Speak Up, Speak Out!

(Originally Written for Jedi News)

So it’s been a while since I typed anything out. I will admit that everything about Force Awakens kind of burnt me out on Star Wars for a while, for the second time. Not to mention a couple of major personal upheavals that I won’t bother you with.

I will say that in general, it’s becoming increasingly difficult not to retread old ground when I talk about Star Wars. I’ve mentioned many times, in fact, that sometimes I feel like I’ve said what I had to say. Unfortunately, while there is still hate against George Lucas and his vision from those who claim to be fans of Star Wars, and even within his own former company, I can’t just stay quiet.

Well, I should just say “WE” can’t stay quiet. Because it’s really not about me, is it?

We live in an age where someone can share something as innocuous and unimportant as their daily meal and have it gain worldwide attention. Surely I’m not the only one with a blog or some other medium to get the word out?

I and people like me have been putting ourselves on the line for years, opening ourselves up to the haters. And I’m glad to see more and more people not being afraid to post similar views. If I’ve been right all this time that the he-man-Lucas-haters are actually the minority, then we need to prove it to mainstream geekdom.

To all my readers who feel the same, write your own articles! Blog and reblog until the internet is flooded with I-III love! Go into stores and ask if they have anything from your favorite Star Wars movie (provided of course your favorite is Phantom, Clones, or Sith, otherwise you’ll find what you’re looking for without help).

Now, you may say to me, “But Adam, won’t people push back if I’m annoying them?” Well, yes, so do your best not to annoy them. Share your knowledge if asked, but don’t be militant or smug about it if you can at all help it. Just act like liking I-III and George Lucas is the most natural thing in the world. Because, of course, it is. And be careful to point out that you respect someone’s opinion if they happen to not like it – just remind them that their negative opinion doesn’t make it a “bad movie”. Be polite, but be VOCAL!

Oh, and in case I need to remind anyone, absolutely no bashing Force Awakens. As much as many of us were disappointed with it, many of us were not. We don’t want to become what we hate, we need to be better than them and express our negative opinions and feelings in a respectful way – even if they don’t.

I know this sounds a lot like what we’ve been doing, and we saw how well that worked. The difference is that at some point a lot of us left it alone because we frankly had better things to do than argue over a damn movie or three. This time, we need to not give in. Hell, the current state of things happened because the haters repeated their negativity and misinformation enough that the global discussion bought it, so why can’t it work with positivity and truth?  I’ve been using my voice for years, as have many others in this little circle of I-III bloggers. Now it’s up to all of you readers who agree to use your voices too. Let them ring out.

As for me, my writing may become rarer, but it will never completely go away. I’ll still try to put a thought down or two when I deem it original enough. I’m also available to JediNews or any other organization to join discussions, chats, podcasts, whatever any time, any place. Finally, I stand by my statement from 2012: Give me a criticism of I-III, and I’ll tell you how it’s either A) a subjective opinion having nothing to do with the objective quality of the work, B) a misinterpretation or misrepresentation of what’s going on screen and/or behind the scenes, or C) something IV-VI does constantly, as well as any number of popular “geek” films and franchises. If you don’t know how to argue a point, send it to me and I’ll do a piece on it if I haven’t already.