A Geek History of Time - Episode 266 - Book of Boba Fett as Libertarian Fantasy with Gabriel Gipe Part II

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

See, people when they click on this, they'll see the title, so they'll be like, poor Ed. What does that even fucking mean? However, because it's England, that's largely ignored and unstudied. I really wished for the sake of my sense of moral righteousness that I could get away with saying no. He had a goddamn ancestral home and a noble title until Germany became a republic. You know, none of this highfalutin, you know, critical role stuff. So they chewed through my favorite shit.

No, I'm not helping them. I'm gonna say that you're getting into another kind of, you know, Mediterranean, or psyche archetype kind of thing. Makes sense. Also trade winds are a thing. Ha ha, just serious. Like, no, he really has a mad on him. Yeah, we'll go upon a tangent. As we keep doing.

Like, yeah, this is how we fill time. Yeah. I'm going to go to the bathroom. This is a Geek History of Time. Where we connect nerdery to the real world. My name is Ed Blalock. I'm a world history and English teacher here in Northern California. And in the process of doing research for one of my episodes coming up, I wound up falling down on not just a wiki hole, which I frequently do, which gets in the way of research because, you know, you just wind up clicking links and, you know, drift, you and drift a standard deviation or more away from whatever

your original topic was. And that did happen because it always does. But I also wound up unfortunately falling down an Amazon hole because in the process of doing the research, part of what distracted me was the series that I'm researching from our collective childhood led me to looking up, you know, I wonder how much a toy like the one I had when I was eight would cost now. And depending on how detailed you want to get, the answer could be as high as four hundred and seventy four dollars And And yeah, that was that was the moment of you know, there really has been a generational shift in in You know collection of these kinds of things.

There's no way that is not a kid's toy for that kind of money. That is for an adult with their own job and their own negotiation with a spouse they have to do to spend $474 on essentially an action figure. That was an eye-opening moment for me. And I've also added a couple of things to my wish list for my birthday coming up. But that's beside the point. How about you?

Well, I'm Damian Harmony. I am a US history teacher at the high school level up here in Northern California. My daughter and I decided to start rewatching Lord of the Rings and the extended cut because always a good idea why go back and We watched one movie today. So that was four hours of sitting in front of a screen At one point so the Uruk-hai are orcs

And Ed has talked at length about Tolkien the orcs dwarves Mm-hmm, and there have been I think no fewer than six episodes dealing with all these things. So almost a full Hulk Hogan But that's gonna become a standard of measurement That's a that's half a Hogan we didn't write a Hogan on that one, right? Well, yeah, remember there's a difference between a Hulk Hogan and a Terry Bollea. Yeah Yeah, Terry Bollea probably took up. I don't know an episode in half So a Terry Bollea is 1 fourth of a Hogan right, you know, yeah, Hogan is 10 Yeah, but

This is the metric system? Yes. No, it just... There was a court case... It's just K-Fabe. K-Fabe makes it. In which Terry Valleja had to explain to a lawyer that the character Hulk Hogan has a 10-inch penis, but Terry Valleja does not.

It's true. And the lawyer couldn't figure it out because they didn't understand what kayfabe was ultimately they're like, but you're Hulk Hogan He's like, I'm Terry Balea He's like but you're on this radio show as Hulk Hogan, but that's you. Yes So do you and it's just like it's like they're not first what I don't what I don't get about that though Is is in that sense kayFabe is just like playing a character. It's playing a role.

And I don't understand how anybody could grow up in a culture where we have things like movies and not understand, you know, I was playing a character. Because when Bruce Willis goes out on press junkets He's just go out as yeah, exactly John. He doesn't go out as John McLean. Yeah, exactly So, okay people are not understanding that That Jennifer Aniston isn't Rachel Green is probably similar or people thinking that Matt LeBlanc is genuinely as stupid as Joey Tribbiani is Yeah, or people actually thinking that

David Schwimmer is an asshole because Ross Geller was an asshole a massive dick bag Yeah, we're character on the show. But like in reality Yeah, he's the guy that told them to basically form their own mini-union so they all get the same pay like He knew his shit, you know, but anyway, so back to we were watching the Rukai Being created and my daughter sitting next to me says wait, so the Rukai are just fermented elves. I Said yeah, she's like so they're elf beer elves. I said, yeah, she's like, so they're elf beer. Yeah. I mean, yeah. You want to be angry about that?

Like there's a part of me that hears that and it's just like, no, that's not like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I look like it looks like Meade is back on the menu, boys. Oh. Oh. Oh, nicely done. Hey, we have another voice.

I like that. Yeah. Everybody, please welcome back the comedy stylings and brilliant repartee of Mr. Gabriel Guy. Gabe, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing pretty good. And like Ed's kind of realization of the change in cost of things that we may have taken for granted at some point in our lives. I was looking at homes recently.

Oh, in Sweden. In Sweden. And I am I I follow all these pages on Instagram that kind of show cottages, cabins, houses, all over Scandinavia, Europe, etc. And

there's these beautiful homes that are like $67,000. And some of them are in very remote places. So it makes sense. And then other ones are in like regular cities. And I have been kind of chipping away with my wife

and like, what if we just, like, what if we just do that? Like, we can just leave. Like, we'll figure it out. But like, we can go buy one of those and then just live there. And I was reading on one of the pages that most people who live in Sweden just own one of these cottages

on top of their regular dwellings. You know? Because like owning, like owning more than one property is a feasible thing. Right. And then any property is a, and then I follow another page called cheap old houses that focuses on the United States and you can get, you know, a broken down house.

That's 150 years old for like 240,000 in Missouri. So you know, you got to really weigh your options. Beautiful cabin in Sweden for 67,000 or broken down piece of shit shack in Missouri. Or 200. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I think the difference is that one country aspires to truly be a capitalist hellscape

And the other one doesn't Missouri is not its own country It's just I mean best example of what you're talking about These are people that snuck across and and went across well-armed and in bands of five thousand or more To cheat in someone else's election To make that place a slave state so that that would be no northern escape route for the people they enslaved to you know

for the people they enslaved to, you know, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's like, yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry, no northern, I meant no western. Yeah. Like they did that, like those are their ancestors. Yeah, and- And having been back there within the last couple of years,

in some ways, I will just say the apple has not fallen off the tree no no so so remember I I believe we did in my fun fun museums episode yeah I talked about confederama in Tennessee yeah yeah so I'm glad I got a beer for this episode because it's already looking good so When last we left Boba Fett in the book of Boba Fett The mayor had fled to work with the Pikes and by the way the mayor not a human the mayor is an authoritarian and of course being the old

West End games slash books guy that I am in the Oriens historically his authorians and the gran three-eyed guys yeah historically are some of the most peaceful races in the galaxy and so it always bothered me that the only ground that you see are assholes and colonizers of Malastare and the only a thorians you see are corrupt dipshits yeah it's a bummer even a moma Nodow who is the one a thorian you see in in the the the Cantina Chalmers' Cantina. Wait, how did you pronounce that? Cause I always thought it was Moamma Nadon.

Oh, you might be right. I said Moamma Nadon. So, yeah. But yeah, you know, that guy, Hammerhead, as he's known to those of us with the toy. So his story was a tragic one of him, you know, like keeping safe these plants and shit. So his story was a tragic one of him, you know, like, keeping safe these plants and shit. Like, it's, you know, even, and in the books,

they're treated pretty peacefully. Like, as a species, as a society, they have their own world ships so that they don't touch down on their own planet, such as their reverence for plant life. And then you see this asshole sneaking off to the pikes and talking through both sides of his mouth. So just to recap. That might have been the reason that they chose an

Ithorian for that. That could be. Also we've seen them on Tatooine. The casual fan. I know they're not here to do fan service to me. Fan service to me is including Black Chrysanthem because that'll remind me of the flat top bounty hunter from the Shadows of the Empire. Yeah. You know, that's why that's there. Like, okay, I'm satisfied. Now go take care of the other 90 yeah. Yeah. You know, that's why that's there. Like, okay, I'm satisfied.

Now go take care of the other 90% of fans, you know? So the point, though, is that the government has run away from a guy coming to petition his grievances. Now in fairness, he's coming to petition them at the point of a gun, but all the same, they're literally fleeing and seeking comfort in the company of criminals. So again, the government isn't the solution to the problems facing people because Boba Fett and the Book of Boba Fett is libertarian fantasy fulfillment for themselves. The abuses that the young mod gang faces at the beginning of the episode, the individual attacks on Boba Fett by other criminals,

even the murder of his adopted tribe are all individual problems wherein his private efforts will be more effective than any help that the government would or could render to him. The government is the actual problem in many ways, because they are in league with the most powerful private interest group, the Pike Syndicate. And also, it's monarchy, like we've discussed before. So that's how that episode ended. And I just wanted to make sure that I gave enough time and space to discuss that, because

there's a lot going on in there, from the fact that it's bureaucratic functionaries deliberately being ineffective at their job and delaying any kind of meeting with the citizenry to a government just straight up choosing which side to back. And of course, they're not backing the side with the might that is right on their side. And you see all these other things. So is there anything that you guys wanted to pull into that. I mean, I think that like Star Wars has always done at least a very decent job of showing that like. There was a really good reason why the empire came into existence, right? That the old republic, the new republic, they don't ever show them in, you know, in any sort of positive light. It's always bogged down with bureaucracy, right?

And that obviously is going to lead to these kind of rough and tumble Wild West characters that rise to the top. And that's what people like, right? They want the people that are able to exist outside the law, but they're working on a moral and ethical code that the government is incapable of functioning on because they're just so bogged down with bureaucracy and corruption and all that stuff. so bogged down with bureaucracy and corruption and all that stuff.

You know, and they bring, I think one of the most bad ass Wild West characters into the book of Boba Fett with Cad Bane. Yep. And, and you might talk about him later, but like that, that's that, that whole. These, these types of characters, right? We see them consistently pop up, right? And they, they have that kind of like lone lone wolf. No connection to like the association with mass shootings. But, you know, that that feeling of these yet.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you look at the the only day that we've seen Finn on the job, he literally does a workplace shooting. And he's the good guy. Just take it for a second from the perspective of somebody working with him. You've eaten with this guy your whole life. You've trained with this guy.

You guys go out on a mission That was some fucked up shit. We had to do but orders are orders, you know, it's it's you know, my lie against your truth and and then you get back and Suddenly one of your co-workers Steals a ship shoots at the control tower Helps some guy escape and kills a fuckton of your guys. Right. Like, the only thing you can do is get an energy Tonfa out

and fight him at a discount canteen. And shout Trader. And shout Trader to him, right? That's the only thing you can do. So. I mean, and yeah, the people that they've been taught to hate their entire lives, and then in a half a second He's like this dude's my best friend now

All these all these fuckers that are faceless Nameless, you know like just like me there, you know, I can see them as easily disposable Mm-hmm. Yeah action figures Yeah, really? Alexander in the very bad no good day like a stormtrooper. I Even got blaster in my hair like yeah It's the the robot chicken like ah man. They keep putting me on the janitorial duty. Yeah another hand So Ed was there something you were going to jump in with?

Well, yeah, just that, you know, this is, this is a, a development or, or an, um, what's I'm trying to think what the word is I'm looking for, but this, this ties in with a, with a trope that we see, you know know throughout a certain era of science fiction where The assumption winds up being that you're going to have a star-spanning civilization, right? And at some point it's going to devolve to feudalism You're going you're going to have an emperor. You're going to have an empire. You're going to have Nobility and and you know feudal titles as if that's the thing in the wild that, that entropy leads to leads to,

like that's the thing we're always fighting against. Yeah. Our feudal laws. Yeah. Like what? Um, but, but there's, there's this, there's this assumption that goes back to, uh, you know, foundation in, in science fiction. And, and actually even before that in short stories and other stuff, it's all these star-spanning royalist civilizations. And there's a whole bunch of kind of assumptions that get wound up in that. And you always wind up seeing individual starships being armed and when you really think about it if you actually think about if you're thinking in any kind of hard science kind of way that's

that's dumb you know the the the distances over which you would be engaging with other starships, you know, would be so distant that any kind of combat we can conceive of wouldn't be feasible. You know, it would have to operate on entirely different kinds of principles and and the idea of space piracy is romantic but not practical at all. Right. You know, but these are the assumptions. There is this assumption that, well, you know, you're going to be out in this in this vast wilderness and they're going to be they're going to be bad people and you're going to

have to defend yourselves You know tying into libertarian ideas about you know, not aggression and all of that. Yeah, and and this you know, it's it's just this this I think You know as you said earlier in your episodes on Andor, Gabriel, it's easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism. These are all ideas that come out of a capitalist kind of mindset. You know, this is the water that we're swimming in that leads us to the ideas that like, well, you know, if there isn't anybody to enforce the law, you're going to have bandits, you're going to have

banditry, you're going to have pirates. Like that's just where the brain goes when you've been programmed by society the way we have. And, you know, so what we're seeing here is an elaboration, I think that's the word I was looking for originally of these same kinds of ideas that are just endemic. But in Star Wars, they get a gloss of romanticization. And especially here in the Book of Boba Fett, like you're saying, if you're watching this as somebody who leans libertarian, this is going to be total wish fulfillment because of the way this story is just structured.

Because of the way these tropes get played with here, you know? Yeah. There's always somebody more powerful. Right. And you know, you're gonna have to struggle against those people in order to assert your own power and establish yourself. Mm-hmm. You know, and I mean- I mean, it starts with that.

It opens with him doing that. Yeah, it's the soft open of that is the post credit scene for the first Mandalorian season where he does that, like, yeah, 100 percent asserting your own power. And then your ethics come through and your morality comes through because you are the good one. You know? Yeah. And yeah, it's it's absolutely that. So between the last episode and this episode, I was thinking, because we made the comparison

of Dances with Wolves, and I know that you all did episodes on Dune. Yeah. Thinking about the characters, I have to, I mean, I see some similarities, parallels between Boba Fett in this series and Paul. Oh, definitely. Yeah. And the entire kind of like overlying arc of the dune is specifically the first book and maybe a little bit of Messiah, but like With this with the storyline

His his role his character the the Fremen the Tuscan Raiders, right the Harkonnen Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just thought it was interesting. Yeah. Well and and Yeah gets everywhere Just thought it was interesting. Yeah, well and and yeah gets everywhere Dialogue is course Yeah bad What what I think again going back to what I was what I was saying a second ago that is Another elaboration of a long established trope. And on TV tropes, they refer to it as mighty whitey, where a white character joins some

Aboriginal or non-white culture and does it better than they do it themselves and winds up becoming their leader or whatever and you know, I Didn't and and this just shows my own blinders, but because it was Timora Morrison In in this series. I didn't realize that that trope was being was was being done Until you know a while after I watched I was like wait a minute. That's still That's that's still either coming in. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I mentioned it in the last episode Yeah, you did yeah for his Maori heritage. Yeah, I would have called this dances with Banthas Yeah, so I think you still could frankly yeah

Yeah, and a lot of and you know I think I think's, there's an interesting juxtaposition to be made between, uh, uh, Boba Fett's relationship to the Tusken Raiders and the way we see Din Djarin interact with them in the Mandalorian, because in the Mandalorian, um, he, he treats with them as equals. He treats with them on an equal footing. He negotiates with them rather than responding with violence like everybody else does. And there's an interesting way in which that portrayal

Manages to kind of subvert the Western tropes That it's like it's invoking and then subverting a lot of a lot of tropes from old Westerns Where this treatment is very much playing those tropes straight. Hmm. Yeah. I think in many ways, uh, Star Wars does this really cool thing where it... it subverts a lot of things and Ann plays them straight at the same time. It's this weird... There's not a wink and a nod to it.

It's almost like... I mean, one of my favorite scenes in the whole series is when Leia chokes Jabba out because she does it with her own chains. I love that. Like the chains that are connected to her neck, she wraps around his and then chokes him to death. And then straight up murders his ass. Right right like yeah that that is one of my favorite scenes like that's played completely straight But it is a subversive thing Yeah, she actually like and again. It's one of those it I keep saying that they fall over backward into it Mm-hmm. I dare say that George Lucas

I'm going to believe him when he said these things not because it fits my narrative, but because I'm lazy. He said that the Ewoks were the Viet Cong. He has said that since at least 1987. He also wrote a story wherein the guys show up to save the princess and she saves everyone. She does it in episode four, she does it in episode five, she does it in episode six. She affects her own rescue every time. I think Pod May does something similar, because she's the one that gets the Gungans on her side in episode one, in the Sacred Place. She is the only one with a lockpick

in episode two and by the way it's a lower gravitational pull that's why she can jump onto the reek and not just bruise her vulva. Or utterly destroy her pelvis. I'm one with the force the force is in me But and then in episode three, I don't need to hear their pillow talk. I come on and then in episode three like she again affects a I believe she she affects a rescue in that one as well Although she dies of grief.

She does die of grief. Now that I think about it, though, I don't think she's I think I might be remembering a book that I read where she rescued. She spent most of the time just looking sad and pregnant. Yeah. But in the deleted scene, she's the one that like pulls together. That's what it was. Yeah. The coalition of the 2000. Yeah. Yeah. She she together the coalition of the 2000s. Yeah, yeah. She creates the rebellion, the proto rebellion.

But that's a deleted scene. And then in episode seven, eight, nine, Rey rescues herself on Stark Killer Base. In eight, she rescues everybody from the crystal caves. And then in nine, she rescues the whole fucking galaxy. Like each time you have a princess or a queen or the scion of a Force heritage who is a gal rescuing the shit out of everyone. Yep.

And it's again, I think they, I'm gonna believe him when he talks about cuz he he did He talked about how having Leia rescue them in episode 4 was an important thing for him because he was subverting the trope But then at the same time he's like yeah, but you don't wear any bras Because in space it would strangle you Well, and okay, you're aware no metal bikini, rightini right well that's not space you see that's on a desert planet So you know nobody says that that you you can't be a fuckboy even if you are right? Progressive like you You hard yeah

But but at the same time Yeah. You're a big rock, Barry. But at the same time, there is a subversion that they do, but it's almost like it's not a sneaky subversion. It's just like a pushing forward subversion. It feels very speak, friend, and enter. That wasn't clever. Very wrong. You know?

But do it. Yeah. That wasn't clever. Barlok. You know, it just, but do it, you know? Yeah. So anyway, in the next episode, Boba Fett, of his own volition, he chose to do this as a private citizen, saves Fennec Shand after she got shot in the gut by the Mandalorian.

That just shows up. He saves her from her wounds by going to a private doctor. See, private charity trumps public service. Private enterprise does more than just heal Fennec Shand, it improves her cybernetically. They can improve her, they have the technology. And her value to him, Fennecshan's value to Boba Fett is part of why he has her fixed up.

The prima facie commodification of a person's value is definitely a Rothbard thing, but not in the way that you would think just like looking at Rothbard, Murray Rothbard from last episode. Boba Fett's ethics aren't actually subjective. He has a strong moral compass, and it seems to be in line, ultimately, with the idea of natural rights, as John Locke would have described them. And while that sounds liberal in origin,

which is what all libertarians love to pretend that they are, Fett's grimness about it centers his ethics in a concept that Rothbard himself would endorse, and it's the concept of self-ownership. This is the beginning of the eking over into sovereign individualism that Boba Fett is an avatar of in many, many ways. So just to explain, self-ownership, as Rothbard, as Murray Rothbard put forth, was that you have the exclusive right to control your own body and your own life. Anyone seeking to interfere with that can, as my son would put it, be fucked. Rothbard said, quote, the right to self-ownership asserts the absolute right of each man, and I assume he means person at that point, by virtue of his or her being a human being to own his or her body, that is to control that body free of coercive interference.

Fett saves Shand and re-empowers her to her own self-ownership. He saved himself, affirming his own self-ownership. And their loyalty to each other is one of ultimate volition and choice based on the sanctity of that self-ownership. I'm going to stay with you because I'm choosing to stay with you. Now, the way that Fett seems to express this once he can't seem to be left alone isn't the negative sovereignty that he seeks of just everyone leave me alone. It's an assertion of positive sovereignty in response to the fact that the whole damn

galaxy won't leave him alone. This is where he becomes the libertarian soup and he's not a consistent with one philosopher ideology and that's okay you can you can absolutely grab things and pull things right because this is space fantasy and badassery first and ethics second. So Fett thus is able to maintain sovereignty over his own self which is at its core the right to rule one's self. If he got to do this, it would be called the negative rights libertarianism, okay?

Where I run me, nobody else does. I will rule none. I will be ruled by none, which sounds an awful lot like anarcho-pacifism. His very armor screams that desire, protect himself from all attacks, tons of weapons to do things if he needs to, but largely inert until activated. A passive protection. With the threat and the menace of, you don't want to fuck with me. It's the best knife is the one that's kept in the sheath kind of thing, but it's also

the one's worn on the outside of your, on your belt. It's the philosophy behind open carry. It's Kennesaw, Georgia, where everybody had to be armed. I think that was in 1981. If you look at most of his life, he hasn't been able to protect himself from much or others. He witnessed his own dad's death at the hands of a religious fanatic cult that was interfering with a lawful execution.

And that's a way to spend that. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Are you going to deny the judicial rights of an entire native peoples to geonosis? I mean, if you have a gigantic praying mantis that you use to execute people, I say, go for it. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

And from then on, he led a very violent by necessity life that in a way that we're led to think. It certainly shows up in the cartoons and in some of the made for children's books. There were several books that I wanted to recommend, but I'm like, do I really want people to read young adult literature? But it is disturbing that it's marketed

toward eight to 12 year olds yeah so it's there's a six book series I think it's called like survival of the fittest or some shit like that yeah I actually had one of my students doing those books for a book report mm-hmm like I'm not gonna tell you you can't read that but I don't know how I feel that that's marketed to you. Like you said, like, well, you know, mine comp was already checked out. So, you know, good point. Oh, so. So so you've visited the neighborhood my school is in. the neighborhood my school is in. Okay. So, all right. So, Boba Fett and his self-sovereignty,

we should probably just kind of re-re-examine it. He's unable to keep self-sovereignty, which at its core is the right to rule oneself. So, we come back to this Rothbardian ideal, right? If he'd gotten to rule over himself, if he'd gotten to live his own life, the world would have left him alone, right? He tried to find a community, right? And every time he found one it was taken away from him, usually through violence. So then he has to take to violence and subjugate others, even when he really just wants to be left alone. Again, this is that fantasy of I get to do the violence, you know, even though, right? Yeah. I portray what I what I say is I just want to be left alone.

Subconsciously, what I really want is to exert my will over others through violent means to show them I want to be left alone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want the respect of having cut a man's arm off. Right. But I don't want to cut off everyone's arm. It's the it's the home in the neighborhood that has the we don't call 911 on the front, you know, with the gun, like just I dare you. I want to be left alone, but I dare you.

I dare you to give me a reason. Yeah. Pull this trigger. Right. Give me a reason. It's perfect. Yeah. I just want peace so I can husband all the weapons right It's it's it's you know and again back to my comment about them all having a thing mad on for the Spartans the last episode

You know the mole on La Bay stickers you see on cars right like come and take them like no literally nobody's trying to yeah Literally is that for? Nobody, nobody wants them other than, you know, other right-wing lunatics like you, like, like part of it wants to just go find a pineapple sticker and put it upside down underneath that. Like the irony is never lost that there is always like a blue lives matter flag right next to it, because it's always like, well, who do you think is going to come take them if that ever happened? Right. Yeah. Like, uh, Bo of the fifth column on YouTube had a great, had a great commentary,

where he said, you know, you talk about you're a law-abiding gun owner and you're a law-abiding gun owner. Here's the deal. If they make a law saying that you've got to give up your guns, if you're really law-abiding, you're going to abide the law. Right. Like, you know, and I mean, part of the point he was trying to make was, you know, these are all, you know, Chihuahuas yapping and trying to make everybody think they're wolves like

You know one of them can still bite the fuck out of your Achilles tendon. Yeah That is true. I don't care how crazy or stupid the person spray and praying into a crowd is it could still paralyze me So, you know, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah It's you know what it is. It is that I need an ideal of I am ready in both minds For both peace and for war I would like to live peacefully. But if you want to fight here we go I will end it quickly, but it's that that that weird like there's this fetishization Yeah, that was the word I was gonna that was the word I was gonna go for is is you know, it's it's one thing If you legitimately are like, okay, no look, I'm I'm I am I I want to be peaceful

I will be peaceful I will pursue peace but I will also be prepared to defend myself if I have to That's one thing but There is there is this streak Within within libertarianism and and that the whole range of the political spectrum that fetishizes The war half of it. Yes. It's um the war half of it. Yes. It's, you know, I would rather be a samurai who gardens

than a gardener who has to fight. And it's like, okay, but why are you walking around with your samurai sword and not a trowel? Like. Yeah. You know, what I have. So I cut my rose bushes. Right, you know.

Yeah, which, yeah. That's how I cut my rose bushes. Right, you know. Yeah, which, yeah. Yeah, it's a ridiculous kind of mindset and it is rooted in the, there's so much overlap between these ideas and shitty masculinity. It's no wonder that so many of these guys

are also leaning in the direction of being incels is because they're all, they're tied up in this idea of machismo and their masculinity is part of this. And the only way- But that's also a response to the feudalism that has Held so many men down for so long that when you squeak out into the frontier Mmm, you're still responding to it, you know, it's yeah, you know

Yeah, the no one's gonna control me dad and it's like okay But everything you're doing is still in response to him from 40 years ago Like yeah and also also really really upset that women are choosing bodily autonomy to not sleep with you. Right. Right. You know. Yeah. Like what you were saying about that idea of self-ownership is like, OK, well, you know, that's awesome. If you apply that to everybody equally. Right. Cool. But then all of a sudden we want to start talking about well, you know women women, you know shouldn't be like You know, we need to outlaw abortion Wait right

No You know, it's it it's Rooted well it part of it is rooted in and it grows alongside You know all of the horrible, you know, negative toxic masculinity shit that everybody on that end of the political spectrum is swimming in. Yeah. And again, what we're seeing is the philosophically pure, the varnished, the allowed to flourish version that everyone then can project themselves into. In many ways, we talked about this in the last episode.

In many ways, Boba Fett represents an empty vessel into which we can pour a lot of different things. And one of the reasons that Boba Fett ceased to be as alluring as a character and again he's the guy that got hit in the back and fell into the Sarlacc pit um but what made him what made him an a less attractive character is that he was in some ways humanized and fleshed out even though he's living this ideal, you see him with a limp, you see him scarred, you see him suffering. Whereas before he had no face, you could pour

all of your badassery hopes into him because you knew Vader was going a different direction and so on. And so if you look at him in this series, he keeps getting shit taken from him, keeps getting people taken from him, he takes to violence, he subjugates others, and that's the only path by which he can be left alone. Is just again, if I push everyone else away with violence, they'll know not to come here. This is the only way. Essentially, Boba Fett fails to live up or to live as a 19th century American anarchist

or as Lysander Spooner, a 19th century American anarchist would say, "'The only real sovereignty or right of sovereignty "'in this or any other country is that right of sovereignty which each and every human being has over his or her own personal or his or her own person and property, so long as he or she obeys the one law of justice toward the person and property of every other human being. This is the only natural right of sovereignty that was ever known among men. This is the only natural right of sovereignty that was ever known among men. All other so-called rights of sovereignty are simply the usurtations of imposters, conspirators, robbers, tyrants, and murderers.

Wow. Fett fails to do what Spooner is talking about. Fett has not been successful at finding that despite his best efforts. So the frustration that libertarians feel can also be inserted into him. And as a result, he must protect in order to protect his own sovereignty and his own sovereign rights for himself, he must become that which has harried him at every turn. He must become someone else's ruler. He is reluctant Conan. Reluctant, yeah.

And Spooner continues. He says, quote, what then is a sovereign government? It is a government that is sovereign over all the natural rights of the people. This is the only sovereignty that any government can be said to have. Under it the people have no rights. They are simply subjects, that is slaves. They have but one law and one duty, these obedience submission." And Boba Fett, when he takes over, he has no desire for slaves, right? The the Gamorians, the any number of dancing peoples, all these things. He has no desire for slaves. He doesn't mind loyalty and respect, but he definitely doesn't want to be a slaver. However, he keeps being gifted with different people's services due to his martial prowess. He's even given the Wookie

to do with as he sees fit. He immediately sets him free. But again, that's a reinforcement of his bad assery. Even though it took a village to defeat the Wookie, it's still his singular bad assery. And as a result, Boba Fett ends up with an incidental monopoly on violence, however reluctant he came to it. He really just wants the right to be forgotten and can't seem to ever get it. At least that's how it's portrayed.

Well, he says he wants the right to be forgotten, but he also insists that he's the daimyo. Right. But I think that's that reluctant part of, I can't just be forgotten. Yeah. People won't leave me alone, so this is the second best option. Okay Which ever if they won't if they won't leave you alone make sure they fear you

It's like a weird twist on Machiavelli right or make sure they respect you Yeah, rejection of fear like yeah. Yeah What's what's interesting about that is you, you described it as he just wants to be forgotten, but Daimyo literally means big name. It literally means a name. Everybody knows you are right. You are the big guy. Um I just, I find that, I find the juxtaposition of that kind of, kind of interesting there. Yeah. Although if you have a big name and everybody knows not to fuck with you, then you are left alone. If not forgotten, you are left alone. Second best option, you are left alone and it's a, you are left alone. Again, second best option, you are left alone

and it's a Boba Feta Complete. Oh, good one. Thank you. Good one. Also though, he was essentially forgotten before he shows back up in Mandalorian. Right. You know, he doesn't have his armor. Right.

Everyone assumes he's dead. Right. He's, he doesn't have his armor. Right. Everyone assumes he's dead. Right. He's wandering around the desert and then he seeks out his desired identification markers, right? He needs his armor back. He says it's, you know, because it was his dad's, but essentially it's like he wants to put on the mantle of Boba Fett again and have the reputation that Boba Fett had

and not just be a wanderer in the desert. But then as soon as he does, it's the reluctance, right? Like this is the heavy robe that I must carry. It's the James Brown take, you know, putting it around on stage and then throws it off. I picture like an artist from the 50s or 40s, like putting on the burnt cork and going like, I hate blackface, but they're just forcing me.

And it's like, well, you signed the contract. Like, what are you doing? Like, look what they're doing. You signed the contract and you're getting paid how much to do this? Right. Yeah. Yeah, but there is a, look at what I have to do.

Like, you know, yeah How had that where is the crown, you know, yeah, you know on my own to help me with this There was this there was this feeling in the first couple of episodes of the show that like There was there was It wasn't I want to be forgotten. It's I want to get my shit back Mm-hmm like I I it wasn't it wasn't so much. I want to be forgotten I want to get back to where I was I want this to be made right and I'm gonna go after whoever I have to go after do that. Mm-hmm and and you know

When or at least when he was in the Mandalorian before book of Boba Fett proper started It seemed like it was okay. No I'm gonna get my shit back and I'm gonna get even And and like like as you called it the soft open at the post credits scene where he you know kills bib Fortuna That's really clearly no. No. I'm here to settle a fucking where he, you know, kills Bipfortuna. That's really clearly, no, no, I'm here to settle a fucking score. Yeah. You know, and, and that, that energy was very different from, from what happened in the book of Boba Fett, you know, there was, there was a hard edge and a vindictiveness and a no no no I'm a bad dude.

Like and see I think we would have had more Boba Fett than what we had if he shot him and then turned around and walked out. Yeah. Yeah. But instead we changed the entire character. Yeah. Which is fine because if you do that you do leave a power vacuum. We all saw that episode of 21 Jump Street when Johnny Depp had the hammer and then he put it down and then the whole prison yard went apeshit. Like I don't have to explain that to you. But you do leave a power vacuum that fucks everybody up even more kind of thing, which then of course argues for the need for an authoritarian ruler who through the force of violence and threat of

violence will be in charge. Oh hey, wait a minute. We just jumped from libertarian to fashion. It's a short hop, isn't it? It's a really, yeah, wow. We didn't even, like it wasn't even a hop. It was just like a long step Or like tumbling down a staircase

Because there's no safety regulations. Yeah, because yeah, there's no railing. Yeah The railing to put in the bread for the people it's made from the finest lumber Yeah, no, it is a very short step, but it's very goose-like. So all that said, Betts efforts to aggressively protect his own sovereignty end up landing him in a power dynamic that libertarians love to believe springs from the equal opportunity and exceptionalism combo, which you always hear about equal opportunity and you always hear about individual exceptionalism Meritocracy and equal opportunity So in other words you want a system wherein you get to rise to the top because you never think that you're not gonna be

Close to the top. Oh, you know what a mediocre motherfucker you are No, right if you're if you're libertarian. I think no, I'm I'm I'm the smartest guy in this room. You're literally a c-fucking student, dude, right like no so Rothbard himself Said that equality was not the neat the natural state of things he was intensely critical of natural state of things. He was intensely critical of equality. He stated scornfully that quote, at the heart of the egalitarian left is the pathological belief that there is no structure of reality, that all the world is a tabula rasa that can be changed at any

moment in any desired direction by the mere exercise of human will, which I feel like it sounds like leftists. That sounds like Nazi propaganda. Well, and the power of will, like who goes on and on about the power of will like all the goddamn time. Right. But, but the rest of what he's saying there though, is that he's saying that and he's describing it to the left. is that he's saying that, and he's describing it to the left,

and I think, okay, but he's saying that you could, you could just change things, you could change these systems that we have to live under that exist in nature, that there's a reality structure here, and it's like, money's fake. Like, these systems are made up. Like, we did that. Like these systems are made up. Like we did that. Like it's. Language is fake, dude.

Yeah. Like I remember having an administrator ask me once like, hey, what are you doing to incentivize students to do their work? And I said, oh, I make all their assignments worth points. And those points go toward their grades. And they're like, no, no, no, no. Like, what are you doing besides that?

I'm like, grades don't exist in nature. Do you want me to throw fish to them? Yeah. And I had to explain, I'm like, points aren't real. I made them up. And so I'm using this unreal system to incentivize things because y'all have tied legal shit to it And and have you never noticed that all of your teachers the the points economy in every classroom is different Mm-hmm like an individual point in mr. Harmonies room is has a different value than a point in mr. Blaylock's room

Oh like and administrators want to narrow that shit down to be like... Oh, fuck you. Because kids don't understand going from class to class. I'm like, you know what? I'm a divorced dad. My kids understand there are different rules in different houses. They're younger than these kids. Yeah, screw you.

Yeah. But, so Rothbard is super against equality because he says that like oh you could just by just Changing things you think that you can make things change and it's like yeah By the mere exercise of human will like yeah, that's exactly what it takes It's like I'm pretty sure Angela Davis said something very similar to that. Yeah You know, it's it's like none of these guys None of these libertarian, you know theorists ever spent any time studying, you know anthropology because they do and they know that those Venus statues are things that men made to jack off to and they know that

All the men did all the hunting and all the women did all the gathering and they know that all those things natural order things exactly But but there are extant cultures in the world That prove all of their shit wrong. And they lost to white people. So again, and again, these Venus statues are not made by men to jack off to. Women did just as much hunting.

In fact, there's been a lot of anthropology recently showing that the times where women were involved in the hunts, there was more cooperation and shit got done better There's there's but testosterone is a hell of a drug. Yeah, you know It's needed when you have to move a big rock. You definitely need that shit Yeah, but or you could just stack up ten more people and like yeah, you know and get it and do it. Yeah So but but like looking looking at any of the extant cultures of You know any number of places in Africa that I'm thinking of any number of places in Asia Like no fucker that's

No Against the British prior to 1945? No, I think I win. So I mean guns. Okay. Guns, germs and steel are the only reason they lost. Well, and that's geography. And if they had men making the guns to defend themselves,

it would have been a problem. So what really happened was the subversion of masculinity. Yeah. Yeah. OK. There you go. That's what brought those societies down. Yep.

Yeah. If they stuck to their traditional ways, then it would have been different. Yeah. Never mind the fact that the Celts were matrilineal. And they lost to the Romans. Not, not consistently, not for a very long time. And then they did. So that's the only time I'm in account. And that's the only time it means anything. Yeah.

The last one. Yeah. Fine. Um, so, so, uh, going along with this though, like reality is what Fett is living in right and Which is Reality, right? Yeah, well I like scare quotes around reality You know this libertarian ideal he Saved Fennec Shands life and that pseudo obligates her to helping him until they have some sort of platonic partnership out of respect. They run a crime syndicate based on their oligarchy of violence together. And she even says, if I help you, then my debt is paid. And he says, if that is what you wish. Not, no, no, I just saved you. We're good. It's okay. If you want to go off on your own after you help me, that's

fine, but you're going to help me. And then they stay together because they're buddies. But in this episode, Fett's change from the badass bounty hunter to the guy who wants to settle down is charted for us around a campfire. The Tuskens showed him community, so now he's tired of quote, of working for quote, idiots who are going to get me killed, end quote. His plan then to make that not happen is of course to be at the head of one of those organizations. The head idiot. I'm going to be the idiot. Exactly.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Once I get my ship and armor back, I will head up a crime syndicate. So... Didn't they change the name of his ship in this show or they don't say it? They don't say it. He says it's a fire spray. He doesn't call it the Slave I. Okay. Yeah.

Which is interesting because in the Tales from Jabba's palace, Boba Fett gets rescued from the Sarlacc pit by Dengar and his new girlfriend. And he is like, he's all fucked up from what happened, but he's still in his armor. And the armor is the only thing that kept him alive. And he actually says in passing, in kind of a drifting in and out of consciousness kind of way

He says I never should have named it slave one it inferred that I owned something It was just kind of this interesting little thing Hey, I always thought that it inferred that that meant there was at least a slave to well And there is one in the Empire of Darkness in the comic book series where Luke turns bad guy Dengar and Boba Fett show up in the slave too Because the slave one gets blown up and it's a different looking ship to it's more boxy and it Everything in that series was boxy. Wait, is that the one where Luke turns the dark side under the Emperor's? Tutelage to get to know Anakin better. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah

Yeah, it's great book. Yeah there there's some really interesting stuff in it. I Hated it a naked Palpatine for one. Yeah for one. Yeah, I I Hate read the whole thing It was one of those fuck this This is necessary to understand the canon Yeah, well well no I hate read it when it was coming out because because a friend of mine was really like Intrigued by it. I won't say he really liked it, but he was fascinated by it and And so I read it and it was just like is dark horse trying to make everything as ugly as fucking possible Yeah, like the coloring was

Well, it was it was like hey, what I mean Lobo was worst drawn and green But Star Wars like that's what it was You know and the thing is I really like Simon Bisley. I really like Simon Bisley. Yeah. Or for what he does. But you're not wrong. Yeah. So, anyway, Boba Fett is like,

once I get the things back that people know me for, my ship and my armor, then I will head my own crime syndicate. Like, I just love that that happens when it comes out at a time that another guy is like, once I get my power back, then I'm really going to run things. I'm just going to be dictator for a day. But his reasoning sounds very libertarian. If you go back to it, I'm it gonna be my own boss I'm not just gonna be an independent contractor

Fennec shan says that people like them don't get to decide when they're finished she's used to having others have economic sovereignty over her and Using it to exert sovereignty over others via her and he's rejecting that So he's like no we we get but again, it's that we're just going to be at the top of it. And so the boot will be on our foot, not on our throat. And that's what makes it better. And then once they get his ship back, Shand tells him of good mechanics in Mos Eisley. And he of course rejects that because he can do the repairs himself.

Self-sufficiency, baby, self-sovereignty. And he of course rejects that because he can do the repairs himself. Self-sufficiency, baby, self-sovereignty, also quote, there's an advantage to people thinking you're dead. Which, okay. So now she's- Maybe should have left your armor then. No, you know.

But then go around the town and tell everyone, I'm Boba Fett. That's back, right. I'm Boba Fett. So I think that advantage is until I take power, right? You know, yeah So then she pays her debt to him, right? But then she chooses to stay with him So then this flashback is all about how he gets his ship back. He gets a partner He gets revenge on the Nickdo gang that destroyed his tribe and it's just overwhelming slaughter Like he takes his ship, which if you remember, character scale is normal dice, speeder scale

is add two dice to that damage, walker scale is add four dice to that damage, starfighter scale is add six dice to that damage. So he's starfighter scaling something at speed or scale, just slaughtering the shit out of them. No remorse, no mercy. Obliterates them literally in one pass. And then when they run into trouble fighting the sand Audrey II, Fennec Shand releases his seismic charge to blow her up. And Fett's only comment was decidedly grumpy and libertarian. Quote, next time don't touch my buttons. It's like. Get off my lawn.

Right. Yeah. It absolutely reinforces his attitude and the tone of the show. It's played for laughs but it's like also like, yeah, that's what a bad ass would say. Yeah. And yeah, it's like it's get off my lawn. It's holding an M1 Grand at a thug and saying, get off my lawn, right? So they're dining around a campfire on scurries and Shand asks him, and of course there are things

that they caught off the fat of the land. She asks him if he's serious about forming his own house. His reasoning is, quote, "'How many times have you been hired to do a job "'that wasable? If they only took the time to think how much money could have been made, how many lives could have been saved? So Boba Fett is a job creator and a lifesaver. Now he cares. Now he cares. It takes a strong hand to save this many lives. Is that a Schindler's List reference?

I mean, I didn't mean it to be. It felt more like Gangs of New York to me, but it's the same idea. Yes. Absolutely. I had a boss once whose favorite movie was Gangs of New York. I was like, that says things. I want to know why. I mean, there might be reasons, but this is all the alarms going on. Yeah.

Wow. So seriously though, Fett is arguing about the anarcho-pacifism of why he should be the head of a crime family. I love how it's an anarcho-pacifism of why he should be the head of a crime family I love I love how it's an anarcho. He's making an anarcho-pacifist argument about Why he should be running an enterprise that you know part of what it does is murder Like as a business like uh what? Yeah Do you do you not see the glaring hypocrisy like. That cool armor, man.

OK, well, you know, it's interesting is. So obviously, you are aware of the band Metallica. They put out their album, which is colloquially known as the Black Album. Yeah. And when you look at it, you can see the Gatston snake. their album, which is colloquially known as the Black Album. And when you look at it, you can see the Gadsden snake, you know, on it, like the curled up snake. And they, No Step on Snake, and they have a song called Don't Tread on Me.

Right. And in that song, one of the lyrics is to prepare, to secure peace is to prepare for war. Wow. Yes. And very much with that, like, you know, in order for me to, to secure my anarchist pacifist society,

I got to beat everyone into fucking submission. Right. Yeah. And then we, and then we will peace, as Palpatine said. Yeah. Yeah. It's you know, I mean, imagine if if an entire government structure was based around if we have all the nuclear weapons, then there will be peace. Like, God, I wonder what that would be like.

So I'm sure that like, you know, fast forward a good 60, 70 years and it would probably be a little bit malignant. You know, might do a few things wrong here and there. You know, but overall, the intentions are good, you know. Well, and I mean, obviously, if

they're going to do that, they're going to harness nuclear energy in a safe way and not have to rely on oil, which, you know, may or may not be under their own territory. So right. Yeah. I mean, you know, stability, baby.

As Nikki Haley recently said, it was, it's the intent that matters, right? It's the intent. It's not, not the actions or the consequences. It's the intent. Okay. I haven't, I haven't been paying sufficient attention to that. Is that what you, is that how she, is that a, how she tried to dodge out of saying the U S has never been a racist nation?

Yes. Yeah. Well, and she's fucking wrong there too. She just kept saying, well, you know, in the declaration of independence, it says all men are created equal. And so it's, it was the intent. Like, we might have done some bad things, but the positive is that we always intended to do the right thing.

Right. No, no, no, Nicky. No, they didn't. Like, clearly you got Cs in history. Well, or you took history in a state south of the Mason Dixon line. I was like, no. I believe this class is the class of Northern aggression. I'm not going to take this test.

That's right. Yeah, I can't wait until the day we were. If we were a racist culture, then like somebody running for governor of a southern state would have to change her name before running.

Right. Like, yeah. Nice. Nice. Yeah, I cannot wait until I get to teach eighth grade US history at my site eventually because I am in fact going to teach it as the slave owners revolt Like this failed slavers revolt yeah

Yeah, this was not in many ways this was not actually technically a civil war. This was, this was a revolt. And it's a failed version of the American revolution. Yeah. Yeah. So by a bunch of losers. Yeah. Now, sorry. The reason why Boba Fett is, uh, is saying that he's trying to do this is again, he just wants to be left alone because quote, he's trying to do this, is again, he just wants to be left alone, because quote, he's tired quote,

tired of our kind dying because of the idiocy of others, we're smarter than them, it's time we took our shot, if I'm going to start a house, I'll need brains and muscle. So be the solution, y'all. Be the change you wish to see in this world. Don't change the system because that can't happen. And Shann straight up rebuffs him on this. She says she's fine doing jobs for him,

but she values her freedom. So she out libertarians him. Because she's gonna be- Freer than you. That's right. I'm freer because you're stuck in a chair now. So she out libertarians him. Because she's going to be. It's right. I'm freer because you're stuck in a chair now. Of course, he sees it differently. He values loyalty above the freedom of having to do work for others.

It's so confusing. Quote, I will cut you in on the success and pledge my life to protect yours. Which, I mean, that's Rothbard's love of John Locke coming through. Fett believes in community. There's like a mini social contract there. And Shan's response is, living with the Tuskens has made you soft, which wow're you're the one who's got metal innards. Um, yeah That's that's a that's a lawful evil Aspiring Lord talking to a neutral evil Contract killer right there

You know, it's like oh man No, you got you got all this community shit going on and like rules and fealty and like no man And then he says no, it's made me strong. You only get so far without a tribe So first of all living with Tuskens has never made anyone soft ever not even shmeet Because she was scabbed over and scarred Secondly, I would I would argue she kind of got tenderized somewhat by the yeah, but by the end She was weather beaten and yeah, you know, all right Secondly Fett is blending the value of loyalty with himself being at the top of the heap Secondly, Fett is blending the value of loyalty with himself being at the top of the heap

Perhaps with a partner but one who ultimately listens to his every order his expertise and prowess makes him the authority and by the way Sexual politics into this he's gonna be the authority over a woman no matter how badass she is, and then their relationship can work. And again, I like Fennec Shand a lot. I like Ming-Na Wen a lot. I think she's a fantastic actress. I am deeply attracted to the character and to the actress on a number of levels, but

I think she's a really cool character. That said, it's a platonic marriage that he's recommending. Yeah. It 100% is. I'll cut you in on the goods. I will keep you safe. You will keep me safe. We'll work together.

There ain't no fucking going on, which is kind of an interesting thing because this ideology, this ideal, it seems very sexless in fact, he is rebuffing the sexuality of Jennifer Beals character every Time she tries to use it on him and be on that is not much else There's an argument that could be made that he's ace could be made that he's ace. Could be. Or that just within the ideology, like romantic and sexual relationships cloud

the ability to remain free, right? That like even when you have to make kids, it should be done with a goal and understanding that like this is for a very specific purpose and this interaction or transaction that we're about to have is mutually beneficial to us for X amount of reasons, but it isn't necessarily about pleasure or, you know. Right. You know, psychologically, we could also look at the fact that he was literally a created clone. He was not made by sex and he grew up asexually.

All the women that he knew were bad-ass bounty hunters who used him as a tool to get into smaller places cause he was a kid. And then who trained him on how to kill people and who themselves were psychotic as fuck. All the men that he knew, by the way, were similar. So he has never seen, like the only relationship he had that was in any way tender and loving was his dad. And I'm not saying that it was only tender and loving because his dad took him on murders. But at the same time, I'm sorry independent contractor work

um, and at the same time, um He saw that guy get his head cut off by uh, jedi who loved the galaxy so There's there is no real room for boba fet to have learned uh anything Sexy in any way so he might be asexual by default, not by nature. Like, yeah. And so this is, it's a platonic marriage. He's doing, he's still offering for her to be the head of a family with him. So this is mommy and daddy stuff.

And this is where libertarianism tends to slide over into traditionalism. There's the ultimate authority of the dad at the head of the family and the mom having nearly the same power as the dad, but she does follow and support him. And Fennec Shand is hot with her hot rod bod and Boba Fett is sexy with his dad bod. And they adopt the little kids on the motorbikes. Exactly. You know?

Mm-hmm. And neither of them is horny. And some of this is because it's Star Wars, so you don't get much horny stuff. I mean, he did rearrange her guts, just not in the way that you think. This is true. guts, just not in the way that you think. This is true. So, yeah.

And also, like you were saying, libertarian ideology is not about fucking, it's about exerting power to protect yourself. It's about throwing off the power that governments want to put over you and it's about keeping your the power that governments want to put over you, and it's about keeping your boundaries with private individuals. Loyalty within a family unit, we can both be the head of the family, which they keep mentioning by name. It is a family, right?

They keep mentioning it in that episode, and that ends up being an extension of that power of self-sovereignty. Let's band together and expand our sovereignty over ourselves. As a family unit they're clearly a matched pair just without the sex. She even walks in on him while he's all but naked coming out of the back to tank and she talks to him about the scars on the inside that haven't healed. Like a wife might. He's unashamed of her seeing him like this, he's unashamed of his vulnerability in front of her, and because the two of them share an intimacy, even if they're not fucking. Flash forward to him literally blasting

Bib Fortuna in his throne and throwing his corpse down from the throne and then sitting in this still warm seat and you have the whole, by my own hand I depose the unjust and set myself in the place of power motif going on there Mm-hmm as Fett is getting into his bathrobe in front of his platonic wife They continue to discuss the politics of what they're doing and along the way she questions him and when he states his reasoning and walks away she acquiesces and there's that I'm the un

Un what's the word undisputed head? family And she knows and she fit falls away. She's like I've pushed as far as I can, you know, your father's upset dear It's that kind of Thing and then when he shows up to the casino and resort in Mos Espa, he sees Chrysanthemum beating the shit out of people and he doesn't do anything to stop it. Because it's not his job to stop people from fighting. His job is to maintain order.

And this is part of that order. Even after Chrysanthemum rips off a Trandoshan arm, then he of course does what he's done all the time, offers Chrysanthem a job. You got spunk, kid. Yeah. I like how you disarmed that guy. And boom, ba-dum. Now at the meeting of the former captains under the hut, Fett says, quote, I may sit on that throne, but I have no designs on any of your territories. I ask for no tribute or quarter, and I expect to give none either. I mean, tell me that you just want to be a dick

without telling me you just want to be a dick, right? I expect no tribute or quarter. It's like, no one's trying to fight you, bro. Like, what? And then he offers a proposal that's mutually beneficial, get rid of the pikes. So in other words, I'm gonna do me, you're gonna do you, we're all cool if you wanna be.

And then when they question his worthiness, the rancor underscores his point. Literally has a table bump moment. You know, just listen to how big my dick is. So yeah, I mean, it's just again, it's just over and over again. It's this kind of stuff. And when they question him, he then has the dick bumping the table moment and then says, why speak of conflict when cooperation can make us all rich? Like again, I'm not emotional. I have no ego.

If you want to go, we can go, but we could all cooperate here. We could all choose to enter into a mutually beneficial arrangement and he says that the pikes are a threat to all of us and when they all think it's only his problem, that's the problem. And they even, they tell him, they're like, sounds like the pikes are only after you, dude. And his rejoinder is that he alone will make the streets

safe again if needed. I just love he alone will make the streets safe again if needed. I just love someone promising to make the streets safe again. But he also says, just stay out of my way while I do it. So instead of siding with the pikes, just stay neutral. And after this, his partner, and Shan asks, can you trust them? He says, I trust them to work on their own self-interest.

Like, Adam Smith called. He says you're quoting him wrong. Right. And I don't think that the episode that's Mando-centric is worth commenting much on, quite honestly, because it's not about Boba Fett. It's just like, hey, you all really like this character, and we don't want to waste the episode in our arc.

The opening salvo about how he has no quarrel with anyone other than his bounty when he's hunting for the guy, which I think they were all Clatoonians on that space station. I have no quarrel with any any yeah, it's like a butcher shop and He says I don't want to fight you. I've killed your boss And I have no quarrel with you I'm just gonna keep on going now and they're all and he even says like his money's yours. I don't give a shit

I just came here for his head That still lines up pretty sharply with what has been going on in this series. So then the Mandalorians discuss Moff Gideon's fate at that time and you hear about the difference in New Republic justice versus Mandalorian justice and what's disappointing about it and what have you. And that the Pikes have been running spice

and law enforcement won't even go near them. And that's all, of course, according to Amy Sedaris. What's her character's name? Starts with a P, like Chloe or something like that? She's a mechanic? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. She says the law enforcement won't go near the Pikes.

The only law enforcement we see is New Republic chips. So a lot of bureaucratic stuff, a lot of joking, mentions of reports and stuff like that. Do you wanna run that report? I certainly don't, so we're just gonna let him go speeding. In the next episode, we actually do see some, what do you call it, some law enforcement with Cobb Vanth, with Timothy Ollifant's character.

He says, quote, but out here, I'm the one tells folks what to do. So again, largely due to Marshall Prowess, exerting his influence for the good of everyone else's self sovereignty. And he rules ultimately because he's a bad ass. He leave because he's benevolent. And because he's appointed, right? Like the charter has been given, you know,

it's because they, he has again got, he's received the trust of the people. He's not a, a, a malevolent leader. He does so because he cares and they, they trust him to make security and justice and peace and all that. Right. He's the he's the Anthony Griffith of his his town. Right. The sheriff.

Yeah. And yeah, that's yeah. What did I say? And it's something. Yeah. Andy Griffith. Yeah, absolutely. And and this is how libertarians want to see themselves, typically. Now Kurt Russell is by no means an emblem of libertarianism that others would accept, but he does self-identify, and he's on the record for doing such. And he said this about being, and he played a so But he here's what he says about it. He says quote I believe in limited constitutional government free market capitalism reach for the brass ring

There's this place where you can go do that and don't step on anybody's toes and still try to reach for that brass ring So that sounds very similar to Cobb Vanth's approach of, I didn't see any laws broken so I'm happy to let you go your own way if you promise not to come out here and deal spice again. Mm-hmm. You know, it's, look, we don't have that problem, just recognize I'm here to keep the peace, keep the order, you guys go do you, just don't do it around here when it's the illegal stuff. So Cobb Vanth is trying to talk them through leaving and having them also know not to come out here again.

So it's very similar echo to what Boba Fett said to the train people, which is essentially the same people, all pikes. Unfortunately, they pull guns because it's still space western and of course you could tell by the music but of course that means he reluctantly has to blow some people away. Always. Yeah. Yeah. Now the interactions between Mando and Ahsoka at the Jedi Academy, which is weird because this is supposed to be about Boba Fett, but they also have a few discussions about the rights of a person to their own property regardless of their status.

There's a ton about sentiment and the like, but that's another story. Much of the discussion between Grogu and Skywalker has to do with individual choice, has to do with your own sovereignty. And since Jedi are involved, of course, emotional manipulation and gaslighting are tools. I just love that you have you seen this cool new sword? Have you? Do you want to hang on to it? You can only pick one and you have to choose right now. Right now.

Yeah. Like, I know that you're an ancient race, but right now is the only time you can choose also. You can't change your mind ever. So if you decide to protect yourself by wearing armor from a gift from the only person who's ever shown you kindness then you can't use a lightsaber and protect others yeah yeah it doesn't seem in that

whole exchange like Luke has learned anything like what happened to the China order like at all and yet in fairness How would he by the time true figures this shit out? They've been yeah a Superstition that is long since past their day. You know yeah, you know hold 20 years before anyway. Sorry It's okay, though But like think of the things that we've normalized in the last three years like for that people dying in a week Yeah, I know yeah I know. Yeah. But it just it still pisses me off. So as the Pikes continue to isolate Boba Fett and Fennec Shand we see the Mando going out

and doing what libertarians love to do. Independent contract work, hurting people, making money. The idea of local groups choosing to band together because it's in their best interest to do so, communities being communities. This includes the town of Freetown, which is the name they changed to. Then Cad Bane shows up and he provides us an example of why badassery is an important piece of libertarian fantasy though, because otherwise the Pike Syndicate will come and murder the fuck out of good, but ultimately powerless people.

Same with the bombing of Garceph Whip's casino and resort. And of course that takes us to the big climactic battle episode and at the outset Boba Fett agrees to Vanth's terms to get rid of the spice trade in exchange for their help to fight the pikes. So he would have let spice continue to happen if it weren't for this issue. He's also then talked into staying in Mos Espa by his mod scooter gang because the people of Mos Espa are in need of protection. So even after you beat these people, we need you to stay here. So then the mayor shows his ass.

He's fully in cahoots with the Pike Syndicate. So again, government and corporations are working hand in hand. And it's only of communities where people opt into helping each other Which are led by the most self-sufficient self-sovereign man that ever existed They're the only things that can stand against government and corporations Mm-hmm, which again It's the fantasy. It's not the reality of what ends up happening in these philosophies, but like Doesn't that sound like we the people need to rise up against those?

Like it absolutely, I mean, which philosopher doesn't it sound like from your episodes, Gabe? You know what I mean? Like. Yeah, like we understand that the government is bought and paid for. Right.

We need to unite with with all of the lower class working class people rise up. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. Just so much. The thing the thing that gets me about about this

this portrayal is such a revelation of how much of libertarian theory is built around like utterly pie in the sky. Like it's, it's all fantastical bullshit. Like, like the minute you spend any time looking at an actual human nature If you actually look at anthropology We that's that's not this the whole rugged individualism shit isn't how we work Like it isn't it isn't how we wound up at the top of the food chain for fuck's sake let alone building Civilizations that they have such a fucking boner for

No, that's not even that's not even how we survived through the through the ice age like We're we are we are cooperative People and it's not in this whole well, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna make this this agreement with you. No, it's because that's that's my mate right there and Those are my children and that's my brother and my sister and their mates and their children and we're all gonna hang together Mm-hmm, and we're gonna cooperate to keep all of us alive It's it's it operates on this

this Bob Dignan in alive. It's it's it operates on this, this, uh, brob dig, Nagy in, uh, or, or maybe actually calling it win him kind of level of, well, you know, this is the most logical thing for us to do. And we're going to enter into these agreements. It's like, no, that's not how we goddamn work. Right. You sound like a man who's never had his child sign a contract for his care. Maybe you should try that. You know, it's like if it's voluntary, very important, voluntary association. So like, yes, of course we work together and that's how we were able to build

society. But everyone needs to assign this form, outlining exactly how their work will be used and trademark certification, copyright laws, you know, all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. See, what I took from it is that like, this philosophy, this libertarianism, is taking the core best

parts, it's taking the preamble of most cooperative philosophies and then just running down the street the wrong way. It feels like stay here and make sure he doesn't leave. Yeah. It feels like three minutes of that. And that's philosophy. Like, again, as Gabe said, we recognize that the government is in cahoots with big business. We recognize that they're going to squeeze us. They're shitty. They're awful to us. We recognize that. And therefore, They're shitty. They're awful to us. We recognize them.

And therefore, and it's what they do with it next. It's that next part right there. It's, it's therefore, here's a pure philosophy and a pure fantasy. And we're going to combine them together and set, and we will be the ones on top of that system. And then the system will be okay. And it's like, no, you were almost there.

Like, like you, you ran full speed at the point and missed. Yeah, you had butted the point and drove it away like, god damn it. And then if we just made sure that everyone in the community looked like us and that anyone who didn't look like us was pushed out voluntarily. I'm not being racist. I'm just saying that we would do better with people who look like us. Yeah, and they can form their own community. Exactly.

What's wrong with that? I mean, they get a whole month. So it's, yeah, again, it's that there is a layer of libertarianism that I really dig and respect and then they say the next sentence and I'm like, damn it. And I think it's largely because it overlaps with the preamble to most philosophies that I dig and respect. Yeah. Everybody does have self-sovereignty. Yeah.

I'm down for that. You kidding me? And I do believe in free association. That's what a fucking union is. Like, I'm down for that. That is awesome. It's what you do with that next sentence that bothers me. You know?

Yeah. So then there's this conversation between Mando and Fett about how they're going to get out of the problem. And Fett is just like, I'm not going to run off to safety. And Mando is like, well, I'm not going to abandon you. So it's like, wow, guys who wear the armor both agree to die for honor. Badass, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie kind of vibes. This is the Alamo, you're being surrounded by,

you know, space Mexicans. You know, it just, actually, there is some discussion that the Mandalorian is the Mexican American experience, or it's any number of diasporic experiences that gets sublimated. It's meaningful. Yeah.

But anyway, so they agree to die for honor. And sometimes, you know, it's unfortunate and we're reluctant to do it, but sometimes you just gotta shoot your way out of trouble if you wanna protect your self-sovereignty. And if you're Boba Fett, you got to do that twice as much. So it's absolutely the anarcho-capitalism model that Rothbard developed in the 1950s. Boba Fett essentially runs a private protection firm that works

far more effectively and is measurably more loyal to the people than the local government when it comes to the people of Mos Espa and Tatooine in general. He is a self-appointed private contractor who is working for the freedom of the people. The government's not doing that. He's doing that. He's doing that. Is it like Blackwater? Well, Blackwater would be the example they would give. Yeah.

Which, like, if you look into what Blackwater got into. The problem with Blackwater is just, Eric, it's the people in charge and the people who are doing it, not the actual organization. Right. The organization's fine. It's just the people that were in it. The intent.

Yes. Yeah, the intent. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with slavery. It's the people who are running slavery that were the problem, you see. Yeah. And you know, in a lot of situations, the slave owners were very kind to their slaves. Oh, don't even.

And would very rarely beat them. Right. Like why would they beat them? They spent so much money on them. Exactly. They wouldn't want to damage their property. Precisely. I mean, really the safest place to be in the South

was to be enslaved. Yeah. Because if you had to go out there and earn for yourself, you see this is taking care of people, is providing jobs and housing. The rage. And food. Washington didn't free his slaves,

and neither did Jefferson, because they knew the danger that would put them in if they were free. Yes. Because there are some bad owners out there, I knew the danger that would put them in if they were free. Yes. Yes. Because, you know, there are some bad owners out there, but they're individuals who made bad choices. And Jefferson was one of them.

It's just, it's not. Jefferson was one of them. But Sally Hemings was one of the worst. And. No, you don't even. God damn it. No. I asked students recently what kind of consent Sally Hemings could give. And I must say I'm proud.

Most of them said, well, none. She was a slave. It's like, right. Good job. Yes. Good work. You got the hint. There were some who went online and found, I think Sally Hemings and found,

didn't even click on the link and just found that Sally Hemings, while she was a slave, she was able to negotiate. And they put that as their answer. I'm like, nope. No. Sorry, wrong. No, no, you cannot give, you cannot give any consent

if you do not have self sovereignty. The negotiation between the sword and the neck. Yeah, nice. I like that line. So, here's a quote. I believe this is Rothbard. I forgot to say who it was, but I'm pretty sure it's him. As far as I'm concerned, and I think the rest of the movement,

and I think the rest of the movement too, we are anarcho-capitalists. In other words, we believe that capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism. Not only are they compatible, but you really... Sorry, I can't get through this. Not only are they compatible, but you really, sorry, can't get through this. Not only are they compatible,

but you can't really have one without the other. True anarchism will be capitalism and true capitalism will be anarchism. Fucking no. Like, no, no, okay. What the hell? Like no, no, okay Hell Did you ever actually read Adam Smith no like Adam Was any or any anarchist

Right, like I can't I can't speak to anarchism having not read an awful lot of it But I have read Adam Smith and like wrong Like if you were a college student, I'd give you an F on that because clearly you didn't read the source material I'm pretty sure he talked about the invisible hand being regulation Yeah, by government at least part of part of the invisible and being regulation by government like he he spoke at length about the importance of You know rule of law and

And and you know having having an ordered society in order for the capitalist system to work I just remember all of those Spanish anarchists fighting to the death over capitalism, like over intellectual property rights and their investment portfolios. Yeah. They're like the free market demands this. Yeah. It wasn't the fascists that were fighting for that. Yeah. Taking an ideology that is antithetical to all hierarchies and saying that the perfect

manifestation of that ideology is the most hierarchical economic system is, you know. But that's just nature, Dave. That's just nature. Like chimps do it. It's true. I've seen chimps put money into 401ks and you know tank housing markets and put families on the streets So yeah, yeah, I mean, okay, but they do actually attack colobus monkey colonies and and eat them and devour them So on some levels chimps are capitalists. Yes

They're I suppose would that be would that be be imperialist as well quite so because yeah, yeah But we already said that capitalists yes, yeah It's a free market, baby. That's why we're gonna burn this this entire island down so that nutmeg goes up by five cents um oh God when the Dutch aren't the worst um but So the Belgian sir mm-hmm the British sorry it keeps coming back to the By by dent of scale yeah, that kind of has to So okay, so there's every three days that a nation celebrates their independence from the British Empire every six So, okay, so there's- Every three days that a nation celebrates their independence

from the British Empire? Six. Every six. Six days. Yeah. Okay. So according to Roberto Madugno Crochetta, a scholar of Rothbard, she said, quote, defense in the free society, including such defense services to person and property as police protection and judicial findings would therefore have to be supplied by people or firms who a gained their revenue voluntarily rather than by coercion and B did not as the state does state with a capital S arrogate to themselves a compulsory a compulsory monopoly of police or judicial protection. So in a libertarian system, the police and the judicial system have to be voluntary and they

have to charge their own fees. They cannot be coerced via taxation because taxation is theft. be coerced via taxation because taxation is theft. Okay. Yeah. You can, you can maybe start to try to make an illogical argument about like protection of property, like police, you know, private security firms taking on that role. I mean, I could argue that they judiciary do that by practice not by law Yeah, but but the judiciary. Yes. Yes. I mean we also do that too public

Versus you know, there's that but but but the idea that no no that ought to be the only way that's done Right in order for it to be legitimate. It can't be You know can't be a we everybody tips the kitty. Yeah. Yeah. No. That's, and again, feudalism. The feudal lord is the one who makes the judgments because he's the one who has the authority and the monopoly on violence. So- Well, no, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, people who are trusted enough by the society

to come around and do this. Feudalism is where it's, it's obligated to everyone. This is an individual judge just walking around in nature, coming in from the cold and saying, hey, for a night's sleep, I'll judge your cases for you. That's kind of what she's talking about. Or somebody sets themselves up, hangs a shingle, and says, I'll protect your shit,

like Wells Fargo or something, right? Like it's, it's Pinkertons. That's what she's talking about. It is Pinkertons. It's fucking Pinkertons. It's utterly Pinkerton's. Yes And it works No, it fucking doesn't the final battle in this episode shows the success of just such a system volunteerism no government

Saved all these people from the syndicates. Hmm No government saved all these people from the syndicates. Hmm. Yeah, but none of them are taking on the role of the fucking judiciary. I'm sorry. I'm still hung up on the idea that the judiciary. The rain core, the rain core was the judiciary. Right. Yeah.

Oh yeah. All right. Okay. I suppose that's the powerful argument. Filed in the amicus brief. The sheer idiocy of that, like the absolute cloud cuckoo land, how do you think that's going to work without immediately turning into rule by the wealthiest? Because this is my city, these are are my people I will not abandon them Good people will will by virtue of their virtue rise to the top and make these decisions for us

Okay You want to make that argument? But as a libertarian you're also going to point out that socialism is doomed to fail because human nature is flawed right But the exceptional ones like no no no get to the top. So it'll be okay. We'll all be safe when I'm in charge Because I'm exceptional and it's equality of opportunity Carl Icahn was exceptional. He was also a fucking sociopath Who bankrupted multiple companies to line his own goddamn pockets You don't think somebody like that would wind up in that position. I mean want that position

He did that with government regulation it yeah It's you have to understand that exceptional people only do bad things when the government tries to stop them from being exceptional Exactly. It's when they allow them to flourish that they are able to exceptionally rise to the top. That's why we need to take off these regulations. If I couldn't smell sarcasm through my screen from both of you right now, I would be hermityle. The whole last half hour has just been

a ratatat sarcasm. Oh my God. I worry that somebody's gonna pare this down and just grab that quote of me going slavery was good for people It's gonna be like that scene that like the the psycho killer does in that James Woods Michael J Fox movie from me to you from me to you just over and over again. Yeah, oh Cad Baines Penultimate words to Bobo Fett were, look out for yourself, anything else's

weakness. See, he's almost as badass as Boba Fett, and therefore he's almost as correct. That's how it works. But the thing is, he's espousing the bare minimum of what libertarian badassery is. Bane misses the bigger point here, the one that Fett has already made to Fennec Shand. Community chosen by the individual is the ultimate power. And at the end, he says to Fennec Shand, we are not suited for this. And of course, she says, if not us, then who?

And thus ends the book of Boba Fett. Bravo. Yeah. Yeah. Some have greatness thrust upon them. That's yeah. And that is the, again, the, the head that is heavy or the crown is heavy. It is the head that was the crown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very, very much that.

Well, we have to because if we don't look at look at how bad it was, you know, before we came here. You want government to take back over? Yeah. You want these crime syndicates that have government in their pocket? Government is the problem. That's right. Greed is good. Greed is good. Greed is what makes Boba Fett

such a good protector of his community. But also, you know, gotta keep other greed in check because like the water guy. So. Right, yeah, yeah. The right kind of greed is good. Like, yes. And in a call back to that whole Spartan thing he he does not actually live lavishly at all You know yeah, he he has his armor which he maintains, but he never like repaints So it still shows the battle scars, and it's my horn

And he's got it. You know just like a Spartans cloak by the time he was an old man You know that was that was their point of pride was how tattered and beat up is your cloak because you haven't Wasted money on buying a new one. You know it's that same Rugel shit ethos yeah, yeah, no and and he plays with his animal like he's got his rancor. That's true. Yeah, yeah And he plays with his animal like he's got his rancor. That's true. Yeah. Yeah, so So yeah of the three series that we've covered book of Boba Fett was by far the worst both from a production standpoint and Philosophically or he just such a more. Yeah Bant the blue if you will

Yeah But but yeah, there you go. you're both welcome and fuck you both for taking the better ones. Well I can't wait till we do Kenobi as you know a Huguenot polemic. Not here you're not not. You're not not here. You're not. So I think that yeah, we got to got to find something better than that for for Kenobi. Maybe like the. I actually finished watching this series. It took me forever to watch the last couple of episodes just because I never got around

to them. Um, but I finished watching them and, uh, there is, there is so much Catholic imagery and themology and, and shit going on there, um, having to do with, you know, forgiveness and sin and yeah. Yeah. I mean, it isn't, it isn't quite on the same level as you know, you know, the political polemic kind of things that we've been doing so far, but there is definitely a lens that you can view it through for sure. And yeah, I might be working on that. Good. Good. Yeah. So what is everybody gleaned? That I hate libertarians even more now than I did before we should You know cuz because I used to just think well, you know, you're you're annoying and you know You you have this, you know inflated sense of your own intelligence and importance

and while now And yes, and Ed while that is true There's so much worse shit going on there you know in the and Like I can disagree with lots of people from lots of different, you know, philosophical standpoints and still respect the thinking that's behind them, like the ethics and the logic that led to certain, you know, philosophical or political standpoints. But I just can't summon anything but contempt and disdain for libertarianism because it's

all rooted in this 12-year-old boy, 12-year-old capitalist boy View of what you know freedom means I get to do whatever I want you can't stop me And I get to tell you what what you can do because I'm free and And it's all rooted in entitlement, and it's all rooted in I'm the smartest guy in the room No, you're not you're a mediocre fucking white guy, and I'm saying that as a mediocre fucking white guy like say why are you hating on? Mediocre like you know my feelings on me Like I do yeah, yeah Yeah, no and and and I'm not hating on mediocrity. I'm saying all of these guys are mediocre and they think they're

exceptional Yeah, they think they're gonna to be the one who's going to be the feudal warlord and like, no, you're not. You're going to be a farmer like all of your ancestors were before you. You're going to be the guy working the land. Yeah. And it's not just that it's not intellectually honest, it's that the intellectual dishonesty is self-directed. Like there is this level of self-delusion involved in it that I just cannot that I cannot summon any respect for And and and seeing how this show is Wish fulfillment for that and then looking at like that's what you're wishing for

Like this is the guy you want to be yeah, there's there's like There's so vapid. That great quote by Donovan in Indiana Jones in the last crusade. Like is that extent, is that the extent of your vision? Why? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. Um, and, and the, and, and I'm, I'm I guess old enough and I've, I've seen enough stuff now that the other part of it is it's not just that it's, it's shallow and vapid, but it's

so lacking in compassion. Like why do you want to be a dick? You know, why, why do you not want to actually make people's lives better by, you know, fixing shit? Not just like, well, you know, I'm going to impose order because that's manly, but like help people, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

And so much of it is bound up in toxic masculinity that I'm just like, you're your dipshits. All of you are testosterone drunk dipshits. What were you going to say? Yeah. Oh no, I, I, I think that the, you know, there's two, two types of people, the, the people who have faced obstacles in their life and think that everyone else should, and then the people who have faced obstacles in their life and want to try to eliminate those obstacles for others.

And libertarians always fall solely in the former, right? Any obstacle that they have faced and potentially overcome, everyone needs to face obstacles just like that. Right. Because it has made me who I am and I'm, I am great. Right. I was, I was hit as a child. So I'm going to hit my children because I turned out fine. When in fact, if you think that you turned out fine and you want to hit your kids, you didn't actually turn out. You did not. Yeah. No, it's not violence to children. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah, I do think that it's interesting that, you know, both the distributist analysis of Mandalorian and the libertarian analysis of Book of Boba Fett, um, share kernel of that, like self-reliance, individual, rugged individualism, you know, people working in their own self-interest and then, and or being very much a collectivist, the rebellion working together, the prison scene of them all working together, right? That there's so many kind of very, very different perspectives in these two shows. And, and maybe I'm, I'm tooting my own horn because obviously ideologically aligned with one versus the other two, but like just the maturity.

Yeah, right. It's just the maturity level of the shows. It's like wildly out of proportion. You watch Mandalorian and it's very goofy. It's very, very geared towards kids. level of the shows is like you're wildly out of proportion you watch Mandalorian and it's very goofy it's very very geared towards kids book of Oba Fett also very goofy there's a lot of like silly things that you know and then you watch like and or in like every every episode you're just like going for this like emotional ride yeah yeah, that's true. That's very true.

I think there's something to be said also in, okay, so Mandalorian was made up, well, I mean, all the characters made up, but Mandalorian was made up out of whole cloth, like he didn't exist. And so, and it's clearly drawing on a certain aesthetic first and then building a character second, right? And it starts with, here's a guy who's head to toe armor.

What does that mean? What does that do to you? Da da da da. And then Book of Boba Fett was like, hey, y'all really like that. Remember him? So there's, course those two are linked on some levels. Also, you can be in theory self-sufficient and whatnot if you're wearing a body armor and drive your own car. Whereas, and or, there's literally nobody with armor except for the Empire. All the people are there who are exposed hell when they're in the prison they They even don't have shoes To to the point where that's a plot point. Um Nobody's wearing body armor. Nobody's safe and

They're all being ground under the heel of the Empire and finding ways to to poke out Whereas Mandalorian and Bocca Boba Fett are both after the Empire's has crashed Yeah as Mandalorian and Boca Boba Fett are both after the Empire has crashed. But I think it comes down to who's wearing what clothing too, ultimately. And Andor wasn't made up for that series. Andor was, hey, Rogue One was so compelling, let's see how he got there. And he didn't bring any armor there either Right. Oh and and which always is is wild to me cuz like you've killed enough Imperials that you've stolen plenty of outfits Yeah, throw on a breastplate dude like Come on

Like like, you know get some get some ballistic mesh or something My solo at least did that shit like yeah, you know, you know, get some ballistic mesh or something. Han Solo at least did that shit. Yeah, you know. But I do think that when you look at just the aesthetics that they're both pulling from, it makes sense that Andor is going to deal with more vulnerability, more high-stakes stuff, more political thriller because of what it was born from, both aesthetically and plot-wise. Whereas Mandalorian is very much,

we're just gonna follow this guy around and he's gonna take us to cool places in the galaxy. And boy, did he. And then Book of Boba Fett was just fucking missed all the opportunities it could. Oh my God. Mandalorian was born as the idea of an adventure series. Yes.

And or was a espionage leading into war flick. Yeah. You know, you know, a French resistance thriller. Yeah. And Book of Boba Fett couldn't really figure out what it wanted to be. I think it did. And it made the wrongest choice possible. It wanted to be bad. Yeah.

It succeeded. Yeah. Yeah, well, there you go. But yeah, and also I wouldn't invite a guest on to do the shittiest of the work. So you picked my acknowledged favorite. I think it's Ed's acknowledged favorite as well. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And yeah. So and you're also not wrong. Like, you know, but it's like you're right. But here's why that's qualified. You know? Yeah. Oh, but cool. OK, well, what are we telling folks to read this week? Cool. OK, well, what are we telling folks to read this week? Go for it. No, go ahead, please. I picked up a book actually at Beers books a couple of weeks ago called Equality, An American Dilemma by Charles Postel.

He's one of my favorite US historians. I actually took- The professor at Sac State. Yep, SF State, SF State. He's at SF State now? He was at SF State when I went to SF State. Is he the guy that works a lot on the reconstruction era? Yes.

Yeah, he's at Sac State now. I took a class from him at Sac State. Oh, okay. Well, I took two classes from him at Sac State. Oh, okay. Well, I took two classes from him at SF State. So I love him. He's a great, great teacher. And I think that him and Eric Foner are definitely up there with my top US historians.

But this particular book is about post, so during Reconst know, recently freed enslaved folks and women and farm workers, and their kind of points of interest and intersection with their fights for equality within the context of post-Civil War U.S. And it's, I have not finished it yet, but I can already recommend it because I'm about halfway through and it's fantastic. And I think anyone interested in the topic of equality and it's kind of many starts and sputtering along the way, we'll find this book interesting. Yeah. All right.

And you're right, by the way, Charles Postel is at SF State now. So he's no longer at my alma mater. No longer a hornet. Yeah. Now a hornet. So my recommendation is a book entitled The Cutting Off Way, Indigenous Warfare in Eastern North America 1500 to 1800 by Wayne E. Lee. And it is a study of military history during that time period as warfare was practiced amongst native peoples based on the idea that all of the history or the overwhelming majority of the history that we have of these things has come from the point of view of colonists.

And they brought European ideas of the way wars ought to be fought and then applied moral and other kind of judgmental views onto their observation of the way indigenous peoples fought with one another. And so what Lee is doing is going back through all sorts of records and historical sources to try to develop a less colonist description and definition of the topic and to write a history of these things from a more native point of view, which is fascinating for somebody who is a military history buff and who recognizes that all of that was written by, you know, people who were not part of those cultures. And I think in the reason I think of it as a recommendation here is because of the theme that kept coming up of Boba Fett joining the Tuscan raiders and the fetishization and dances with wolves whole thing going on there.

I think this is a good history that works to try to undo that Interpretation or that characterization of native peoples There you go, how about you well, I Want to recommend a palate cleanser with all okay fat with all this With all this Boba Fett, with all this selfishness, I would recommend Spider-Man and Philosophy, the Web of Inquiry. And it's one of those pop culture philosophy books, and it's from the Black Wolf Philosophy

and Pop Culture collection. If ever there was an antithesis to Boba Fett, it would be Spider-Man. Hmm. Which is interesting because I think both could get away with saying with great power comes great responsibility. But how they express it. But the subtext would be completely different. Exactly. It's yeah, it you know, you can dig into what Aristotle

said, what was Socrates said, what, you know, David Hume said, and stuff like that as regards Spider-Man, and I think that you could find somebody with extraordinary powers doing the humane thing, acting toward the mediocre of us, instead of insisting on their own exceptionalism as being the rule. So that's what I recommend. So where can folks find you, Ed, if at all?

I cannot be found at present, but we collectively can be found at our website at www.geekhistorytime.com. We can also be found, you have already found us somewhere, either on the Amazon podcast app or on the Apple podcast app or on Stitcher or Spotify wherever it is that you found us please take the time to subscribe and give us the five-star review that you know this episode deserves and where can you be found sir? You could find me, let's see. Let's say the first Friday in June and July and August. So we're talking June 7, July 5, and August 2 at Comedy Spot in Sacramento, 9 PM, $12 tickets. Come and check out Capital Punishment. Come and spin that wheel, see us do

what we do best, which is slinging puns and making people laugh. And Gabriel, where can people find you if you want to be found? People can find book reviews that I have done and continue to do on my book review Instagram account, which is Mr. UnderscoreCheese, UnderscoreBook, UnderscoreClub. And hopefully by the time this episode comes out, I will be very close to a trip to the UK, Ireland, Scotland, and I'll be posting a bunch of pictures that people can enjoy living vicariously. Yep. Nice.

Very cool. Well, Gabriel, thank you for being here with us for Andor, for the Mandalorian and most of all, for Book of Boba Fett, because that was no treat. But it's been really fun catching up with you and talking Star Wars and bringing different philosophies to bear on at all. So yeah, thanks so much much for joining us for this. Thank you. It's been great. Well, for A Geek History of Time, I'm Damian Harmony.

And I'm Ed Blalock. And until next time, keep rolling 20s.