High Human Culture

High Human Culture, also calledHuman High Culture andHigh Imperial Culture orHuman Supremacy, was a culture implemented by theGalactic Empire as part of its codified policy ofHumanocentricspeciesism. It centered around the belief thathumans were inherently superior to otherspecies.

History[]

The Emperor's New Order was founded on the belief that diversity fostered instability, and its architects maintained that the Republic's collapse resulted from conflicting agendas that could only be resolved through a unified vision. This vision, they argued, should be shaped by Humanity, as Humans had founded the original Republic and ultimately ensured the galaxy's survival. Consequently, non-Humans were often viewed as incompatible with the New Order's objectives and were marginalized within the Empire's power structure.^[3]

There were several undertones that carried over intoanti-droid sentiment and anti-femalechauvinism, which also manifested against Human females, who were almost universally barred from the higher echelons of power in the Empire's military and government. Exceptions includedAdmiralDaala of theImperial Navy (promoted in secret byGrand MoffTarkin), AdmiralBetl Oxtroe, IntelligenceDirectorYsanne Isard,CaptainUwlla Iillor of theBlack Asp, and the highly decorated PilotJuno Eclipse.

Those not meeting the standards of Human High Culture were marked as beingNon-huMan.

At the time of the foundation of theGalactic Empire, there were several active, minority populist groups onCoruscant that advocated concepts of Human supremacy. These were quickly assimilated into the nascentCOMPNOR. Their views were then coalesced into a coherent vision primarily byCrueya Vandron,Ishin-Il-Raz, andSate Pestage.

The chief tenet of Human High Culture was that Humans were the only truly intelligent and productive members of any society. They cited that it was almost exclusively Humans who had formed and led theOld Republic and the Human worlds of the Core were some of the oldest, richest, and most advanced in the galaxy.

As such, through the repealing of such laws as theRights of Sentience and the creation of new acts, all nonhumans were made second-class citizens (if citizens at all). Non-Human slavery was re-legalized, and the Emperor's New Order cajoled theSenate into repealing antislavery laws, passing legislation that discouraged or outright restricted aliens from leaving their native worlds, declared entire species property of the Empire, and imposed stiff tariffs on alien-owned businesses that attempted to engage in commerce with anyone but Imperial-controlled institutions. Within a few years, Humans andNear-Humans came to dominate nearly every aspect of interstellar trade and politics.^[3]

With the Empire persecuting many alien species, especially small groups settled on primarily Human worlds, many aliens flee to secret enclaves. These hidden communities sometimes operatedshadowports to sustain themselves and maintain clandestine starship traffic.^[4]

Only 'pure' (i.e., those made exclusively by Humans and with no help from nonhumans) works of art (such as operas,holovids, or books) were allowed to be produced, viewed, and spread, since only Human culture was worthy enough to be allowed to prosper in theNew Order. Non-Humans were 'actively discouraged' to participate in government or join the Imperial military, and Humangovernors andmoffs were placed in command of nonhuman worlds and sectors. There were loopholes, however: if non-Humans and Near-humans were devoted enough toEmperorPalpatine, and focused solely upon serving his Empire, then they would be left unmolested. Examples of such tolerance wereGrand AdmiralThrawn,Grand MoffBertroff Hissa, andGeneralBentilais san Sk'ar.

It could be argued that any roots for Palpatine's bigotry could be traced to the traditional animosity that dominated relations between the Humans of Naboo (Palpatine's home planet) and the Gungans who cohabited that world. However, It is debatable to what degree, if any, Palpatine was a speciesist.^[5] Palpatine freely consorted with nonhumans such asMas Amedda andSly Moore, as well as being an apprentice toDarth Plagueis (aMuun) and takingDarth Maul (aDathomirianZabrak) as an apprentice, all of whom wereHumanoid. Therefore, it might be suggested that as aSith, Palpatine'sHumanocentrism was more liberal than that of the standard Imperial view, possibly due to the fact that Sith throughout history were predominantly either Human or Humanoid. Palpatine, or rather Darth Sidious, indicated in theBook of Sith that he did not personally adhere to Humanocentrism himself, but nonetheless viewed it as useful for ensuring a tighter grip on the Empire.^[6] From this viewpoint, it is conceivable that Palpatine'sspeciesism was broadened to include certain Humanoid species and that he used anti-alien sentiments as a way to divide the beings of the galaxy and help consolidate his rule. In fact, among the atrocities Palpatine committed was the destruction of the Human-dominated world ofAlderaan and the creation of apathogen that targeted Humans exclusively.

Even so,Wilhuff Tarkin,lieutenant governor ofEriadu who commanded theRepublic Outland Regions Security Force, but also a covert servant toSith LordsPlagueis andSidious,^[7][2] clearly enunciated aHumanocentric view that on first blush would appear to reflect the genuine galaxy-view of hisdark side superiors. ToRaith Sienar, in29 BBY, Tarkin announced that he performed "favors for certain people" for whom "balance is no longer necessary." These powerful, highly placed individuals held a preference or "appreciation forfingers—not tentacles ... not palps, buthuman fingers—reaching into a great many stellar soup bowls, testing the temperature to see if they are ready for the eating ... Mark my words, Raith.Humans are the future"; to which Sienar, himself a Human and a future servant of theGalactic Empire (designer of theImperial TIE Fighter and the originator of theDeath Star concept), noting the tension in Tarkin's voice, responded, "So marked." Indeed, Sienar had sensed, as Tarkin now affirmed, that a shift in the "political psychology" of the galaxy was underway, that those beings who would soon "replace" the Republic's "effete elites" (beings who were rigid, inflexible, outdated) would "rule by brutality"; it was, in fact, "a law in the history of the galaxy. A kind of political balance, frightening but true." It was to this imminent perceived shift towards brutality in political rule that Sienar, only months before, had turned his "craft" of weapons and ship design (pursuing just such an angle of brutal, "centralized strength," though now he understood it was to take Human form) when he began work on hisExpeditionary Battle Planetoid, whose design presentation had left Tarkin "entranced." The Eriadu commander was quick to admit, however, that due to "the tolerance and weakness of our predecessors ... it could take decades to make humans thesupreme race in this galaxy," requiring of them amagnanimitytowards lesser races "for the time being."^[8]

Darth Sidious' apprentice,CountDooku (Darth Tyranus), was apparently also a Human supremacist who desired to see the Republic transformed into an Empire of Man, with the Sith as its army.^[9] However, it is possible he developed Humanocentric opinions late in life from his association with Sidious, as in his youth he had alien friends and it is difficult to believe that any anti-alien sentiment on his part could have been hidden from theJedi for seventy years. Many of his hand-picked Dark Acolytes were nonhuman, and he also seemed to personally respectGeonosianArchdukePoggle the Lesser.

Human High Culture was enforced and imprinted upon the Empire's citizenry by theCoalition for Progress,Imperial Board of Culture, and theSub-Adult Groups.

The views of Human High Culture would be kept alive in theNew Republic for years after the Empire's defeat by fringe groups such as theHuman League. At the same time, Admiral Daala stronglyweakened this concept within theImperial Remnant by allowing aliens of all kinds to join the Imperial military. By the time of theFel andSith Empire, several aliens served within the Imperial military asstormtroopers, officers and evenAdmirals. However, by137 ABY, individuals such as AdmiralDru Valan still believed in the innate superiority of Humans and resented serving under non-Human officers.

Appearances[]

• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith novelization(andunabridged audiobook)(Indirect mention only)
• Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice(Mentioned only)
• "Small Favors" —Star Wars Adventure Journal 12
• "Galaxywide NewsNets" —Star Wars Adventure Journal 5
• Graveyard of Alderaan(reprinted inClassic Adventures: Volume Two)
• "Galaxywide NewsNets" —Star Wars Adventure Journal 11
• "Galaxywide NewsNets" —Star Wars Adventure Journal 13

Sources[]

Notes and references[]