Just to be clear: I realize that my perspective is biased. I am a Star Wars fan(atic), and especially a fan of the Sith. I have loved these stories ever since I first saw a movie that was simply called "Star Wars" in 1977, when I was five years old.

Now here's the difference between me and most other Star Wars fans: when I was a child, all my friends wanted to be Luke, Han or Leia (except there's always the one kid who wanted to be Chewie...) but from the first time I saw Darth Vader step onto the screen, I wanted to be a Sith when I grew up.

To me, it's perfectly obvious. The heroes are fun, certainly, but the villains are the ones who truly stand out of any brilliant piece of theater. Darth Vader, then the Emperor, and every Sith who has followed, are simply the greatest villains to ever be seen on stage or screen. How could anyone not be enthralled by the fantastic appearance of these evil-doers?

So what seems to me as a perfectly natural reaction to such incredible screen presence, then results in the most unnatural reactions from other Star Wars fans. I have experienced some bizarre reactions from others on the starwars.com forums, other places on the internet, and even over private email, and from talking with other Sith fans, I know I am far from alone.

Star Wars fans who are fixated on the heroes have told Sith fans to leave discussions because they were disruptive, even though they were actually engaged in a very reasonable and intelligent conversation. I know of Sith fans receiving private emails that border on threatening, saying they are horrible people and even equating them to the terrorists of the twenty-first century. The response that many of us have seen, is as unreasonable as we are regularly accused of being, without any evidence that we have done anything to justify such a reaction.

The most obvious reason why this may be the case is also the most sad: the possibility that these fans have confused fantasy and reality to such a degree that they simply do not understand the difference between theatric evil (the Sith) and real evil (terrorism). I hope this isn't the case, but I have yet to see any reason to think otherwise.

So in case that is exactly what has been happening, and we Sith fans are encountering other fans who truly do not understand the difference between theatric evil and real evil, let me explain to anyone who is still confused...

IT'S A MOVIE!!