In the greatest of the “Star Wars” movie series, “The Empire Strikes Back,” in its most famous scene, after Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker, “I am your father,” Vader asks Luke to join him in ruling the galaxy. Vader says, “it is your destiny.” Luke, exercising free will, tells Vader, “I will never join you,” and drops into the depths of the Death Star.
In the film “Lawrence of Arabia,” after making an almost impossible trek at night across the Nefud desert, Lawrence discovers his Arab colleague, Gasim, has fallen off his camel, and says he’s going back because Gasim will die in the heat of the day. Sharif Ali tells Lawrence not to risk returning into the Nefud. And about Gasim’s almost certain death Sherif Ali says, “It is written.” In other words, it was Gasim’s destiny to die. Lawrence replies angrily, “nothing is written,” exercises his free will, and chooses to go back into the Nefud in the daytime to find Gasim, which, of course, he does.
If one’s future is determined by destiny or by the Koran, free will is negated. Freud believed in psychic determinism, or the theory that a person’s makeup is determined by how they were treated as a child, a theory that also denies free will. If anyone believes in determinism of any kind, they do not believe that people have free will, that they have a conscious power to make choices. If people’s behavior and actions are predetermined, then we can’t hold them accountable for the choices they make.
Determinists would say that Hitler’s murder of six million Jews was because Germans and Austrians were virulently anti-Semitic, because he was brutally beaten as a child, and because he was over indulged by an adoring mother. In other words, as Han Solo said in “The Empire Strikes Back,” when the Millenium Falcon failed to jump to hyperspace, “it’s not my fault.”
But we must hold malignant narcissists such as Hitler, Stalin, and Trump responsible for their behavior. They made choices and they must be held accountable. They can’t say, “it’s not my fault.” It is their fault. They made their choices. They could have made different, humane, compassionate choices, but they didn’t, so they must be held accountable.
Most rational historians have held Hitler and Stalin accountable for their crimes against humanity. Chair Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney of the House January 6 Attack Committee are making a devastatingly effective case holding Trump accountable for inciting a riot that attempted to overturn a free and fair election. Trump is accountable for his crimes against humanity (e. g. separating children from their families at the border).
Great movies such as “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Lawrence of Arabia” tell stories that contain universal truths. Like the truth of myths, they tell us how to live our lives. One of the truths of great movies and myths is that “nothing is written,” that we have free will to choose good or evil. and when we make the wrong choices we will be held accountable.
Trump must be indicted, convicted, and sent to jail. “Star Wars” and “Lawrence of Arabia” were right, Freud was wrong.
