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This isn't directly related to the OP, but there's a bit in E3, near the end, where Obiwan says to Anakin "Only the Sith deal in absolutes". Then later on, he says the absolute statement "The Sith are evil", to which Anakin responds "From my perspective, the Jedi are evil." Not only is this terrible writing, it shows the Jedi philosophy as inconsistent.

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This line has made me laugh/driven me nuts since the first time I saw the movie — "Only the Sith deal in absolutes" is itself an absolute.

This isn't inconsistent with the purpose of the films. Like the other Jedi, Obi-Wan is a flawed character through the first three films. He doesn't live up to the pacifist and altruistic ideals of the Jedi in many, many ways. Lucas stresses this with a number of cinematic parallels to Luke in Empire.

This is why the ending of III is in sharp contrast to the ending of VI: Obi-Wan goes to kill rather than confront and forgive Anakin as a true Jedi presumably would. Even Yoda makes this mistaken in attacking Palpatine -- although he seems the only character aware of why he failed after the fact.

I'd not noticed this, despite the obscene number of times I've seen the film. Perhaps it IS related to the OP though, I wonder if anyone has done a study on the levels of internal consistency shown by the philosophies of psychopaths and non-psychopaths?

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