Petitioner Learns About Petitioning

I read a couple of the stories found via Google, and initially took the petition for face value. It was a call to arms for those ornery, angry, and cantankerous fans that were unwilling to accept the evolution of Star Wars as presented by Rian Johnson in The Last Jedi.

Almost 30,000 furious fans have signed the petition as of this writing.

I was going to post this item just for what it was, but I thought that maybe it could have been a joke, so I took a closer look to see if I could detect any sarcasm in the wording of the petition. It did seem pretty legit:

Episode VIII was a travesty. It completely destroyed the legacy of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi. It destroyed the very reasons most of us, as fans, liked Star Wars. This can be fixed. Just as you wiped out 30 years of stories, we ask you to wipe out one more, the Last Jedi. Remove it from canon, push back Episode IX and re-make Episode VIII properly to redeem Luke Skywalker's legacy, integrity, and character.

It goes on for a bit, but at the bottom of the petition was a partially obscured bit of text indicating an update under the heading, "The support is appreciated but..."

In that post, Henry Walsh states that he was definitely bummed out by the film, but attributes his extra disappointment to being on strong pain medication. He goes on to explain that he has been wheelchair-bound due to a vehicle accident over a year ago.

At this point, I was ready to assume he was using the petition as a tool to bring attention to his personal plight. But a little further reading revealed that Henry was not necessarily seeking personal gain, but was explaining how he learned something about society through his petition. He indeed had a GoFundMe page set up in order to raise money for his surgery (for which he says he didn't raise enough to pay). Henry realized that his petition about a movie was going viral and was picked up by news outlets, generating thousands of signatures and rallying a part of the community to his cause. But for what purpose?

I couldn't get the help on GoFundMe to help pay for my surgery, and yet *this* gets this kind of attention? To the point that this petition has been in multiple news publications at this point? How many other people out there need help and can't get attention? I'm not comfortable with that...

Henry points out that there are so many causes that are worthy of attention, and he then urges those that were reading his petition to give to the community in a more meaningful way. It's notable that he doesn't seem to be asking anyone to give to his own cause, as there are no direct links to anything personal, he just makes a general statement and plea to the public.

So please, while we all love Star Wars, I urge every single supporter who signed this, to also take a few minutes to look at other petitions on Change.Org, ones that are important, or look at causes on GoFundMe. Places where we can make a difference that matters.

In the user comments below the petition, there are many that rally around hatred for The Last Jedi. It also seems that others are interpreting Henry's update as an attempt to personally profit from the attention. It doesn't seem that this is actually the case.

While we at Bantha Skull wholeheartedly acknowledge that our site is dedicated to the frivolity and escapism of Star Wars fandom and collecting news, we support Henry's message to give to a worthy cause, especially during this season of caring.

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