May the force ...

I'm late.  I was busy.

Yesterday was the 4th of May.  I mean, May the 4th.

It only works in that crazy, mixed-up way the USers do their dates, but yesterday, May the 4th, was Star Wars day -- may the fourth be with you.

I've never been that much of a fan of Star Wars.  I mean, the Star Wars idea is grand and exciting, with exotic places and people, and I wanted to like it.  But I always found the movie stories kinda bland and boring.  The poor storytelling killed most of my interest in it.

But while it didn't catch my interest in a big way, I never really thought there was anything especially bad or wrong about the Star Wars creation.

That is, until I watched this YouTube video by Jonathan McIntosh.  The heart of the criticism starts five minutes into the video.  I warmly encourage you to watch it.

Any attempted explanation by me is only going to be a poor second to McIntosh's excellently clear and sensitive account.  But in brief, McIntosh points out the dangerously wrong beliefs (and their actions) that the Jedi have regarding emotions and raising children.  The Jedi have the best of intentions, but nonetheless cause huge amounts of pain and suffering because their understanding of people is so badly wrong.

This video is not merely some intellectual exercise nitpicking an imaginary movie world.  It is also directly relevant to our modern world -- how we interact with each other and how we raise our children.  There are plenty of excellent observations and good advice.

McIntosh has a good number of other thoughtful videos at Pop Culture Detective.  It is well worth watching his other videos there, too.