I was just noticing a credit card bill my wife had set on the counter to be mailed, and the place it was being mailed to is Palatine, IL. The name sounded familiar, and then it hit me. The spelling is extremely close to the bad guy in the Star Wars movies, Palpatine. Coincidence? Perhaps, but look at the similarities.

Palpatine started off as a good guy, helping people out, then as he gained power, he became more powerful and controlling, with the ultimate goal of ruling the universe. Credit cards start out as useful, good things that help us achieve good things. But if we allow them to do so, they become more and more powerful in our lives, and can consume us, and ultimately they rule our lives, and eventually we can become enslaved to them. Credit cards can take away our freedom if we let them.

So, my question is, it is well known that Spielberg took ordinary, everyday words and names and changed them slightly to make up the names of his characters. So when he came up with Palpatine, is it possible that he had a credit card bill that he had to send to Palatine, IL, and realized the similarities between his character and what credit cards can do to people? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

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