"Only a Sith deals in absolutes"

[DireStrike]

Is itself an absolute.

Isn't it?

[derby378]

1. I had the same thought...

It's sorta like Sextus Empiricus' old argument: "To say that there are no absolutes is to postulate that at least one absolute exists - namely, that absolutes don't exist."

Obi-wan's heart is in the right place - Anakin's moral polarity and corruption seems to be the issue here. But there is that small caveat...

[slackmaster]

2. Yes, that remark struck me as, what's the right term for it?

Self-contradictory?

It fits in well with the essential dilemma faced by the Jedi, hinted at their fallability. Was the irony a result of bad writing or good writing? The movie has so much of both I really cannot say.

However, I have made that quote my personal motto. It works well for some technical support questions. For example, someone at my company's customer help desk may call me (system admin) and ask if a certain Web-based product is up. Often the site is sort of, kind of up but not 100% functional or 100% reliable.

If the CS person demands a concrete yes-or-no answer, I now say "Only the Sith deal in absolutes". As time goes by and more of them see the film, they'll understand me.

[DireStrike]

3. Good writing or bad writing

indeed. "Youngling"? One use of that word was more than enough...

[slackmaster]

4. Youngling sounds like something you'd dip in beer batter and deep-fry

Fried younglings with hushpuppies!

:hide:

[nytemare]

5. Saying one statement that is absolute doesn't make one entirely absolute

In this case, the shoe fit. I know a few people who "split", only deal with life in black and white. Bush is big on that, as we all know! That is why I liked the comment.

That may have been my favorite line in the film. If Obi Wan totally dealt in absolutes, then I would say he was a hypocrite for making that statement(sort of like Bush downing tyrants), but he didn't.

:)

[DireStrike]

6. Ah, but what is the nature of "dealing" with absolutes?

How many instances does it take? Everything? Not even the most hardened sith lord can see EVERYTHING in absolutes.

If one were accused of "dealing" in a criminal activity, it would only take one proven instance to make the statement true.

I like to think, though, that this only proves that the jedi are fallible, as one poster said. They are not the zenith of virtue, they merely strive to attain it.

[nytemare]

7. Yes...I agree with the fallible, Obi tells Anakin that he failed him

and Yoda said that he had failed as well.

I see where you are coming from.

:)