Philosophical Question re Construction Workers on the "Death Star"

[Yavin4]

If a person took a construction job on the Death Star, was it morally wrong for them to die in the attack or is it a risk that you take when you work for evil even though your intentions are benign?This question was raised in the movie, "Clerks", and it was funny. However, there really is a deep ethical question in this.

My guess is that those construction jobs on the Death Star paid a good wage with some decent benefits. Can you imagine the number of toilets and showers that had to be installed? Never mind the high tech weaponry.

[DS1]

1. Right about now, in a galaxy not far enough away

they're called Halliburton

[Aristus]

2. Star Wars geek answer:

The Death Star was built using slave labor in orbit around a remote asteroid called Despayr (yes, that's right.) When workers are compelled against their will to build something, even a superweapon, they are absolved of guilt for the deaths it causes. Same is true of the V-weapons of Nazi Germany; they were built using slave labor from the concentration camps. The laborers were not responsible for the deaths the V-weapons caused in London, Paris and Antwerp.

[Yavin4]

3. Still, You Have to Have Some Craftsmen, No?

A slave won't know how to install a toilet. That takes a skilled craftsman to do it. And, you're going to need a top notch network and telecom engineer to make sure that the computers can talk to one another. I mean a forced slave won't be able to do that.

[Aristus]

4. Well, depending on the system of slavery in place, skilled craftsmen

can play a part. Many of the slaves of the Roman Empire were skilled craftsmen who for one reason or another became slaves; either through capture in warfare or by selling themselves into slavery to earn some quick cash for a hungry family and opportunities to use their skills in prosperous parts of the Empire.

I'm sure the Galactic Empire enslaved some skilled workers. If you know your Star Wars universe, you know that the Empire was Fascistic in nature. Powerful corporations supported the Imperial powers in order to receive lucrative contracts for ships and weapons systems. But it is entirely possible that the corporations themselves utilized slave labor in order to cut costs and increase profits. Not unlike the Bush Crime Empire.

[northzax]

36. right, Anakin was a slave, recall

and he was certainly skilled labour.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. No, dude - it was all pre-fab.

Just pop it together like legos.

[texas1928]

17. Did not need toilets.

I never saw any one go to the bathroom. So in the future, there will be no need for us to potty.

[Yavin4]

20. We Saw Them Drink. Therefore, They Needed Bathrooms

We saw them eat and drink, so therefore they would need bathrooms.

[texas1928]

We saw them eat and drink...

But no one ever need to make a pit stop.

[derby378]

26. "TK-421, why aren't you at your post?"

"Stay away from the Tatooine nachos at the commissary, man - they'll rip you a new one - oooooohhh..."

[Javaman]

21. In the time of star wars, they did away with toilets and went straight to

Empire Depends!

[lildreamer316]

33. Droid/drone army; right?

Oh; I probably am completely off here. Sorry.

[texas1928]

35. No the Clones, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Obi Wan just about everyone...

Never went to the potty.

[skygazer]

38. It takes a skilled craftsman to install a toilet?

Do you work for the government?

Seriously - I think I just earned the label "skilled craftsman." What kind of certification do I get for changing my own water pump?

[NewJeffCT]

18. I don't think that's the exact question

If it was mostly built by slaves, I think most would agree that the slaves are morally absolved of having helped to build it.

However, is it okay for the rebels to destroy the Death Star is those slaves are still on board? Or, how about Death Star 2 from "Return of the Jedi"? That was still being built...

[northzax]

37. it's the same question the allies faced in WWII, actually

do you bomb a factory with slave labour that is being used to build weapons to attack you?

and the answer is: yes. the greater good outweighs the casualties of war.

[rug]

5. It was not morally wrong to kill them becauses, slaves or not, they were preparing to kill.

Signed - GWB

[Deep13]

6. Answer if it was a real situation:

For the rebellion to survive and have a chance at establishing free society, the Death Star had to be destroyed. Allowing it to exist would permit Bush, er, I mean the Emperor, to solidify his power to the point of unassailability. There were no friendly foreigners to count on or other things that could have allowed the rebels to regroup the way the French did in WW2. It was either destroy DS or live in tyrany forever. The rebellion had no choice but to attack. That is how war is. It is the sacrific of everything that makes us reasonable in favor of raw, brute force and its stakes are survival stakes.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Destroying the Death Star, and killing al the innocents, is morally justifiable.

Not having tossed Jar Jar Binks into first is NOT morally justifiable, but that's neither here nor there.

Not to destroy the Death Star would lead to the oppression and likely deaths of billions, probably hundreds of billions, and most probably trillions of sentient life forms.

It was worth the deaths of a few hundred thousand potentially innocent people to save trillions.

[Deep13]

9. What if the rebels attack while the workers are away on spring break?

:shrug:

[Shakespeare]

10. According to Eddie Izzard....

The death star was filled with nothing but British actors, and therefore expendable under American standards of morality. ;-)

[Forkboy]

24. 'Wet tray...wet tray...wet tray..."

"What,did you guys dry these in the rain forest?"

[Shakespeare]

25. penne a la arrabiatta...

GREAT bit.

[Forkboy]

30. Eddie is the best and most intelligent comedian still living.

Maybe of all time,though I admit to always having a spot for Bill Hicks.

[supernova]

11. They are obviously Blackwater employees!

[underpants]

15. ACtually this funny question does bring the issue of outsourcing the military

In"Blackhawk down" the soldiers who go out to rescue them are helicopter mechanics and cooks. Today those jobs are largely done by contracted civilians so the option of a worst case scenario or of defending a base from being overrun is out of the question.

[taterguy]

12. Ahem, spoiler alert please

Some of haven't gotten around to seeing those movies yet

[Yavin4]

19. It's Been Thirty Years Already

Come on.

[taterguy]

27. I'm waiting for the extra extra special edition DVD

Doesn't Lucas crank out a new Edition every couple of years to milk more money from the franchise

[mitchum]

22. LMAO!!!

nicely done :)

[Connonym]

13. Is it immoral that solidiers in W's war die?

Is it wrong that any innocent dies for a cause? Yeah, I think so. But that doesn't mean that the person who kills them is necessarily evil for doing so. Collateral damage is a dehumanizing way of putting it but the reality is that sometimes it's inevitable.

[RetroLounge]

14. What does this have to do with global warming?

:shrug:

RL

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. The Death Star construction workers were all registered sex offenders.

They were from Sex Offendia VII.

(that's an obscure bit of obscure Star Wars trivia, but true!)

Therefore, they got what was coming to them.

The construction workers on the second Death Star were from Insurance Frauth.

Which would be more ambiguous, but the second Death Star is stupid and unoriginal, so they deserved to die too.

[MnFats]

31. Imagine Clint Eastwood playing Obi-Wan......

"We all got it coming, Kid."

actually, I would pay to see the Star Wars series with Clint Eastwood as Obi-Wan.

[NewJeffCT]

39. "Hey Darth"

"Do you feel lucky? Come on now, do ya?"

And, while I know Alec Guiness hated the role, I thought he was perfect for the part, and Ewan McGregor was terrific as a young Obi-Wan. (I have a lot of criticisms of episodes 1, 2 and 3, but not that bit of casting!)

[Javaman]

23. Just imagine being one of those workers up on a girder having lunch

talking about going for a space beer with one of your green eyed oranged skinned space buddies when out of the corner of your eye you see a huge attack force of x-wings flying right at you. Damn, that would really suck. I mean do their health plans cover this sort of stuff?

Imagine being the IT guy for the death star? no thanks.

[cemaphonic]

28. The IT guy deserved to be killed for incompotence.

Here is this gigantic, expensive space station, designed to be the ultimate weapons platform, and its automated security systems were defeated by a grotty old hermit and a second-hand astromech droid so banged up it was afforable to farmers.

Not that the physical security arrangements were any better, mind you.

[Yavin4]

32. Obviously, The Empire Was Running MS Windows Operating Systems

Evil contracts with evil.

[MedleyMisty]

29. Did they choose to work on it with the full knowledge of what it was for?

I tend to think that sin is only sin if you're aware of it and consciously and with your full faculties choose to engage in it.

But even if they did consciously choose to work on it, they still wouldn't deserve to die. No one deserves to die. I wouldn't feel that much sympathy for them, but I wouldn't be cheering their deaths either.

[ghostsofgiants]

34. For those who have no idea what Yavin4 is talking about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6lzEhoXads