Yea, pretty much this. This post in defense of the Jedi reminds me of the Playing Devil’s Advocate for the Sith – Are They Evil? post. Yes, yes the Sith are evil, not the Jedi. Here’s why:
Source: americankimchi
In Defense of The Jedi
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Thank you for this classic example of the failure of exclusivity of thought.
Recognizing that the Jedi are evil in their own way doesn’t in any way have to mitigate recognition of the evil of the Sith. Only those drawn to absolutes think that way; and who in the Star Wars Universe is like that, exactly? Evil is not an absolute. The real world is not black and white, but filled with innumerate shades; and that’s as true in ethics and morality as in anything else. And if the real world is like that, then we should expect no less of a fantasy one.
Just because the Sith are evil, doesn’t make the Jedi good. Evil can go in multiple directions at the same time, and two evils are perfectly capable of being each other’s worst enemies. Additionally, there’s the factor of degrees of evil; and the Jedi are definitely less of an evil than are the Sith. But being less evil doesn’t automatically make the Jedi good. A great many evil people see themselves as good, and their actions, however morally indefensible, as necessary. The Jedi definitely fit into that category, because State-sanctioned forced kidnap and indoctrination of Force-sensitive children ‘for the greater good’ does not a good guy make.
Acknowledging the evil of the Jedi does not result in a dismissal of the evil of the Sith by default. It merely acknowledges that those with good intentions can be less than pure and noble in their pursuit of a noble ideal, and become in a lesser measure a shadow of the very thing they set themselves to fight. There’s an old saying on this very point that one would do well to consider here: “Beware the shadow you chase isn’t the one you cast.”
By the end of the Republic era, the Jedi have forgotten this. And because they have forgotten this, they have become their own form of evil: through the slow creep of politics, and meditative indifference to the rights of the children they kidnap or the parents whose children they take away. Is this less evil than the Sith? Sure. Is this therefore good? Not remotely.
Do the Jedi kidnap children? I don’t recall that ever being shown in the movies.
Keep in mind, the one time we see a child being brought into the order, Qui-Gon, despite having won Anakin from his owner, made sure to ask both Anakin and his mother if they were okay with this.