Thought Experiment

Try viewing the films (or at least the original trilogy) as Rebel/New Republic propaganda made after the war, meant to illustrate them in a good light.

Think about it - you have all the perfect ingredients for a propaganda film: villains who commit atrocities without a second thought; noble heroes; handsome young good guys and ugly old villains. The villains are inept EXCEPT when it's dramatic for them to be effective. Even the end ceremony of A New Hope is ripped straight from a Nazi propaganda film.

Obviously they aren't that sort of film, but it's interesting to see how well they fit when approached as such.