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The UF community seems to be more open to alternative points of view and more willing to give constructive criticism (rather than just flames) than most, so I thought I would address this to them. I am interested to learn what others think of my theory - do I make sense or am I completely off base?

Much has been written about The Phantom Menace being chock-a-block full of racial stereotypes: the junk-store owner is the money-grubbing Jew, Jar Jar is the bumbling black kid, the Trade Federation is the evil Asian, and on and on. This was all news to me, however, as I didn't pick up on this at all. I've been thinking about it for awhile, and I've come to the conclusion that the reason I didn't pick up on this is I wasn't really exposed to these stereotypes growing up. I didn't watch much television or movies growing up (and what I did was pretty much Disney and public television), and my parents were very careful to foster an everyone-is-as-good - as-everyone-else atmosphere. Additionally, I think race and religion is less of a differentiating factor for my generation than it has been previous generations. The civil-rights marches were over, Vietnam was over, society was (in varying degrees) making a go at getting along, and what color your skin was or what church you went to did not matter so much.

So my question is: Is TPM racist or does it just contain characters that can be viewed as racist stereotypes? If you didn't know the money-grubbing Jew stereotype would you automatically know (as many people seem to have known) that the junk-store owner was obviously a money-grubbing Jew? I saw the junk-store owner as the typical money-grubbing store owner (I've run in to plenty of white Protestant storekeepers that were worse), Jar Jar as the typical bumbling sidekick (Barney Fife comes to mind; I'm as much or more of a klutz than Jar Jar), and the Trade Federation as the in-over - their-head-idiots-who -think- they-are-being - really-clever-but-actually-are-being - manipulated-by-someone - really-really-evil bad guys. If TPM had been published as a book before being made into a movie, would all these accusations still be made? Or is it a case of people finding stereotypes because they want to? Would a six-year old kid see TPM and automatically see these stereotypes? I don't think so.

George Lucas says he did not intentionally create these characters as racial stereotypes and I'm inclined to believe him. There are generally at least two sides to any story and in this case I think there are multiple ways to view these characters. One way is what Lucas says he intended (as characters who have certain qualities because that's what the story demands) and one is as racist stereotypes (the junk-store owner has a big nose because he's a money-grubbing Jew, and "everyone knows" that Jews have big noses). Even if (as has been posited) Lucas unconsciously styled his characters using these stereotypes because he grew up with them at the Saturday matinees, that doesn't mean we have to view them that way. The best way I can think of to stamp out stereotypes is to just ignore them, not to point them out to children. We can't perpetuate something we don't know exists.

This is NOT to say we should ignore people perpetuating stereotypes. However, we can ignore the stereotype and simply say "It's not right to make fun of people or put them down because of what color their skin is or what their religion is or some other attribute". This hoopla reminds me of many church-going-folk's reaction when the movie The Last Temptation of Christ came out. The movie itself was pretty much a flop but would have done much worse if not for all the publicity given to it by people saying "This is a sacrilegious movie!" Similarly, I think most people, especially the kids and SW fans TPM was aimed at, would be oblivious to these alleged stereotypes if not for all the energy people have put into telling everybody else they exist. The world would be a much better place if all that energy had been put into helping children's natural acceptance of other people and obliviousness to potential separating factors permeate the rest of the world.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with the idea.

The final day of LinuxWorld was awesome from foosball to folly n'frivolity, and ferreting for loot all around. We are a community, and a strong one at that. It is sometimes hard to say goodbyes, but blessed we are with the Net to keep us in touch and continue to unite us. I am sorry to have left so many wonderful people after having such a short time to spend with them, but I bring back with me new ideas, and a strong sense of union which I will share with you all soon as I can. Until then, I am going to finish up with a bit of work, and catch some sleep (and dream about an O2). There is just no energy left in me for Quake, well...maybe a bit :)

I have met so many of the high geeked, and you know something neat, these people are all just like me. The sense of community here is wonderful, encouraging and incredible. I have shook hands, delivered so many awesome hugs and participated in conversations with respect to Linux, the Open Source movement, the importance of the Geek Community, and our responsibilities within it. Not only has this show been a showcase of what Linux is capable of, it is a summit,the informal (and best kind) of those involved. It is of note that every one of the "summit" delegates was walking around with a Dust Puppy button pinned over their hearts.

We are heading home, back to Vancouver tonight, tired, but refreshed to have had the times of our lives.

A new update will be coming a little later.

On technical matters, we had a brief outage today that caused UF to serve up an older version of the Static. The problem was fixed and all is well. Also, for those of you who have been sending in the few bug reports, rest assured the problems have been either fixed or are being fixed.

The UF Road Gang will be on a plane back to Vancouver tomorrow, and we aren't likely to get home until quite late, perhaps after midnight. More tomorrow!

The booth drew a lot of traffic (at a couple of points there were four or five rows of UFies deep surrounding us) and we got to meet a bunch of very cool people, including channel regulars like Ducky and Bear and Bugged. Moe and xinit, the brains behind the UFie BBS (see Items of Note below for more info) also came by, as well as Lisha, Pommie...uhh...it's late and I know I've forgotten a few dozen people. :-O

My heartfelt thanks to Kethryvis, Arcterex, Sillz and Godmoma for working so hard at the booth for us. Special thanks go to Iambe, who really pulled out all of the stops and put her heart and soul into running and organizing the chaos that inevitably comes with trade shows. She also got interviewed live by Ziff-Davis television (check out the ZDTV site - no URL handy), who broadcast the clip across the net. Way to go, Garden Variety Goddess. :)