guess and that is what really makes Andor so subtly terrifying exhibit a chief Hein he's not technically an imperial instead he's an employee of the pre-ax marijuana Authority a corporation that governed the free trade sector in the same way that nationally aligned European companies ran places like India and Indonesia back in the day the thing is privatization of what should be Publix for your jobs usually leads to more efficiency and cost savings I'm willing to bet that the pre-ox marijuana Authority received minimum subsidies from the Empire and were ruthless from a financial standpoint at running their territory I mean they probably even paid a tithe or a tax to the Empire for the you know right to basically operate independently the reason why private Enterprises are more efficient boils down to the fact that government organizations generally have a budget that needs to be used up at the end of every year whereas private companies only have a bottom line which is their operating costs or what they need to make to get into the black when making money is the sole purpose of your organization you tend to get creative at making money this is completely different from a public company which is basically uh you know in charge of using other people's tax money to provide services it's a completely different mindset the caveat here is that you really don't want Private Industry in a lot of public sector you know things like providing security safety health care for instance having a for-profit fire department where firefighters first build Property Owners before putting out a fire might lead to like a ray bradbury-esque dystopian nightmare but instead of burning books they're literally setting fires to you know increase their uh their business most of our American viewers are probably aware of the problems of our mostly privatized Health Care system which has led to people fearing visits to the doctor because of a complete lack of transparency over how much things cost I mean we've got people taking Ubers to the hospital with gunshot wounds because they don't want to pay ten thousand dollars because they don't have insurance for an ambulance the thing is the Empire doesn't actually care about that aspect how the services affect the people they just care about the cost really authoritarian regimes by Nature are set up to insulate the ruling powers from the average person's opinions and gripes a member of albertine viewed the average citizen as a number a small Cog in the larger Machinery that is the Empire and so as long as the people are relatively healthy and more importantly there is stability and a lack of chaos and political upheaval the Emperor Palpatine doesn't really care all he does care about is lowering the cost of running the Empire so that he can free up more credits to continue building up his military-industrial complex and so really Chief Hines and the pre-ox morlana corporation is like a perfect solution to this age-old problem that the Republic faced if you don't have any morals of course the territory of the Empire is too large and too diverse each sector and system has its own complexities and problems one single military force cannot be adapted to fit all of these localized needs so having localized solutions for localized problems is a terrific idea if you're not obsessed with controlling everything which is what happens eventually with Emperor Palpatine when he has the ISB take over pre-ox Marlana which was a completely stupid move and if you look at Chief Hines he might seem cynical and jaded about his job when Sarah Khan tries to investigate that murder of those two Corporal guards the chief verbatim describes exactly what happens they're in a brothel which we're not supposed to have the expensive one which they shouldn't be able to afford I think his inaction speaks a lot to the corruption and his just lack of care for his own employees which is kind of bad but in a way he's right I mean this was an act of corruption it wasn't just a simple murder these two corrupt guards tried to Frisk and or for money which is obviously illegal and this would have been an uneasy situation to report to the Empire because again the chief wants to make sure that everything seems okay in his own little fiefdom this is how authoritarian regimes work you see authoritarian regimes impose strict laws and regulations on the people they rule over you're in three more corporate Zone you know that right oh then you didn't park out past the causeway did you but the regimes that imposed the rules don't actually have anyone watching over them there are no rules or regulations for them authoritarian regimes dictatorships They Don't Really share power and so there's no checks and balances no uh oppositions no media to really criticize them the chaos and political gridlock we see in the Republic are actually signs of a functioning balanced system I mean neither are perfect you know republics authoritarian regimes but one at least has a sense of fairness and rule of law if you really think about it authoritarian regimes like the Empire are just like one gigantic criminal organization and that is because they basically do whatever they want and so there's always a huge culture of lying to superiors in authoritarian regimes and so Chief Hines wants the Empire to think everything is going well in the molana system and that he's doing a great job in keeping things under control and that's because there's really no way for the Empire to really find out unless they send some people over there and that's a lot less work than Chief Hines actually solving the many problems that I'm sure exists in his system but then again his policy of non-enforcement on pharynx probably was a good idea because the people on fax really want to be left alone and when someone well meaning like Cheryl Carn goes over to ferrics and tries to find Andor basically he kicks up a hornet's nest which devolves into a nightmare situation and so Chief Hines is going to lie as a result the Empire doesn't need to send hundreds of troops to Barracks because of one incident with an I-80 and a speeder pre-ox merlano wins the Empire wins by not increasing their spending and the people of ferrics win as well when it comes to government systems a lot of people like to simplify things with you know catchphrases like socialism and capitalism but the reality is there's never been a fully capitalist Society or a fully socialist society there's also no such thing as a completely authoritarian regime that controls everything and that is not somewhat beholden to the people's opinions and demands whenever Palpatine try to seize is complete control of everyone's lives and that was when he made his critical error exhibit B commandant j-hold B has commander of the aldani Garrison he's the individual in charge of the entire sector's payroll beehaz is a pudgy man and he eventually dies of over exertion but don't let his lack of physical prowess fool you he is very competent in his own very mundane and evil way you see the commandant doesn't respect the local Dani culture he judges them using his own culture the Imperial High culture the town is they're simple people we found the best way to steer them as we like is to offer Alternatives the downies aren't simple at all and they definitely don't appreciate the Alternatives he gives them they had no choice in the matter they are simple mountain people herders you put a number of options on the table and they're so wrapped up in choosing they fail to notice you've given them nothing they thought they wanted at the start the downies are wrapped up in choosing because what else can they do how can they resist the military might of the Empire and their Star Destroyers the diva problem is pride the Donis would rather lose they'd rather suffer than accept which is wildly ironic because they basically choke down everything we've thrown at them these last 12 years it's really j-hole B has who has too much pride too much stupidity to actually see and understand that the downies hate him they're not fooled by his meager offers and they express their anger towards the commandant but he's never really bothered to learn the language so it flies right over his head says may the eye find the good in all of us indeed you see the commandant is actually a fool he is full of undeserved Pride and probably processed sugars but it doesn't really matter because he has all the technological wonders and wealth of the Empire on his side and so when the Empire decides to displace the Donnies from the highlands what do they do the Empire builds cities creates industrial jobs harnesses the labor of the locals and makes them productive a certain percentage of the Donnies get gainful employment perhaps a pre-fat home something more sturdy Than The Rustic lean ins they're probably used to staying in it's a complete perversion of the Donny's way of life but some Donnies will accept that especially the younger ones who were looking for new exciting things maybe a way to get off the planet the Empire serves as a gateway to the rest of the Galaxy and this is the commandant's Sinister plan the goal is to get the locals hooked on Imperial technology and way of life the material things that they all enjoy maybe even simple things like Electric power that can turn lights on at night these are simple things but only the Empire has access to them and the downies won't eventually they'll get used to these small luxuries and soon what happens is gently forced assimilation which of course turns into dependence the commandant also used a very similar mundane tactic to prevent the aldanis from reaching the highlands to witness the eye this is where the Imperial Garrison now is located the commandant doesn't dissuade the Downy from coming that would antagonize them instead he creates bars Inns and taverns along the way full of cheap drink as he says these are designed to woo the Donnie away from their 10-day journey into the mountains what began as 500 pilgrims at the bottom has already dwindled down to where are we now Lieutenant we counted 60 last night Sir and his measures are hugely successful I mean there used to be 15 000 Donnies that would gather for this event every year the Donnies are now forgetting their culture losing their connection to their ancient way of life that Ray encounter to the Empire culture is the one thing the one social technology that humans create that has a chance of protecting us from all of the crazy technology we have met our brains will never fully evolve quickly enough to handle the stresses that comes with things like the internet which allow us to connect and talk to almost every person in the world at the same time something we never evolve to be able to handle culture finds a way it skips the evolution process and it creates certain behaviors that can Shield us from the excesses of our technology now people removed of culture that wisdom that's been passed down from generation to generation will fall into despair they'll become vulnerable unable to deal with the challenges that life gives them and we've seen this happen in our own world our own Society time and time again take example the destruction of the indigenous cultures here in America the force resettlements of tribes into reservations where they lived ate and worked like those who conquered them what about the Africans shipped over on boats as slaves whose culture was completely wiped out and in that place they were forced to adopt a completely alien culture based around servitude of another race or the Chinese who during the cultural revolution on Mao's order destroyed their ancient wisdom philosophy art and religion culture is priceless it's the armor that protects us from the many pitfalls we face in life when you destroy it as commandant beholds has here through small and mundane gestures you make those people vulnerable the Donnies never have a chance to even react they never get their ferric's funeral moments where they get to revolt and regain at least some semblance of who they used to be and that's because the Empire never crosses the line really and so one day the danis will wake up and not even be able to recognize what they've become another Cog in the Imperial wheel slave labor for the military machine Mad Men like Palpatine are always their own worst enemies I mean look at Hitler for example he had taken over most of Western Europe only England was left standing London was besieged and what does Hitler do he starts a second front against the Soviet Union his former allies I mean the Russians are the ones who supplied his war machine with fuel and rubber so that he can invade France through Belgium in the first place and when the Nazi invasion of Poland stalled what happened the Russians betrayed the polls and attacked them from the rear Hitler was irrational as was Palpatine I mean they both had victory in their grasp but they threw it all away pursuing their own Madness a far more scary is the banality of evil the bureaucrats who are able to sustain the the machines of Oppression perfectly so that people do not Revolt but they suffer a long slow death and that is why people like commandant b-holtz individuals Like Chief Hein are far more dangerous than some mad Sith Lord

Channel: Generation Tech

Views: 92,770

Keywords: generation tech, star wars, preox morlana, chief inspector hyne, hyne, syril karn, Aldhani Garrison, jayhold beeholz, commandant jayhold beeholz, Aldhani Raid, the banality of evil, galactic empire, how the empire could've won, Corporation, corpo, Palpatine, Galactic Empire bureaucracy, bureaucrats, Andor, Cassian andor, STudying the empire, the imperial strategy, death star, tarkin doctrine, ISB, Imperial Security Bureau

Id: PJQi2EFd_74

Length: 17min 0sec (1020 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 01 2022