Uncomfortable Questions

So I found this awesome article online. Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job? I couldn't help but write a response (after I was prompted by my friend Dan to do so). The submissions form isn't working just now, but I thought I'd share my thoughts here:

Point by point here:

1) As anyone who's studied the Death Star blueprints will tell you, shielding something as large as a small moon is no easy task. Without a planetary based shield, the best you can do is a wide mesh of shielding, which will deflect most large turbo-laser blasts, and prevent ramming from any capitol-class ships. Unfortunately, at a scale as large as the Death Star, the magnetic has holes in it large enough for a snub-fighter to barely squeeze through, with maybe a little "bouncing"

2) Grand Moff Tarkin's over-confidence is legendary. His last recorded words on the station are of him turning down an offer to evacuate the station, even after top advisors aboard had discovered a flaw (see point 8). If it had been an inside job, and he was aware of the station's impending doom, wouldn't he have evacuated long before someone had ever thought to ask him? The delay in launching fighters was merely his own arrogance, and discounting the rebel threat as weak and insignificant. There is also evidence that he and (fleet command) Admiral Motti were not on the best of terms.

3) The individuals in Storm Trooper uniforms have easily been identified as the Rebels themselves, wearing stolen uniforms. There are numerous photographs of them with their helmets removed. They had been lured on board by the presence of Ambassador Princess Leia Organa, who was proving un-useful for interrogation. The Ambassador's dipomatic immunity ruled out execution as an option, so she was allowed to escape, and then she was tracked back to the true location of the rebel base.

4) The allegations that Darth Vader and former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker are one and the same are completely unfounded. Sure, it's easy to make the claim that since you can't see his face, he must be the famed rogue Jedi Knight of the Republic, but any hard evidence about the Jedi died away in the purge. Any investigation into the Jedi Order during a time of war would be a gross misuse of resources.

5) Contrary to popular belief, Lord Vader's TIE fighter was not unshielded. It may have been the most heavily armored and armed one man fighter in the Yavin System that day. Also remember that Vader's primary role in the Imperial command structure was not an administrative one; he has been recognized numerous time for his willingness and capability in the heat of battle. Remember, this is the man who has been refered to as "The best starpilot in the Galaxy." Who better to lead the defense against the rebel forces?

6) Depending on your religious views, this was either an incredibly lucky shot, or one that was divinely guided. I really can't say more than that for fear of offending readers.

7) Again, this claim relies on the idea of point 4, that Darth Vader is truly Anakin Skywalker. Without that link, there are no papers documenting that Vader ever encountered the droids.

8) Finally, I need only refer you to the Death Star blue prints. The "two meter port" you mentioned in point 6 was the primary exhaust port for the Death Star, leading straight into the central core of the station. The missile obviously set off a chain reaction, a huge series of explosions that rocked the entire station until eventually detonating the main power core. As you can see on the newly released and cleaned up footage of the explosion, there is a bright ring emanating from the equator of the Death Star, similar to the one you see if your speeder's power core were to explode, only on a much larger scale.

Obviously, all the facts available back up the official story: the Death Star was destroyed by rebel terrorists. However, and interestingly enough, if one were to accept that Lord Vader were in reality Anakin Skywalker, and that the rebel known as Luke Skywalker is his son, then the case could be made that Vader set up the attack as an attempt to eliminate the higher-ups in Imperial command and get a promotion for himself. I look forward to seeing what Vader does with his newly appointed command ship, the Executor.

From what I could see, the original article was written from the point of view of an average Imperial citizen, or possibly an underground news reporter (I can't imagine that the Empire has free speech), and so my response was written from a similar point of view.

In other news, last night I got together with a bunch of classmates from Japanese to help each other complete the workbook. When we realized exactly the scope of that project, we decided it would be easier to just photocopy the pages we all needed. After test printing off two random pages (one twice, because two people needed it) we decided to just start off at the front and work our way through the book. Before we started THAT endeavor (btw, we need close to 124 pages done by Monday), we remembered that the teacher had given us an answer key for at least the first few pages. We decided to pull out the packet and see just how far the key went, so we'd know when to start. At about that point, we noticed that the guide actually had ALL the answers we needed, so copying the pages was just a waste of time and money, and we called it a night.

What's the point of that story? I dunno. Self-depreciation, I guess. I just found it an interesting little adventure.

Gah, I don't have time to write about how random and pointless this blog is... Maybe later, if you're lucky.