Before reading through Burke’s “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s “Battle” I never knew the dramatic parallels between Hitler’s rule over Germany and the Empires rule in Star Wars after the third episode. First and foremost they both are called stormtroopers. Then above them are the Imperial officers uniform that resembles German officers uniforms with tight-fitting shirts, big belt buckles, and lapel symbols to classify rank and awards. Next, we can look at the leadership, Senator Palpatine assumes the rule of chancellor before he becomes emperor just like like Hitler’s role as chancellor before he became a dictator. There is a striking similarity to ‘Order 66’, when the stormtroopers eliminate the Jedi, and the Holocaust when Nazis eliminated the non-germans. And lastly, both Hitler and Chancellor Palpatine used Projection Devices to get people on their side. Palpatine used the story of the Sith Lord who could save everyone’s life but his own to persuade Anakin to join the dark side, and Hitler used readings and teaching from the old testament to persuade people to join him.
In a translation of Hitler’s works, Hitler Claims “Preventing the division of the attention of a people, and always in concentrating it on a single enemy. The more uniformly the fighting of a people is put into action.”(193). For knowing what Hitler has did in his lifetime forces me to take all this reading with a grain of salt. He then continues to say “It is part of the genius of a great leader to make adversaries of different fields appear as always belonging to one category only, because to weak and unstable characters the knowledge …[of] enemies will lead only too easily to incipient doubts.”(193). By assigning inhuman characteristics can make justifying his actions easier when he claims “attitude of primitive races towards their rules recalls a mechanism which is universally present in mental disturbances and openly revealed in… persecution”(214).
By all means, I am not agreeing with Hitler’s beliefs nor do I support him or his beliefs in any way shape or form, but I want to acknowledge his persuasive abilities. He was able to rise to power and gain support from his countryman based on his misconceptions and hard feelings after World War I. But once I looked deeper into his persuasive techniques it is very similar to Darth Vader’s. They both gained support by the use of force and fear inflicted on others. By inflicting this fear they were able to control their so-called “supporters”. The first quote I picked because it was interesting. By preventing people from deciding their attention and focusing it all on a single enemy was the best way for Hitler to gain his power. In essence, he unified the people to all belief one common goal, then strived to accomplish this goal. This is a lot like some problem-solving activities done in schools where a group of people works together for a common goal. Another persuasive tactic he uses is almost like an illusion were Hitler wants people to believe that the leaders are all from one group of people with similar backgrounds. The Empire does this by unifying its people with false hopes through empty promises of prosperity and power. Lastly, he downgrades his enemies to promote animal-like qualities amongst them, making them an easier target. By the association of “primitive races” makes them automatically seem as if they are not human and are below you based on their race.
