Anghraine

Yeah, I think Vader re: Alderaan is about on the moral level of Han re: slavery -- they're complicit at some level (and I think we can safely say Han saw plenty of Oolas and, given he's basically a decent person, found it repulsive) for being part of the system and not doing anything, but not directly responsible since they didn't actually want it to happen. So at least marginally defensible where something like the torture isn't.

I got the feeling that Tatooine is a bit like the Old West (aside of the obvious visual parallels in ANH, of course) -- maybe technically falling within its borders, but so far on the fringes that the Republic has no functional authority; the Empire has more by ANH, but it still seems largely lawless (and in the script, there's a very *gasp* *horror* response to the Empire's tightening control).

I haven't seen the PT in awhile, but I'm wondering if slavery is illegal in the Republic, or if it's more that it's illegal in most of the systems and generally disapproved of, but for political reasons or something it's never been outlawed in the Republic as a whole. So Qui-Gon could have run across it every now and then on Republic business, enough to be largely indifferent to it when we see him.

Heeeh, thanks!