#the only valid ''they're a cult'' response ive ever seen

[angelsaxis]

I think what's important is that the Jedi are a religion--religions come with rules, and I'm not saying that you don't understand that they're a religion, but a lot of the people I've seen saying they're a cult of the most extreme detrimental variety seem to also not understand that it's literally impossible to have a religion or a distinct cultural group without some level of rules and regulations that bind, bond, and yes, sometimes kick out members that don't conform. This is applicable to all groups.

I'm by no means a Jedi defender--ultimately idc in general what people think of the Jedi--but I'm only bugged when people liken being a Jedi to detrimental cult behavior because, again, they have little to no experience with how the average religion works and their only understanding of cult behavior comes from other people likening anything religious with being bad.

I'm not saying YOU said that, just to clarify, but that's the origin of the post itself.

How would you define "excessive" meditation? Black and white thinking I haven't really seen, but also I'm no Jedi expert so I can't say for sure. Maybe some individual Jedi expressed it, but does the Order as a whole think that? In terms of rejected critical thinking, however that's defined--again, was that expressed by like most of the Jedi? Can you give examples?

Most....religions and cultures do not want people to engage in extreme hate and jealousy because those feelings quite literally eat people alive. Advising against letting hatred and jealousy and rage consume your heart doesn't seem like the makings of emotional control to me. I'm also still not sure how often the Jedi say "being angry and greedy makes you a sith lord" versus how much they say "these things, if not addressed properly, will lead to the Dark Side, as exemplified by literally every sith ever". Let's not forget that the Jedi are dealing with a massive power (the Force) that, combined with things like uncontrolled rage and greed, would arguably lead to ten times more destruction than the average person could do. With great power comes great responsibility and all that.

"(the only family and work they have ever known or had after the jedi stole them from their cradles and then forced them to only learn the way of the jedi so that they have little worldly experience or skills in navigating it and also have no family ties or friends outside to rely on)"

Jedi initiates aren't kidnapped, the Jedi ask the parents' permission and the parent gives them up, whihc we can see is different from the sith who literally kidnapped children in that one episode of TCW, and then the Bardottans in that other episode who do not like the Jedi--and the fact that the Jedi got the message and avoided that planet.

The use of "force" here is interesting because it's like saying kids from any religion are "forced" to only learn about that religion. Like....the point of being a Jedi teacher is to teach the next generation of children the ways of the Jedi? The Jedi clearly have other subcultures within their ranks; Barriss has a statue of a goddess in her room. Everyone's got the different cultural markings from their respective species. People have accents and are multilingual. They don't only know the ways of the Jedi, most of them have a decent amount of worldly experience and the vast majority of Jedi do have other skills, because we see how good Anakin, Obiwan, and Ahsoka are with ships, and we know that there's Jedi healers, and we know that there's the agricorp and other parts of the Jedi order specifically designed for people with different skills sets. There's teachers, trainers, whoever is taking care of the initiates that they did not kidnap--and I'm sure there's chefs and dancers and artists.

The Jedi make friends outside the Order--Obiwan is friends with the guy that runs the diner. We see Jedi with connections all over the place. And Jedi, from what we've seen, leave more than they're kicked out. Ahsoka was kicked out because she was accused of literal terrorism. Otherwise, afterwards she left on her own. Anakin clearly kept dancing with the dark side and wasn't even kicked out for that.

That line about Christianity (at least to me) is hardly even relevant because the Jedi are heavily based on Islam and Buddhism, not Christianity, which I guess is the source of my irritation with people claiming that they're a cult--it's literally, for hte most part, how some real-world religions operate. Move away from extreme emotions because they'll eat you alive and you'll do bad things. Pray a lot. Raise children in the same religion as you.

And regarding your weirdass tags:

#also the jedi arent real you dont have to protect them#obiwan isnt gonna fuck u for saying the jedi order isnt cultish#but i WILL tell u that sadly: it is#also i shd say im not like mad or anything i just think discussions of cults and how to identify them is interesting

I know they're not real, I'm not a ~Jedi defender~ and I'm literally a fucking lesbian what's the matter with you?

There's a disturbing number of y'all who think the Jedi are a cult because they don't embrace wanton exploration of the dark side