"Because it corrupted people's souls, Ben." (Star Wars EU)

So, I know that most of my flist don't care about my irrational love of Star Wars and its expanded universe. But MWAHAHAHAHA, it's MY blog, so you all get to listen to me talk about Luke Skywalker's inability to engage his son in a discussion of basic morals.

( Firstly I probably out to clarify my position on Star Wars Morality. )

So. Having established my position, let's move on to my problem.

( My problem! )

Anyway, the exchange:

( Exerpt to Illustrate! )

( What you need to say, Luke, is that it corrupted people's souls. )

To be blunt, and to use a wonderful sentence a friend of mine used, which summed up everything I wanted Luke to say on a visceral, powerful, emotional level:

"Because it corrupted people's souls, Ben."

Because that's as good a description as any for the hollow and slow death that occurs when you have to choose between making yourself a target or willfully ignoring atrocities committed against others.

Because that breaks a heart and wounds a spirit and corrupts a soul. Because that doesn't just play into the Burke quote about evil triumphing when good men do nothing, it also scars the person who makes that choice. Makes them something less than human. Less than a hero. Less than they deserve to be.

( But Luke Skywalker is old. And Ben is abandoned to learn this by himself. )

( And I'm not even getting STARTED on the bloody Mandalorians. )