One of my favorite things from The Last Jedi is Rose Tico’s line, “That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.” Unfortunately for me, neither TLJ, nor Rose, nor this line seem to have been well-received by the larger audience. Having followed the run up to the release of TLJ, I was aware of the likely political leanings of the Rian Johnson (writer and director of TLJ) so I was surprised at this sentiment. Snoke was likened to Trump, the First Order was likened to the alt-right and neo-Nazis. The Canto Bight sequence is meant to, among other things, cast aspersions on the super-wealthy. Having heard some of Johnson’s statements before seeing TLJ, I wondered if he might also be a hard-Left Identitarian. Rose’s line is anything but.
I am, possibly, an Individualist. I don’t know the definition of that, but I believe in maintaining the most freedom to people as long as they aren’t hurting others. It is immoral to attack and police people for their words and thoughts. Luke entertained doing that with Ben and it lead to so much pain amd suffering. Luke was right to throw down his laser sword when he confronted Vader on the second Death Star. That’s kind of what my intention is. I am going to live my best life and teach my children to do the same. I’ll call out evil where I see it, but my focus is to build up as much good as I can, otherwise the Empire will just come back again, in a more insidious form.
Let go of the hate. Make yourself a refuge for the oppressed and injured. Support and build sanctuaries to foster healing.
MJ Muñoz 