This is not as positive as you think it is
Itâs still Rosh Hashanah, and Iâm going to post part of those 17 essays I swore I would never write. Starting off the year as I mean to go on? Or something.
I originally had this as the first thing on my list of essays that I would never write but would absolutely get me kicked out of Star Wars fandom but I am tired and cranky and I am going to explain why tagging fics where the Jedi Order reform and start allowing attachment as *Jedi Positive* piss me off so much.Â
First, let me make this clear. If you hate the Jedi Order and want to write those, go ahead. If you have issues with the Jedi and want to write those fics, go ahead. Nobody is stopping you. What Iâm asking instead is to stop tagging them Pro-Jedi or Jedi positive. Use Jedi critical! Or not Jedi friendly! Please use those tags instead! Yes even if you think its Pro-Jedi! If you are saying that the Order needs to reform to be *good* then it is not Jedi friendly!
I mean, look, if you are writing those things then I have issues with the way youâre interrogating the text and will think that youâre *wrong* and also that youâre using some super problematic (and from my point of view, anti-semitic) tropes but if my 21+ years in fandom have taught me anything its that you are never going to get anyone to agree on anything, but tagging will at least allow us to have our own spaces? Like, you wouldnât have gone into a [pairing of your choice] positive archive and post a fic where [pairing] break up because the one who isnât your blorbo is abusive so your blorbo runs to *YOUR* OTP, because that wouldnât fit the theme of the archive! So if your fic is saying that the old rules for the prequel Jedi are bad and need to be changed to be good, donât put it with Jedi positive content!Â
So first. Attachment. Other people have talked about it better than I have, but have some links about what attachment means in the GFFA and no it really does not mean love.
(Listen I am not going to bother to rewrite the meta when Lumi has already done the work for me)
https://gffa.tumblr.com/post/695309005156925440/this-is-every-instance-where-the-jedi-talk-about/amp
https://gffa.tumblr.com/post/680367423839485952/this-is-every-time-i-have-ever-seen-george-lucas
https://gffa.tumblr.com/post/685958601260646400/hi-totally-okay-this-ask-was-very-obviously-sent
https://gffa.tumblr.com/post/685727448042733568
https://gffa.tumblr.com/post/682990707642892288/i-never-understand-what-people-mean-when-they-say
âŚ. Honestly just have the entire attachment tag ok:
https://gffa.tumblr.com/tagged/attachment
So. Having done your reading, for the purposes of the GFFA, attachment is greed/possession and *very very bad* for psychic space monks. It is not a thing that the Jedi can just suddenly *allow*. Letting Jedi start allowing attachments, which is the big thing I start seeing whenever people start *reforming* the Jedi is, to me, a Jew who lives in the US South, the equivalent of Jews for Jesus.
Whoa, TSB, you say. Youâre going too far.
Not really. Letâs go with a central belief of Judaism. The messiah has not come, Jesus is not the messiah. For the Jedi, attachment is not allowed is one of the central core beliefs. So saying that the way the Jedi need to reform by changing one of their core beliefs hits me like the person who told me âoh honey, we donât care how you worship, as long as you accept Christâ did. (Right after I was introduced as being Jewish!) If youâre changing the *core* of who the Jedi are, youâre making them no longer Jedi. Itâs not just changing one thing, itâs changing *everything.*Â
And, while the Jedi are much more Buddhist then they are Jewish, they still hit me very much in my Jewish feels. Gee, I wonder *why* I could possibly resonate with a minority religious group who were hunted down and murdered and who get accused of a bunch of anti-semitic tropes including baby stealing and secretly running the government???? There are no parallels, clearly.
So look. Every single time I get hit with a fic thatâs tagged Pro-Jedi and then its âwe changed our rules about attachment and that stopped us from being murderedâ what I hear is âthe Jews accepted Jesus so we avoided pogroms/The Holocaust.â Or, as another friend pointed out âthe Sikhs cut their hair, converted, and so the Mughal Empire let them live.â
Obviously I donât speak for every Jew, and I certainly donât speak for any Sikhs, so not everyone is going to agree with my take. But there are people that relate to Jedi and there is a reason why people are uncomfortable with Jedi reform and allowing attachment.Â
But if youâre going to write fic about the Prequel Jedi and have them reform, before you tag it pro-Jedi or Jedi-Positive, please consider if âwell they have to change who they are to be goodâ is as positive as you think it is. Tags help people curate their fannish experience. I very much follow the philosophies of YKINMKATO and donât like, donât read. The backbutton is my friend! But when I think Iâm getting positive fic and then it isnât? That sucks. Please tag accurately.
âŚ. And well, since Iâve broken my rule about not writing these essays I guess look forward to my future essays of âNo the Jedi are not Catholicâ and âActually they donât have any political powerâ and âplease stop judging the Jedi Order by some middle grade booksâ and finally âGalidraan was not the Jediâs fault oh my god Jango shot firstâ
Shana tova, everyone. Letâs try to do better this year.